Recent Posts

21

General Board / Re: changing text font size and adding toolbox Legend in EA Diagrams?

« Last post by khalid.ibrahim on September 26, 2026, 03:27:34 am »

Thank you!

22

General Board / Re: changing text font size and adding toolbox Legend in EA Diagrams?

« Last post by Sparx Systems Malaysia on September 25, 2026, 09:04:57 pm »

For the default diagram font, use Start → Appearance → Preferences → Preferences → Diagram → Appearance → Default Fonts. Note that a diagram-level font can override your user default.


You can add EA’s standard legend from Toolbox → Common → Diagram Legend. However, that legend is primarily intended for appearance conventions such as colors and line widths. It does not provide entries for UML connector-end symbols such as the filled Composition diamond.

For a printed notation key, the practical workaround is to create a small legend graphic showing the required symbols and insert it into the diagram, or construct a small manual key using sample connectors and Text/Note elements.

If your team is looking to improve how your organisation uses Enterprise Architect, you can get in touch with us to learn more.

23

General Board / Re: Why aren't diagrams included in Update Status?

« Last post by Sparx Systems Malaysia on September 24, 2026, 03:39:42 am »

Sparx EA’s documented Automation Interface provides a writable Diagram.Version property. A script can iterate through the diagrams in a selected package, assign the required version, and call Update() for each diagram. Subpackages can be included if required.

For your reference: https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/17.2/add-ins___scripting/diagram2.html

If your team is looking to improve how your organisation uses Enterprise Architect, you can get in touch with us to learn more.

24

General Board / changing text font size and adding toolbox Legend in EA Diagrams?

« Last post by khalid.ibrahim on September 24, 2026, 02:36:13 am »

Hello,
I'd like to increase the font size of the text I put in an EA diagram and also add a legend that displays the artifacts I'm using (like composition links with the diamond head) in the print out of my diagrams. Is there a way I can do this?
thanks for your help.

25

General Board / Re: Move elements to another package by going through the diagram?

« Last post by Sparx Systems Malaysia on September 24, 2026, 02:16:32 am »

The distinction here is between moving an element’s appearance in a diagram and changing its owner in the model. Cutting and pasting between diagrams does the former.

For the ownership change, relocate the underlying elements in the Browser to the intended destination. Official documentation indicate that Browser moves to preserve existing relationships and diagram usage.

For your example, first check whether the flow’s nodes belong directly to the Use Case or to an Activity beneath it; that determines what should be moved. You can then arrange their appearances on the destination diagram.

Could you share the relevant Browser hierarchy? That would help identify the correct scope of the move without unintentionally moving shared nodes.

If your team is looking to improve how your organisation uses Enterprise Architect, you can get in touch with us to learn more.

26

General Board / Re: Prevent generation of "finalize()" methods?

« Last post by hoylet on September 23, 2026, 07:51:43 pm »

In version 17 to suppress the generation of destructors or finalize methods :-

From the ribbon Settings.Model.Options select Source Code Eng. Object Lifetimes uncheck Generate Destructor

27

Bugs and Issues / Dynamic note and enum/memo single tag values

« Last post by Guillaume on September 18, 2026, 10:48:37 pm »

Hi

I use the Link this Note to an element Feature to create a dynamic note on a stereotyped element and show the details of a single tagged value.
When I have an enum tagged value, it shows the tagged value name and value but also the memo field which includes all enum values.
For enumeration tagged values, EA shouldn't display the memo field content.

I have a similar issue with memo tagged values where I get "Tag name = <memo>; Description..." -> it would be neater not to have the <memo> value displayed in the note.

28

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Aggregated Enumerations in Profile

« Last post by Eve on September 15, 2026, 09:32:11 am »

depending on the "order" of the stereotypes (although in UML there is no order)

I can't find any information in the UML spec about whether they are ordered or not. But there is some kind of ordering in the spec because if multiple stereotypes aren't applied they are displayed in an order.

- You can't use the field t_object.Stereotype anymore as it now contains one of the multiple stereotype names (and it might be any of them)

And you shouldn't be using it. The API allows access to the full list even if there are properties (on each object) to access that field.

- Metatype determination becomes uncertain

Always the first.

- Shapescript might behave erratic, depending on the "order" of the stereotypes (although in UML there is no order)

Metatype if it's defined and if not then the first.

- metamodel constraints will probably behave in weird ways

Not as far as I'm aware.

- the icon in the project browser/toolbox will be what?

For the project browser it's the metatype. For the toolbox it's a non-issue because a toolbox item can only have one stereotype.

29

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Aggregated Enumerations in Profile

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on September 14, 2026, 06:02:10 pm »

Oh dear, YAEAB!?! - What am I up against with multiple stereotypes?

Not bugs per sé, but things that are simply nor forseen for multiple stereotypes.
What I can think about is:

- You can't use the field t_object.Stereotype anymore as it now contains one of the multiple stereotype names (and it might be any of them)
- Metatype determination becomes uncertain
- Shapescript might behave erratic, depending on the "order" of the stereotypes (although in UML there is no order)
- metamodel constraints will probably behave in weird ways
- the icon in the project browser/toolbox will be what?

As you can see there are many things that work just fine if you have only one stereotype, but might behave differently when there are multiple stereotypes.
You can offcourse try to take all of these into account, and use different "types" of stereotypes. (e.g. Full stereotype vs tagged value only stereotype) but it is a can of worms I'd rather avoid.

Geert

30

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: Database Query Restrictions in Enterprise Architect 17.2

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on September 13, 2026, 08:09:20 am »

Hello,

I also stumbled on the issue with Update/Insert via sql and EA 17.2 (disabled).

Is there a way to set e.g. PDATA3 for a Part which points to the original part (if the part is a reference)? In the past I used sql because there is no API (readonly property).

Ok, I can access with native SQL. For sqlite this shouldn't be a big deal.

Other databases aren't always that simple.

Have someone an idea or experiences?

Thanks,

Helmut

I've sent an email to Sparx support, with my list of all the things I use the now retricted methods for, asking for alternatives.

I have yet to get an answer.

I'm afraid I'll have to switch to native database queries at some point.
Upside of that is that this is much much faster than Repository.SQLQuery, and you don't need to worry about the translation into xml.

Geert