Messages

16

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Multi-diagram page support

« on: July 03, 2008, 10:49:05 am »

It just isn't as easy as I'd like. I have to carefully segment my diagram according to page boundaries, hide line segments that cross page boundaries, find a way to label the stubbed lines (page number and gird), indicate directionality in a way, ...

I'm working with Composite and State Chart diagrams in particular. The other UML diagrams segment more nicely and don't really need multilpe pages. I suppose Deployment diagrams could get complex enough.

If you look at a set of schematics for a typical circuit board you'll see lots of the features I'm talking about.

Thanks for asking,
Dan

17

Suggestions and Requests / Multi-diagram page support

« on: July 03, 2008, 05:41:20 am »

Call me old school but I'd like to see support for one diagram spanning multiple pages. I suppose no one prints anything out anymore but I do. I would like to use 11x17 paper rather than D size so I need line continuation from page to page. Even D size can get cramped.

Purists that would say that if I need more than one page to describe the design it is too complex. Save it. I'm not building a coffee machine.

Thanks,
Dan

18

Suggestions and Requests / Control over label placement on transitions

« on: June 20, 2008, 07:24:01 am »

Is there a way to designate the segment of a transtion that the label should be anchored to? I would like transition labels to be close to the *from* state. The labels can be dragged anywhere but when you move the achore segment the label also moves. Sometimes the label then appears to be associated with a different transition entirely.

Thanks,
Dan

19

Suggestions and Requests / Switch between state diag and table w/o checkout

« on: May 28, 2008, 10:42:15 am »

It would be nice to switch between state diagram and table representations without having to check out the package.

Thanks,
DanG

20

Suggestions and Requests / Improve Compare with Controlled Version

« on: May 24, 2008, 04:07:11 am »

Perforce is the CM software.
Use Package Control to check out a package
Make changes (not necessary to see the hang but this is the use case)
Try to review your changes before submitting
Package Control->Compare with Controlled Version... hour glass...

I think a work-around is to configure p4 to clobber the package file but I'm certain that will eventually cause me to lose work. I know I will Get Latest at the wrong moment and, even though it pops up warnings, I'll wipe out some brilliant changes.

Here is the request: Automatically compare against a temporary version of the file from the repository.

Thanks, DanG

21

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Document Artifacts handled by external editor

« on: May 24, 2008, 03:20:22 am »

See "Local Paths support for any file type" for related request.

Regards, DanG

22

Suggestions and Requests / Re: Local Paths support for any type

« on: May 24, 2008, 02:58:35 am »

I'm having good results using EA as a tool to implement specific practices in CMMI RD and REQM process areas. This feature would make it a lot easier to link to artifacts created outside of EA. In my case, none of the user-generated artifacts are EA elements.

23

Suggestions and Requests / Local Paths support for any type

« on: May 23, 2008, 10:23:20 am »

Is there a way to specify a local path for linked files?

Web links don't quite meet my needs and I use p4 to version control the documents and, by side effect, distribute them. If I could define a local path type then I could link to file just like I link to source code.

Example:
A visio drawing has a very useful graphic in it and I'd like to link it to a use case element. The visio file is checked into perforce and I see it at D:\dev\ProjectX\Models\Requirements\foo.vsd. Other colaborators see it in different local paths but always under ...\Models\Requirements. Thus, I'd set MODEL_REC_DOCS to D:\dev\ProjectX\Models\Requirements. Other colaborators would set MODEL_REC_DOCS according to their local tree. Thus, the links would work for us all.

Thanks,
Dan

24

General Board / Show Behavior in Diagram Formatting

« on: July 26, 2013, 02:16:39 am »

Does anyone know how to make behavior text show nicely in state charts? I'm talking about the result of entering text in the Behavior in an operation properties dialog and ticking the "Show Behavior in Diagram" box. The text is rendered with leading white space removed.

Managing the code in the Behavior box is terribly inconvenient. Does anyone have a plug-in? An action language editor integration?

Thanks,
Dan

25

General Board / Re: SysML flow ports compartment suppression

« on: May 06, 2012, 05:52:08 am »

Duh. Thank you for being willing to play "Mr. Obvious." I looked at that dialog box so many times but it took you saying that the option was there for me to see it.

