ER Studio Migration

[Tulkas]

Has anyone out there migrated large ER Studio data models (logical and physical) in to Sparx?  If so any ideas on best way to migrate?  If not, suggestions welcome. Thanks much.

                              Art

[Geert Bellekens]

I don't think there's a standard migration process for this tool.
So that leaves you with the classics. See if your tool can export to xmi, that you can import into EA.

If not you'll need to hire someone to write a custom migration tool. That's all doable, but you should count on a couple of weeks work; so quite a big investment.

Depending on the size of the model, it might be cheaper to migrate it manually.

Geert

[Sunshine]

You can take a few approaches.
a) XMI export then import
b) Hire a professional developer to write a plugin
c) Hire an intern who is  a 2nd year software engineering student to write it.

Looks like a) as Geert suggested should be the first thing you should try as it looks like ER Studio can do that.
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/ERStudioDA/185/en/Exporting_a_Data_Model_to_XML

If that doesn't work then you have b) or c).

Did a similar think but with PowerDesigner took option c) where I supervised as I could do it but just didn't have the time. Only do c) if you are a software engineer and could do it your self as an intern needs lots of guidance. Great experience to give an undergrad. Glad to say that intern went on to Graduate and got a great job afterwards due partially to the experience we'd given him.

[Tulkas]

Couple of follow ons. 

Other than XMI, is there a standard import export format for Sparx ERDs, .csv .xls?

Does Sparx support any VBA like capability where I could write code to import from a .csv or .xls?     

[qwerty]

There is no ERD default import, though CSV is supported. Scripting is (from my POV) the best solution. EA has build-in and external programming support.

q.

[Geert Bellekens]

CSV can only be used for elements (tables), not for attributes, relations, or operations.

Excel can be used. See https://bellekens.com/ea-excel-import-export/ or the standard Office MDG thing, but you'll have to build some additional stuff.

EA exposes an API that can be used by
- internal scripting
- Add-ins
- external programs using things like C# or Excel VBA

Geert

[Guillaume]

I recently imported the XMI file generated by ER Studio to retrieve a data model.
Diagrams are not supported but I could generate the classes + attributes + associations.

I had to write a script to fix a few discrepancies:
- set the direction on all associations to unspecified
- replaced 1..1 multiplicities with 1
- when the Aggregation on the target is set to share and multiplicity is * or 0..*, the target Aggregation is updated with "none" and set to share on the source (it was the wrong way round)

[Tulkas]

Many thanks folks!