Topics

1

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Diagrams not fully rendered in reports

« on: December 16, 2025, 07:50:05 pm »

I am experiencing an issue in Sparx Enterprise Architect 16.1 when generating diagram reports that include diagrams as images. When generating a report, some diagrams (e.g. BPMN process diagrams with swimlanes and multiple activities) are not fully rendered in the resulting Word document. It appears that the diagram image is being scaled down or cropped, causing parts of the diagram (lanes and activities) to be missing. In the report, the diagram seems to be rendered at approximately 75% size, while the full diagram is displayed correctly within EA itself.

Notably:

• Generating the report at a higher package level (including all elements) does not change the result.
• The issue occurs with multiple document templates, not just a single specific template.

My questions:

• What determines how EA scales or crops diagrams during report generation?
• Which diagram, page setup, or document template settings influence this behavior?
• Is this a known limitation or bug in EA 16.1?
• What is the best practice to ensure diagrams are always fully visible in Word reports?

Any insights or suggestions are appreciated.

2

Suggestions and Requests / Creating an authorization matrix (CRUD per functionality per actor) in EA

« on: October 16, 2025, 11:49:24 pm »

Hi everyone,

A colleague recently asked me how we could create an authorization matrix in Enterprise Architect (we’re using version 16.1).

In our model, we already have business actors and functionalities modeled. Each main functionality has CRUD aspects (Create, Read, Update, Delete). For each of these CRUD actions, we want to define which business actors are authorized to perform them. We could make for each CRUD functionality an element, but we this would multiply the amounts by 4.

The goal is to make it possible to directly generate an authorization matrix from the model and to keep it easy to maintain when changes occur.

Has anyone already implemented something like this?
Is there perhaps an MDG Technology, profile, or modeling pattern available that supports this kind of setup (CRUD × functionality × actor)?
Or are there suggestions for the best way to model this within EA so that the matrix can be generated automatically?

Thanks in advance for your ideas and experiences!

3

Suggestions and Requests / Notes per table row or cell in wireframes + linking table fields to data model

« on: October 16, 2025, 11:33:46 pm »

Hi everyone,

I’m currently creating wireframes in Enterprise Architect (version 16.1) and I’d like to use the Table element to represent a list of fields that users need to fill in.

On the left side of the table, I list the topics or data items that need to be completed, and on the right side, I want to show the corresponding variable with the input control (for example, a text box or combo box) that the business will use. I also have some tables with columns and have the same needs.

However, I noticed that in the Table element, I can only add notes to the entire table, not to individual rows or cells. It would be really useful to be able to add notes per row or cell, for example to describe the meaning or usage of a particular field.

Additionally, I would like to link individual table fields or columns to attributes in the data model (for instance, in a traceability diagram or matrix) so that I can visualize which attribute is filled in by which screen field.

Is there currently a way to do this in EA, or would this need to be considered as a feature request for a future release?

Thanks in advance for any tips or ideas!

4

Suggestions and Requests / Bulk editing of properties for multiple elements in Enterprise Architect

« on: October 15, 2025, 11:11:28 pm »

Hello everyone,

I think it would be very useful to have the option in Enterprise Architect to perform bulk editing on multiple selected elements.

For example:

• Select multiple elements and change their stereotype all at once.
  Update the status or phase of all selected elements simultaneously.
  Or edit other common properties (such as author, version, tagged values, etc.) in bulk.

This would be especially helpful in larger models or during refactoring, where it’s currently necessary to open and modify each element individually.

Is there already something like this available, or could this be considered as a feature request for a future release?

5

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Foreign key

« on: September 18, 2025, 07:19:02 pm »

Hello everyone,

I made a document generation template and saw {Att.FK}. I was wondering where I can select the foreign key in the UML Class diagram type? Or is this not possible? I saw that it is possible to select ID as True for an attribute, but not something for the FK.

6

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Error while generating a report

« on: August 13, 2025, 06:10:16 pm »

Hello,

When I want to generate documentation in the 16.1 64 bit version I get an error message stating "RTF Information block missing". This does not occur with the 32 bit version. Does someone has an idea how to fix this?

7

Bugs and Issues / When I want to generate documentation in the 16.1 version

« on: August 05, 2025, 06:22:37 pm »

Hello,

When I want to generate documentation in the 16.1 64 bit version I get an error message stating "RTF Information block missing". This does not occur with the 32 bit version. Does someone has an idea how to fix this?

8

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / No values using reporttemplate

« on: June 30, 2025, 06:51:04 pm »

Hello Everyone,

I have an issue. I made a reporttemplate for a procesmodel (see below). It works for a model in BPMN. But the problem is that someone else wanted to use this reporttemplate but the value of the element fields are not seen in his report. So, you can see the values of the diagram fields but not of the element fields. The model without values is made with a personilized MDG that extends BPMN. Doe anyone has an idea on how to fix this?

