Recent Posts

1

General Board / Re: Setting Attributes on multiple elements

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on September 10, 2025, 05:50:38 pm »

Hmm, we are resurrecting a post from 2007 , when EA was on only a toddler at version 7.

Is that really a good idea?

A script that updates the author on a set of elements is fairly easy to write.

Geert

2

Uml Process / Re: How do you keep big UML projects from turning into a mess?

« Last post by PDC on September 10, 2025, 05:19:32 pm »

...- document the metamodel
- build MDG technologies to aid your users to follow the guidelines
...
- training/coaching

Agree - these are hugely important. Having a documented approach, a metamodel, proper training/guidance, style guides etc should all be mandatory in my opinion. I may live in a very idealistic world, but that's the reality of model management, and especially critical when managing transition from document-based design to MBSE. Must be done from day 1!!

3

General Board / Re: Setting Attributes on multiple elements

« Last post by PDC on September 10, 2025, 05:17:41 pm »

You bring up an interesting point...
How does one right an add-in for EA?

My only reservation about writing an add-in is that the next version will have the feature(s) I will want and will write.

A script would be a much simpler and quicker solution.

4

Bugs and Issues / Issue getting information from template sections - EA17.1

« Last post by pb17 on September 10, 2025, 02:22:28 am »

Hi!

I'm currently testing EA 17.1 (Build 1713). I've implemented multiple custom templates in EA 15.1, and when trying to run them in EA 17.1, the behavior is not what is expected.

In the templates that extract element information from diagrams, there is no output in the "Element" section, even though the diagram contains elements (confirmed via t_diagram and t_diagramobjects).
However, the "Diagram" and "Package" sections do return information correctly.

The template structure is as follows:

Package>
   Diagram>
       Element>
           {Element.Name}
           {Element.Notes}
       <Element
   <Diagram
Child packages>
<Child packages
<Package
Am I missing something that changed in the latest releases? Or is this indeed a bug?

Thanks in advance!

5

Bugs and Issues / TFS Connector broken in v17.1

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on September 09, 2025, 08:52:39 pm »

In v17.1.1713 we get the following error when a file has been checked out

Error while initializing Version Control provider:

TFS reports the following error:

Warning - Unable to refresh Test TFS.xml because you have a pending edit.
Warning - Unable to refresh C:\Users\Geert.bellekens\source\repos\Test TFS.xml because you have a
pending edit.

The result is that EA is now disconnected from TFS

It looks like this is caused by a change in the way EA "refreshes" the TFS files.
In v15 it issues the command:

TF.exe get

whereas in v17 EA it does

TF.exe get . /recursive /force   /noprompt

I'm guessing the /force parameter is the problem here.
Not sure why the implementation of the TFS connector has been changed, but it definitely is completely broken in version 17.1.1713

Reported

Geert

PS I had to censor the actual commands issues by EA in order to get this topic to be posted.

6

General Board / Re: Cloning Components and Ports and changing their types and stereotypes

« Last post by philchudley on September 09, 2025, 06:43:54 pm »

I believe the major challenge will be that in UML a port is an owned child element whereas in AcrhiMate the ApplicationInteraction is a separate element associated with an ArchiMate ApplicationComponent element.

A scripted solution maybe possible, creating relationships (trace?) between the UML elements and their respective ArchiMate elements, in a similar manner to that used by Time Aware Modelling. This could create the elements and their traceability, but creating the ArchiMate version of the diagram,  , The script could "clone" the diagram, then iterate the elements on the diagram performing the transformations as necessary, but this still raises the issue of nested ports in UML, versus separate related elements in ArchiMate. It maybe be easier to script the element changes, then create the ArchiMate diagrams manually.

Best of luck

Phil

7

Uml Process / Re: How do you keep big UML projects from turning into a mess?

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on September 09, 2025, 06:43:39 pm »

There's no silver bullet I'm afraid. It will require work.

- Start by organising your model in packages
- document the metamodel
- build MDG technologies to aid your users to follow the guidelines
- validate the syntax of your model (e.g. using my EA Validator addin)
- training/coaching
- rinse and repeat

Geert

8

Uml Process / How do you keep big UML projects from turning into a mess?

« Last post by pandrhola on September 09, 2025, 06:15:39 pm »

Hi everyone,

I’ve been building a UML model in Enterprise Architect for a project, and at the start it was fine… but now it’s getting HUGE.
I’ve got hundreds of diagrams and thousands of elements.
Some diagrams are so crowded they’re hard to read.
Different parts of the model don’t always line up well.
New team members get lost when they open it.
I’m trying to figure out how other people deal with this.

Would love to hear how you all keep your models clean, organized, and easy to use over time. Thanks!

9

Uml Process / Re: InformationFlow between Actor and UC

« Last post by PDC on September 09, 2025, 05:21:59 pm »

Thanks both, appreciate the input.

It's a bit unconventional, but as long as you have a clear documented purpose for this type of relation, I would not hesitate.

Yes this is increasingly my attitude to a lot of modelling to be honest - as long as something has a documented purpose (like an internal company style guide or set of rules) then it is a lot easier to justify bending rules... depends on the tool a little bit as well I guess.
It's also a challenge I've found when working with companies/programmes that are moving from documented design into a modelling environment. If people/businesses are less experienced in modelling (and I am by no means a veteran) then little 'features' like this one seem to creep in because they make sense to the person who drew the diagram. Sometimes it's easier to document the oddity rather than educate an entire team on every specificity of the UML & SysML specs (as the idiom goes: 'ask for forgiveness rather than permission'). But then again, I'm also naturally quite pedantic about syntax and am more inclined to try to educate myself directly from the specs whilst the business just wants a model that looks "graphically ok" and is "acceptable by a customer".

10

General Board / Re: Cloning Components and Ports and changing their types and stereotypes

« Last post by MelisaTreutel on September 09, 2025, 04:29:40 pm »

The solution you describe could be implemented: make a copy of UML Components, change the type to ArchiMate Application Component, and change UML Ports to Application Interfaces/Interactions. Those who do need to check the mapping semantics, make sure the relationships and metadata are correct, and consider using automation tools to reduce errors.