Messages

1

General Board / Re: Change of stereotype to "Functional"

« on: October 31, 2018, 08:59:15 pm »

Thanks for all the learned replies.
I'd like to respectfully disagree with the Sparx implementation.
- an un-stereotyped requirement is just that - I have captured it, and have not yet decided if it's Function, Non-functional, or something else. So having EA make-up data which I didn't add is just not polite.
- a work-around which involves using the UI in a slightly different way - which is what I think Simon is suggesting - really isn't cricket. It just makes it worse!
- and why 'Functional' - if i'm collecting 'non-functionals', this just confuses my users.
- if the EA implementation really does insist that all requirements must have a type, and that the default is 'Functional', then pre-fill the type to be 'Functional' when my users create them.
At the moment, they drop requirements onto a diagram, fill-in the name, then go on to the next one. Then, when they come back and add some notes, it changes type from (blank) to 'Functional' - they find this confusing. I'm trying hard to get them to categorize Requirements correctly, but as with other bits of models, 'no data' means 'I haven't decided yet'. Like the multiplicity between two classes: no data means 'don't know yet'. EA doesn't add '*..0' to every connector - quite right.

So a Requirement with no stereotype means 'don't know yet', and is useful information for me.

So what I see in the model is requirements with
-  no stereotype. I take this to mean 'haven't decided yet) - OK
- 'Functional' - might mean - ' I have chosen a Functional stereotype' OR 'I edited the notes, and 'Functional' just got added, but I really haven't decided yet'
In the view of my users, this is just a bad user experience. 
Whether the EA approach is "right" or "wrong", it's confusing to new users. And they will be keeping me, and Sparx, in future business, so they really matter!

And cheer-up Q - you might have to use Viseo, then you'd REALLY complain...:-)

2

General Board / Change of stereotype to "Functional"

« on: October 26, 2018, 07:01:15 pm »

This is such a simple issue, I can't believe it's not been asked already.
When I create a Requirement, Risk or a few other element types in EA, they correctly have no stereotype.
When I then edit the notes (or edit any other standard field) of one of these elements, EA makes the stereotype into 'Functional'.
Does anyone else see this? It's been going on for several releases now, and I reported it a while back to @Sparx, but no action.
If this is reproduceable elsewhere, this is a serious bug - EA is changing my data without asking. If I don't give my elements a stereotype, it's because I don't want them to have one.
Does anyone else see this ?

3

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Status property and tagged values for diagrams

« on: October 22, 2018, 09:29:16 pm »

...never noticed that table before...
Looks like it's keyed on a GUID, so should do the job OK.
I guess we will have to do our own tidy-up, to delete entries here when a diagram gets deleted, but I'll give this a try.
I still that that the right way to do this is for @Sparx to deliver a solid solution.

4

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Status property and tagged values for diagrams

« on: October 19, 2018, 07:43:16 pm »

There also seems to be somewhere in the XMI format where this data might fit, if @Sparx were to create a solution for us.
<diagrams> seem to have an <extendedProperties> tag, which is used by elements, but not by diagrams (at least in my examples) so there is a possibility that this might be used to hold diagram tagged values.
Needs a Sparx implementation though...

5

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Status property and tagged values for diagrams

« on: October 19, 2018, 07:34:12 pm »

+1 from me as well.
There all kinds of reasons to attach TVs to a diagram , for example, to remember its status (reviewed etc) so @Sparx this would be a great feature. Can't see a simple place to put them:
- t_objectproperties looks to have secondary key of the Object_ID, which would get confused with diagram_ID.
- t_xref - where all the strange new stuff seems to go...
Or
- t_diagramlinks - at least this will get tidied-up when the diagram gets deleted, but I've just tried this approach, and any new t_diagramlink rows don't get exported when we XMI the diagram.
- create an invisible element in the diagram, and give the TVs to that? Horrible :-(

Any requirement for this should probably include the ability to move the diagram between repositories.
Any more suggestions for how to do this?

6

General Board / Re: EA just won't start...in v14, v13, v12...

