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61

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: When is a Metamodel not a metamodel?

« Last post by Modesto Vega on November 14, 2025, 09:21:33 pm »

I now follow a similar approach to Geert, with possibly one exception I am still thinking about.

I typically have the following:

1) A conceptual model, using UML class diagrams, without attributes. Depending on the size of the MDG, I will use multiple diagrams.
2) A Logical model, again using UML class diagrams, with attributes. I use as many diagram as I used in the conceptual model.
3) The EA profile used to generate the profile.
4) And, often but not always, a poster leveraging the conceptual model, typically breaking down the model into, for example, aspects or layers.

I always keep all the above in the same repository or branch of the repository.

The exception I have not worked out yet, is how well the above works for an MDG based on, for example, Sparx EA implementation of ArchiMate. The main reason is that is that I don't want to get caught in reverse translation exercise.

62

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / Re: When is a Metamodel not a metamodel?

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on November 14, 2025, 08:17:45 pm »

Hi Paolo,

I generally have three different models (with their corresponding diagrams)

1. A conceptual metamodel. This is where we start. The metamodel is basically a class diagram. Each element is a class, each property is an attribute. Each relation an association (sometimes with aggregationkind=composite). We also do taxonomy using generaralizations. These are the requirements for the MDG developers.

2. The EA UML profile model, used to generate the MDG. This is sort-of the platform (Sparx EA) specific implementation of our conceptual metamodel. Here we decide which elements will be stereotypes, and how to implement properties and relationship constraints.

3. The metamodel poster. This is a visually pleasing representation of the metamodel that can be printed and hung on the wall as a poster. It uses the visual representations as the users see them in the model and diagrams. Usually this is not complete, but more of a summary showing the most important elements and relations.
My experience is that this works best to communicate the metamodel to the average modeller.

Next to these models/diagrams we also have guidelines documents, detailing usage and rules of each of the metamodel elements. Here we include things like naming conventions, location in the model, etc...

Geert

63

Automation Interface, Add-Ins and Tools / When is a Metamodel not a metamodel?

« Last post by Paolo F Cantoni on November 14, 2025, 07:52:01 pm »

We are familiar with creating an MDG, particularly in this section of the website.  The MDG defines the nodes that the technology allows you to create and the edges that can connect them.  It also allows you to define how the various nodes and edges will be rendered, along with any constraints that may apply.  It further allows you to define the nature and properties of the items.  This sounds suspiciously like a metamodel, but is it?  If it’s not a metamodel, what is it then?

I’m asking for your thoughts.

We currently create our MDGs in a separate repository that contains the MDG definitions.  We then generate the MDG and apply it to the repository that holds the actual models we are developing.  As the MDG developer, I can review the diagrams (in the MDG repository) for the items and visualise how they will appear in the model repository.  But this is too difficult for the user who just wants to model and understand the rules.  “The thigh bone’s connected to the knee bone, the knee bone’s connected to the leg bone... etc.”.  So I thought we’d create the equivalent diagram to the one in the MDG, but with the «stereotype» item replaced by the generated item and the «stereotyped relationship» replaced by the generated edge and so on.  This would provide a visual view of what the MDG can do.

What kind of diagram would this be?  Could I call it a metamodel diagram?  What about the items, both nodes and edges, on the diagram?  Are they the generated items or something else?
For example,  I have «stereotype» in the MDG whose _metatype is Concept.  Concepts are represented as nodes in the model (in fact, they look suspiciously like ArchiMate Meaning items).  Do I place a Concept on the diagram, or do I place a Concept Node on the diagram?  Similarly, do I place a Composition or a Composition Edge on the diagram?

Thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated.

Paolo

64

General Board / Re: How to copy an Activity into an Activity that calls it?

« Last post by ea1122 on November 14, 2025, 04:24:15 am »

Thank you very much! That worked fine. For some reason the outer Activity diagram boundary disappeared, so I wonder how to restore that so that the Parameter pins and Action pins can be located there?

65

General Board / Re: Level Numbering Inactive

« Last post by SafEAty on November 14, 2025, 02:41:32 am »

Hi everyone,

I found the solution myself. The Auto Numbering is not active in the "Requirement" perspective. Changing it back made the feature available.

BR,
SafEAty

66

General Board / Level Numbering Inactive

« Last post by SafEAty on November 14, 2025, 01:34:05 am »

Dear all,

I am new to EA and currently setting up my first project. In the tryouts I was able to activate level numbering in the specifcation manager. For some reason it is now not possible to activate it. I have tryed also other (old) files and also there it seems to be deactivated.

Anybody has an idea why it is deactivated and where to reactivate it?

Thanks,
SafEAty

67

General Board / Re: How to copy an Activity into an Activity that calls it?

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on November 14, 2025, 12:51:19 am »

You can simply move all Actions (and decisions, etc...) from ActivityA to the calling Activity (drag in project browser) and then put them on the diagram.
Then you can delete Activity A

Geert

68

General Board / How to copy an Activity into an Activity that calls it?

« Last post by ea1122 on November 14, 2025, 12:47:07 am »

An activity has a Call(BehaviorAction) to Activity A which is not called anywhere else, so its contents should instead be copied into the calling activity. But when Activity A is copied, it cannot be pasted into the calling activity. Two methods were tried:
1. In browser, right-click Activity A, select Copy/FullStructureForDuplication.
Right-click the destination activity diagram, select Paste (only allows paste of an image).
2. In browser, drag Activity A to the destination activity diagram (allows only paste as an Invocation, Link, or Partition), select Partition (copies empty diagram with param. pins)
Does anyone know how to copy an Activity into an Activity that calls it?

69

General Board / Re: How to prevent automatic diagram rescaling?

« Last post by Geert Bellekens on November 13, 2025, 10:46:17 pm »

I've never witnessed this behavior. Do you remember setting a specific setting that started this behavior?

Geert

70

General Board / Re: How to prevent automatic diagram rescaling?

« Last post by Ralph Hains on November 13, 2025, 09:40:42 pm »

Did this ever get resolved... it is basically limiting me to using EA for small and simple models and switching tools as soon as models get big and complex (in particular wrt deep hierarchy). It really should be possible to turn this functionality off when it goes past the point where it causes much more work than it removes