26

General Board / SysML flow ports compartment suppression

« on: May 05, 2012, 05:32:08 am »

How can I suppress the SysML Block flow ports compartment? When I show the block with embedded elements visible I don't need the compartment on.

Thanks,
Dan

27

General Board / Re: AUtomatically Refresh Diagrams

« on: December 04, 2010, 03:08:28 pm »

I really hate it when people suggest that I have a problem I should not have rather than helping me solve it. Now, I'm about to do that to you. Sorry. I mean no disrespect and I am only interested in the use case.

I use the diagrams as input mechanisms. The only diagrams I have are the ones I used to figure out what I intend to do. When it comes time to change functionality, the first thing I do is look at and change the diagrams. If the diagrams are not useful for this purpose, I do not create them.

What benefit do your diagrams provide above and beyond what you already get from the spreadsheets? Examining diagrams in order to make design changes is a manual process. It seems you are already able to make design changes based on the spreadsheets w/o looking at the diagrams.

I just wonder about the use case and if it is one I have overlooked.

Respectfully,
Dan

28

General Board / Re: Is there anyway to process macro of C++ file ?

« on: November 20, 2010, 02:28:26 am »

[Deleted misleading comments about IDL code gen/import]
If you installed the MDG technology for Corba then IDL will appear in the language options for source code import. Make sure you used Add-ins->Corba to install the MDG technology. If you don't see Corba in the list then you also need to enable the add-in using Add-ins->Manage Add-ins. Even at this point, you will be faced with possible incompatibilities between MIDL and CORBA IDL.

Yet another idea for your primary goal is to just do a quick macro expansion using search-and-replace on a copy of strmif.h. The import source code feature is most valuable when you change the code before changing the design. Since strmif.h (and any other 3rd party lib interfaces you use) won't change very frequently the value of automatic import becomes much less significant.

29

General Board / Re: Is there anyway to process macro of C++ file ?

« on: November 19, 2010, 02:55:20 am »

You can run the C++ preprocessor on the files and then import the preprocessed code. It is inconvenient but not too bad for code that doesn't change.

You could try importing the MIDL files instead of the C++ files. I use CORBA idl and there is a free add-in for that. I don't know if it would work for MIDL but you could try it. This option will enable you to reference the interfaces and use the methods in sequence diagrams.

You might consider neglecting those interfaces altogether. It may be sufficient to model only the package dependency and not worry about the details of how your code uses the interface. For me, most of the modeling benefit is to clarify and verify the interfaces I'm designing. I get less benefit from modeling the interfaces I do not control. YMMV.

HTH, Dan

30

General Board / Re: Classes go in Class model or Component model?

« on: October 29, 2010, 07:34:46 am »

When creating new interfaces, I create the element directly in the project browser under the global interfaces package. I assign it to a flow port (essentially a public attribute of the component) by assigning it as the port classifier in my component diagram. For mode changing interfaces (pure virtual classes defining member functions) I add required and provided interfaces of the requisite type (from the global interfaces package).

Global Interfaces
  namespace
    interface
    interface
    interface
Global Classes
  namespace
     class
     class
Component Package
  Component Model
    Component diagram depicting the component by itself (pin-out diagram)
    Component element
      port1 (with classifier defined in the global interfaces package)
      port2
      port...
      partA (with classifier defined in Class package below)
      partB (with classifier defined in a global class package)
      part... (or classified by component classifier defined in another component package)
  Classes
     namespace
       namespace for this component
         class diagrams - primarily inheritance depictions
         class
         class
Compoent package
   ...
  
The parts attributed to the component can be classified by external classes or other components. When you do that you have and inter-package dependency. This of course is only practical and you'll take care to package those global classes carefully (they must not directly use internal classes). Thus, this component package will depend on the global interfaces package and a global class or component package.

This is just my way of doing things and is not pure. It is very much an implementation model can could be derived from a logical model. However, my skills progression goes like this:
Learn to write code that you can get to work
Learn to write code that you can test <-- lots of years at this plateau
Learn to write code that you can model <-- recent accomplishment
Learn to write models that map to code <-- " "
Learn to write requirements that you can allocate to your model <-- working on it
Learn to write models that you can model... <-- aspiring to

Dan