« on: October 15, 2018, 08:21:14 pm »

OK - just found out that it really isn't fixed....
All of the internal MDGs are missing, but copying them across to a new  EA/InternalTechnologies folder makes the system go back to the same symptom - EA tries to start, then fails. Althouh is fails a bit slower - 1-2 sec before it gives-up.
Even having just one of the built-in technology XML files makes EA fail on startup.
Also tried to point EA to a copy of these MDG XML files, from the Specialize/Technologies/Manage/Advanced, but EA doesn't like the format - probably because they are all encoded in some way, and aren't simple text.
I managed to get EA to create new repositories, but only by manually copying the eabase.* files.

I'm also back in 14.0. Which is kind-of where I started, but updating back to 14.1 looks like the only way forward.

7

General Board / Re: EA just won't start...in v14, v13, v12...

« on: October 13, 2018, 01:54:21 am »

True genius - system restore fixed it...
As part investigating this, we installed EA on the same machine under a new user account - this worked OK, and DID prompt for the activation code.
Makes be a bit worried about installing any future EA versions......

8

General Board / EA just won't start...in v14, v13, v12...

« on: October 13, 2018, 01:10:04 am »

Recently installed 14.1, and after a while got a strange 'locking' error from EA, so thought the best plan was to de-install EA, and re-install, then see if it came back.
Did that, but when re-installed, when starting EA, the EA splash screen now shows for a fraction of a second, then nothing.
Nothing in the Windows error logs, or my anti-virus. No EA error message
Suspiciously, the re-install didn't ask the the activation code.
The went back and re-installed v13.5, V13, V12....exactly the same symptom.
As you might imagine, this is a bit of a disaster.
Anyone out there seen this one before?
(and yes, we did do machine restarts, shutdowns, registry cleans between the different stages).
Any ideas REALLY appreciated.

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Updating Diagram Appearance After Deletion from Model

« on: September 17, 2018, 07:57:59 pm »

Ah - so that's what those are for.
Pure genius, as always Q.
Thanks
Ian

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Add-Ins with VB.Net - Should I even bother?

« on: September 11, 2018, 08:43:38 pm »

"I have at TON of EA automation "helpers" written VB.NET "....and that's precisely the reason why eaDocX was written in VB.net, and why it's still in VB.net.
It's about the usefulness of the function, not the language it's written in. And we've got a few 1000 customers who'll back that up.

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Updating Diagram Appearance After Deletion from Model

« on: September 11, 2018, 08:37:18 pm »

FYI -  when an add-in is responding to a 'EA_OnPostNewConnector' event, calling either of these causes EA to crash. Unless anyone knows how to delete the connector which just got passed by EA.
Probably not a big surprise, I guess - deleting the subject of the event probably isn't what EA was expecting to happen.

12

General Board / Re: 'Link' Connector type - did I imagine it ?

« on: May 08, 2018, 06:22:53 pm »

Thanks @KP  - good to know how to (probably) make things backwards compatible. Could we have a note somewhere in the final V14 documentation to say that this has changed?

13

General Board / Re: Excel Import

« on: April 26, 2018, 05:55:40 pm »

Never noticed that before - well done Takeshi!

14

General Board / Re: Aris vs EA for Process Modelling

« on: April 26, 2018, 05:53:38 pm »

So far, I'm getting best value from Q's response.
I realize that 'it depends' is the most logical answer, but, like most clients, they haven't decided exactly how they are going to do their process modelling.
And I think this is a reasonable approach.
But before you scream 'that's no way to choose a modelling tool', given that they have realized they WILL need a tool, then surely the smart thing is to tailor their approach to (1) their own requirements, but also (2) the capabilities of a tool.

It seems like a solution -> Requirement approach, but don't we need some measure of this? No point crafting a wonderful modelling approach, then finding there is no tool to which can do it without huge modification. And when maybe a small change to the modelling approach would make it fit disproportionately better with one or other tool.

As an example, just look how us EA users have adapted our modelling approach to the lack of any usable time-based modelling - we just skip around the idea of roadmap planning which lots of people say they need. (yes, I do know there is some time-based function in EA, and no, it doesn't come close to what most customers SAY they need). But we get around it with some baselines, a bit or branching and merging, and some fast talking.

So, Aris users: what's it good at?
 

15

General Board / Aris vs EA for Process Modelling

« on: April 24, 2018, 08:35:09 pm »

I have a client who is looking for some help evaluating Aris & EA for process modelling.
All of us, I'm sure, have a natural preference, but does anyone have any recent experience of these two? If it helps, my client is willing to pay money for someone with this experience.