Topics

1

General Board / Virtual document problem - content of master document package included in doc

« on: October 26, 2017, 01:07:07 am »

I'm setting up a virtual document to generate a document that contains the contents of two different packages, each generated with its own RTF template (via two model documents). The resulting document contains those as required. However, it also contains a section for the <<Master document>> package, listing the classes it contains, being the two model documents. Obviously this is not what I want to see, as these only serve to define the document structure and are not part of the content itself.

What am I doing wrong? Is there some option that I need to set? I'm using EA 12.1.

2

General Board / How to include the contents of a Wireframe Table in generated RTF documentation?

« on: October 17, 2017, 07:58:30 pm »

One of our analysts is specifiying screens in EA (v12.1) that contain wireframe tables. She would like to output the contents of the different cells in the generated RTF documentation, but for now we can only get the visual representation on the diagram.

I found that the definition of the table is stored in a "Properties" tag, so I'm afraid that to extract the content in a readable format, the only way to go is via a scripting template fragment. As I don't (yet) master scripting, I'd like to know if there is any other possibility?

3

Bugs and Issues / The wonderful world of stereotypes

« on: April 13, 2017, 12:59:46 am »

I stumbled on some "interesting" behaviour of the stereotypes functionality in EA (I'm using version 12.1 build 1230).

Say you create a use case element and type a value in the "Stereotype" box that is not yet defined in the UML Types, e.g. "user story"
Later you use the menu Project > settings > UML Types...  to add this stereotype "user story" to the list.

When checking in the table t_stereotypes, you now have two entries with STEREOTYPE = 'user story', but interestingly:
- one has APPLIESTO = 'UseCase' (the one created by typing it directly in the element, as I found out)
- the other has APPLIESTO = 'usecase' (this is the one created via UML Types)

They both appear in the UML types dialog, but there in the "Applies to" column, both show 'usecase' (no difference in caps visible).
They also both seem to have the same GUID.

Say you now want to only use the stereotype you explicitly defined in the list. You go into UML Types and delete one, but now both have disappeared (*).
So you create it again via UML Types. All seems to work well: the elements that use the stereotype display correctly in the defined style associated to the stereotype.
But the newly created stereotype has a different GUID. The table t_xref stores in its field DESCRIPTION all stereotypes associated to an element (to allow for multiple stereotypes). Here, you'll still find the old GUID of the deleted entry. Only if you remove the stereotype and then add it again, the new GUID appears. I have no idea if this could cause issues.

All in all, using stereotypes risks creating some confusion if you don't set up some good conventions with your users...

(*) I also noticed that if you edit one of the two, both seem to change.

4

General Board / Migration EA10 to EA12.1: BPMN behaviour

« on: December 03, 2016, 02:46:45 am »

I'm about to upgrade our users from EA10 to EA12.1. In versions 11.1 and 12 a set of BPMN changes have been introduced. I want to avoid that the people working with BPMN diagrams would be troubled by a changed behaviour (like objects jumping to a different location in the Project Browser).

Are there specific options that can be set to have the BPMN in EA12.1 behave like it did in EA10? If so, are these global or should every user set them in his own copy of EA (we're working in a single shared repository)?

5

General Board / Should our organisation migrate to EA12.1 or EA13?

« on: October 12, 2016, 10:56:03 pm »

I was getting everything ready to migrate EA in our organisation from version 10 (build 1009) to version 12.1 (build 1230).
Now I see that Sparx just released the first non-beta build of version 13 (build 1305).

I see three options:

• Go ahead with the planned roll-out of version 12.1 as this is now stable, to give users the advantages of a set of new features;
• Immediately roll out EA13, to have even more new features (time-based modelling seems cool), but with the risk of bugs still to be resolved in new builds;
• Wait until EA13 has stabilised and remain on EA10 for now.

Considering that it has taken about 6 months between the initial release of version 12.1 (build 1224) and the final build 1230, I think it might be too soon yet to go for EA13 and it would be safer to wait until it has stabilised. Staying on EA10 would leave us out of some interesting recent features, so I think migrating to EA12.1 would be be best course of action.

What would you do? Do you have any comments / considerations / recommendations?

6

General Board / Template for a RTF report of an activity diagram with linked requirements (EA10)

« on: April 28, 2016, 09:30:36 pm »

We specify our use cases using activity diagrams. We also have standard RTF templates to generate a report on a use case containing the diagram(s) and all relevant elements in them. This works fine as each use case is stored in its own package with its activity diagram and the contained elements.

We also link business rules (documented using Requirement elements) to some of the activities in the activity diagram via <<trace>> links. These rules/requirements are stored in their own separate package.

I've now been asked to create a template that also includes these linked requirements, preferably in its own section. If I check the option "Include all diagram elements in report", this will show the requirements, but together with the other elements of the diagram.

Is there a way to have a report where the requirements do NOT appear between the other elements, but in their own section? The idea is to be able to use it on any package that contains a use case specification. I've been looking at template fragments, but did not yet manage to achieve the desired result.

7

General Board / RTF templates: can I find out who created it?

« on: November 25, 2015, 09:32:51 pm »

In our company's unique repository, a long list of RTF document generation templates have accumulated over the years. Several of them are probably not used (either not very good ones, or old ones, ...). I'd like to do some cleaning, but therefore I need to find out who created or modified each template, and when.

I can't find any "properties" for these templates. Does EA even store this info, and if yes, is there a way to get at it?

8

Bugs and Issues / Same diagram always opens when user starts EA

« on: February 02, 2015, 09:41:34 pm »

One of our users is experiencing a small problem: each time he starts up EA, the same diagram opens up (and it is also selected in the project browser). It is a diagram he has been working on himself recently.

For one or two days, other users starting EA (we all work in a shared Oracle repository) also saw this diagram appearing. But this seems to have stopped. However with the original user, the problem persists.

Does anyone have an idea what could cause this, and how to deactivate it?

I already checked that there is no "working set" defined that would contain this diagram.