Reporttemplate:
package >


diagram >
{Diagram.Name} diagram

Author: {Diagram.Author}   version: {Diagram.Version}   Last update: {Diagram.DateModifiedShort}

Description:

{Diagram.Notes}


{Diagram.DiagramImg}
{Diagram.Name}

element >
Description per element:
Proces step           Type                    Role                          Description
{Element.Name}   {Element.Type}   {Element.Owner}   {Element.Notes}
< element


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

9

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Importing CSV Columns into EAUML::table Stereotype Tables

« on: May 27, 2025, 11:23:52 pm »

Hi everyone,

I have tables modeled using the EAUML::table stereotype in Enterprise Architect, and I have a CSV export from an Oracle database with columns like:

Column_Name

Mandatory

Computed

Formula

Check_Constraint_Name

Default_Value

Use_Domain_Constraint

Uses_Default

Engineer

Table_Name

PK_Flag

FK_Flag

Native_Type

Sequence

I understand that you can customize the CSV import specification in EA, but what I don’t know is which exact values should be used in the CSV to correctly map fields to the stereotypes and attributes in the tables. For example, how should I represent a primary key checkbox (PK_Flag), or other flags like FK_Flag, Mandatory, etc., so that EA correctly interprets them as stereotypes or tagged values?

I want to import the columns into the correct tables based on the Table_Name field and have these attributes correctly set in EA.

If anyone has experience with this, or can share the correct way to format these values in the CSV for EA to recognize and map them properly, that would be a huge help!

Thanks in advance for any tips or examples.

10

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Connecting BPMN lanes to Activities in Reports

« on: May 27, 2025, 07:29:58 pm »

Hi all,

I'm working on a custom document generation template in Sparx Enterprise Architect to export BPMN process diagrams. The current template outputs a list of activities with their name, type, and description (from the Notes field).

Is it possible to also include the Lane (role) in which each BPMN activity is placed, shown as an extra column in the report.

Here is a simplified version of the template we are currently using:

package >

diagram >
{Diagram.Name} diagram

Author: {Diagram.Author}    Version: {Diagram.Version}    Last modified: {Diagram.DateModifiedShort}

Description of the process diagram:

{Diagram.Notes}

{Diagram.Name}

element >
Description of process diagram elements:
Process Step    Type    Lane    Description
{Element.Name}  {Element.Type}     {Element.Notes}
< element

< diagram
< package

I am looking for a way to populate the "Lane" column with the name of the lane (or pool) in which the activity resides.

From what I understand, there is no direct property on the Activity element that links it to its lane, as the lane is just a visual container.

Does anyone know how to extract this relationship.

Any guidance or example templates would be greatly appreciated!

11

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Automatically generating a logical data model from a physical data model in Spar

« on: February 18, 2025, 12:12:33 am »

Hello everyone,

I am working with Sparx Enterprise Architect version 16.1 and I’m wondering if it’s possible to automatically generate a logical data model based on an existing physical data model. I have already created the physical data model, but I would like to know if there is a way to automate the conversion to a logical data model within the software, or if I need to do this manually.

Has anyone had experience with this functionality, or can anyone provide tips or tricks to make this process easier?

Thanks in advance!

12

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Automating the ETL Process via Sparx Enterprise Architect

« on: February 18, 2025, 12:04:57 am »

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for advice and best practices for automating the ETL process within our Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDWH), which is build in SAS. Our team currently uses Sparx Enterprise Architect for modeling and design purposes, but we want to explore whether we can leverage this platform to automate the ETL process, or at least support the design and orchestration of it.

The challenge:
We’re looking for ways to automate the extraction, transformation, and loading process using EA, or use EA as a supporting tool to streamline the process.
We also want to know if there are any integrations between SAS and Sparx Enterprise Architect that can help us with this automation.

Specific questions:

• Can Sparx Enterprise Architect itself execute the ETL process? Or is it mainly focused on modeling and documenting the process, requiring other tools for the actual execution?
• How can we integrate Sparx Enterprise Architect with SAS to support data extraction, transformation, and loading processes? Are there any specific add-ins or APIs that make this integration possible?
• Can we design workflows and process models for the ETL process in EA and then link them to the ETL tools within SAS?
• Is there a possibility to automate the ETL process via scripting in EA, such as extracting data from a model or preparing transformations?
• What tools or techniques do you recommend to optimize the collaboration between EA and SAS for ETL automation?

Thanks in advance for your help!