Messages

1

Suggestions and Requests / Re: New RTF Generator - templates and heading leve

« on: September 24, 2006, 02:28:16 pm »

I can't even get the heading levels to work correctly with the default template. It works for level 1 and level 2 headings, based on known relationships between packages and key elements, but I've never seen the default ('basic template') handle nested packages by increasing the heading level.

Does this work for others?

2

Suggestions and Requests / Re: New RTF Generator - templates and heading leve

« on: September 10, 2006, 06:10:13 pm »

We can confirm that this is an issue, and is not resolved by the fix mentioned above.

The issue is that {child-elements} do not increase the heading level. So if you have several packags nested within eachother, your generated documentation shows all packages at a single heading level.

Example: create a project just two packages, one nested inside the other. Generate an RTF document using the basic template. Both packages are documented at the same heading level.

We are trying to move our entire IT department to using EA for all of our modelling and the majority of all our documentation. This requirement is a big hurdle for everyone trying to create accessible documentation.

Please make this a priority change.

Kind regards,
Nick Hynes
IAG (NZ)

3

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Document Generation

« on: December 03, 2006, 03:31:41 pm »

Hi  All,

I finally got this working, thanks for all the help & advice.

The solution was to go back to the 'basic template' as a starting point. I then modified that in an iterative fashion until I had what I wanted.

It was a slow process, and you need to be careful when you cut and paste not to screw up the document styles.

Persevere - it can be done.

- Nick Hynes

4

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Document Generation

« on: November 14, 2006, 12:36:12 pm »

Thanks Mark.

I tried that, but it's still not working for me.

The Table of Contents is showing the headings at the correct level, but somehow my level 1 'Heading 1' style is being converted to a 'Heading 1 Char,H1 Char,Section Heading Char,EA Char,1 Char,h1 C' style, as are all of the child package headings.

The template is essentially defined like this (with a few cover pages):

[size=18]{Pkg.Name}[/size]  (Heading 1 style)

{Pkg.Notes}
diagram >

{Diagram.Name}

{Diagram.Notes}
{Diagram.DiagramImg}
{Diagram.Figure}
< diagram


package element >
< package element
element >

NAME	Description
{Element.Name}	{Element.Notes}

embedded elements >
< embedded elements
diagram >
< diagram
child elements >
< child elements
< element
child package >
< child package
< package

5

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Document Generation

« on: October 08, 2006, 12:30:11 pm »

Is this realy so bad?

In my opinion, 'yes'.

It depends where Sparx is positioning themselves in the market. I see them as serving... Enterprise Architects, who are responsible for large, corporate architectures. If so, then they need to be able to support large 'projects'. And the users (i.e. architects) need to be able to generate documentation for our partner companies, project teams and our line managers. Each of these groups expects professional quality documents, which can be quickly skimmed for detail or read and easily comprehended as a whole.

Currently, in order to produce documentation of that quality EA's users are required to perform time consuming, expensive and tedious manual work-arounds for what could simply be an automated process. This process is costly and can lead to the sorts of errors which leaves the user looking less than excellent in the eyes of their colleagues, managers and business partners.

So again, in my opinion this is a big issue, which could be easily fixed.

6

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Document Generation

« on: October 04, 2006, 07:02:21 pm »

A further issue I've just discovered, is that the it is nearly impossible to reformat documents in Word.

If you open a generated RTF document in Word, and attempt to modify the heading styles, you will notice that there are a lot of inter-dependencies between the various heading styles. The complex of the way styles are defined, coupled with bugs in Word make it impossible to reformat documents.

I've found it is easier to 'paste as text' into a new Word document, and apply formatting to the new document. I'm not asking Sparx to fix Word, but you do need to be aware that this is how most people are currently using your product, and the bugs in Word exacerbate the issues your users have with EA.

This appears to be low hanging fruit in my eyes, and I'm surprised this isn't higher priority for Sparx. If you could re-write the document generation module you would experience significant uptake from your EXISTING CUSTOMER BASE.

7

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Document Generation

« on: September 18, 2006, 02:08:02 pm »

This remains the #1 issue for our organisation.

The architects are very happy with EA; however getting buy-in from the BA teams and channel managers is impeeded because of the issues surrounding document generation.

The issues for us are:

• The need to create different heading levels for nested packages. Our projects often include many different levels of abstraction. We indicate the level of abstraction by nesting packages at different levels, however the generated document shows all packages at the same level.
  
• The need for rich text editing in the element descriptions panel. Our BAs need a WYSIWYG editor for package and element descriptions.
  

These two features would vastly improve our ability to deliver quality documentation to our outsourcers and integration partners.

We have read the related threads, and none of the solutions to date solve these specific problems.

Note: this issue has been reposted from a thread titled 'New RTF Generator...' because that thread seems to have died without a response.


Nicholas Hynes
Solution Architect
IAG (NZ)