Messages

1

General Board / Re: Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools Oct 2018

« on: January 31, 2019, 09:10:20 am »

As I've said before in these forums, Sparx is not positioned 'well' in the enterprise space due to its perceived lack of enterprise features and frankly it's price - it's clearly too cheap to be any good (!)

Having said that, Sparx is an extremely capable modelling tool, perhaps the best out there.  But the majority of its features and capabilities are really more aimed at system architecture and provide little value for enterprise architecture.  EA provides nothing significant in terms of planning, application portfolio management and (out of the box) management reporting and dashboards. This is both a strength and a weakness - tools that are strong in those aspect also tend to be more constrained in how they can be used.

I personally would push all of the top quadrant tools (with the possible exception of Bizz) back to the centre or into the bottom left.

2

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Turning off MDGs

« on: January 22, 2019, 08:49:13 am »

Just stay away from a local beer called VB (VB stands for Very Bad).

Didn't know you could even buy VB any more ... (!)

3

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: DiagramLinks Collection returns in monotonic increasing ConnectorID order?

« on: January 18, 2019, 04:35:47 pm »

Still no excuse. I just wrote a sort function myself and it took me all of 15 minutes or so?

When I was a boy we learned how sorting works, pros and cons of different algorithms (remember quicksort, mergesort, pigeon sort)
Now it's all just 'call that library ...'. Sigh !

4

Bugs and Issues / Re: Archimate Derived Relationships

« on: January 16, 2019, 02:23:24 pm »

... the relationship table is a mess, it doesn't match the text of the spec, but at least this one is present.

Sparx support engineers have indicated in other posts that the Archimate validation rules in Sparx have been implemented based on the text of the spec only and don't consider the table; due to inconsistencies and ambiguities therein.
From which I infer that *if* the relationship is declared in the text of the spec and Sparx doesn't like it (fails validation, not in quicklinker), this is considered a bug.  If it is in the table only, then not so much.

5

Bugs and Issues / Re: Archimate Derived Relationships

« on: January 16, 2019, 02:19:12 pm »

I seem to remember discussions in other threads about derived relationships and the many pragmatic challenges. Whilst other tools do attempt to support automatic derived relationships I can understand that the ambiguities of the spec and vagaries of different peoples' intentions would make such a feature extremely difficult to implement successfully.

What I think would be useful however would be for Sparx to be aware of 'manually' created derived relationships. As a modeler I could explicitly create the 'derived' relationships that I care about so that I can create simplified diagrams by excluding some intermediate elements. If those intermediate elements are shown however, the connector for the direct 'derived' relationships would be hidden (automatically, or perhaps by use of a filter).

This would require Sparx to:
- Understand when a connector is 'derived' (@Paolo - is that what you had in mind wrt the 'universal "derivation" indicator' ?)
- Be able to determine when there is an alternative (non-'derived') path between elements connected by such a 'derived' connector, so that the derived path can be hidden
- Allow 'derived' connectors to be created within the strict connector syntax / model validation rules

6

Bugs and Issues / Re: Certain line styles do not honour the shapescript code

« on: January 16, 2019, 01:51:02 pm »

@Paolo - I can't help with your problem below (sorry), however I am interested in understanding what you are trying to achieve with presentation style diagrams.

I gather from the issue below that you are looking for a different (simplified) style and perhaps simplified types of diagrams ?
Do you have any examples of the sorts of diagrams you are trying to create?

7

General Board / Re: Diagram Filters Hide Connectors with Elements

« on: January 15, 2019, 02:17:35 pm »

@GeistBW - it's in the ribbon. Open a diagram and then go to Layout -> Filter

https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/14.0/modeling_tools/context_filter_a_diagram.html

8

General Board / Re: Diagram Filters Hide Connectors with Elements

« on: January 15, 2019, 09:50:19 am »

Not sure if this helps, but ... there is the dynamic filtering (Layout -> Filter).  You can set this to filter on 'Relationships', then when you click on any element in the diagram only that element and elements with a direct connection to it are shown (others are visually filtered out / hidden).

Note that this is 'one level' only, ie. only shows the elements with a direct connection to the one you've selected not the elements indirectly connected, and doesn't filter by the element type. Not sure if this behaviour can be replicated using other filtering and / or combined with other filtering to achieve what you are after.

9

General Board / Re: BUSINESS RULE / CONDITIONS / REQUIREMENTS FOR BPMN 2.0

« on: January 14, 2019, 10:16:32 am »

Happy New Year @Eve - thanks for all your help in the past and (in advance) for your help to come

10

General Board / Re: BUSINESS RULE / CONDITIONS / REQUIREMENTS FOR BPMN 2.0

« on: January 11, 2019, 11:38:01 am »

#WhoIsEve?

11

General Board / Re: Status for connectors

« on: December 21, 2018, 12:53:52 pm »

Don't you dare pick on Dazza and Razza.  They're doing just fine!
 

12

General Board / Re: DB Reverse on SAP or other tools

« on: December 21, 2018, 12:52:18 pm »

... and any reverse engineering would probably be considered a licence violation by SAP, certainly if shared publicly.

13

General Board / Re: Status for connectors

« on: December 18, 2018, 10:23:34 am »

Hey, what ... ? Never made it to Australia ?!
Who's been filling my Xmas stocking then ... ??

No, wait ... you must be wrong! Haven't you heard of the six white boomers ??

14

General Board / Re: Creating New Toolboxes and associated Icons

« on: December 18, 2018, 10:17:26 am »

I've wondered a few times whether sortition is worth a try ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
"It is accepted as democratic when public offices are allocated by lot; and as oligarchic when they are filled by election", Aristotle

15

General Board / Re: Gartner's Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Architecture Tools

« on: December 17, 2018, 09:05:31 am »

I have used several of these products, and I'd agree that it is an apples / pears comparison.  As a straight modelling tool Sparx would be for higher up the list (and many of the listed tools would not appear).  As an EA tool, many of the other products focus on 'out of the box' management level reporting and dashboards designed to support executive decision making (albeit with various levels of 'real' substance behind them).

More importantly however Gartner opinions are based on two things:
- Input from their clients, which are typically larger enterprises (who can afford Gartner) and who are typically more attracted to the higher priced tools (they must be better cause they cost more ...)
- Information from the vendors, and some vendors 'participate' more than others