Master Document Solution in EA V7.1 Beta

[Claudia_Dogaru]

I tried the new Master Document solution in EA V7.1 Beta.  I built a Master document using 8 model documents, saved the model, exported the package containing the master document and model documents to XMI then imported this package into a second EA project. This is where the problem occurred - the model document order in the Project Browser of the second project is different than the model document order in the Master document. I tried recreating the master document but the same problem occurred. The only difference between projects is that I created the first project on my local drive while the secpond project where I imported the master document to was on our corportae server. Additionally, the resulting generated document has a lot of tags and gibberish in it and is unusable.

My question is how do I re-order the model document order in the Master document to match the model document order in the Project Browser (I thought the order in the master document was controlled by the Project Browser order automatically). Is this a bug or is it something that is easily fixable?

Can anyone please help?

[Eve]

Additionally, the resulting generated document has a lot of tags and gibberish in it and is unusable.

This will be because of the viewer you are using for your documentation.

You need to find a checkbox labelled 'Overwrite document fields'.  In 7.0 this is on the dialog from 'Generate Options'. In 7.1 it's on the advanced tab.  For both, the value is taken from the template being used, so if you want it to persist you'll need to set it in your template.

[«Midnight»]

Hi Claudia,

[EDIT: I just noticed that Simon answered while I was typing my response. Check out his suggestion. If it works don't bother with what I've written below.

David]

Perhaps you could clarify things a bit. The first thing is, what build are you using? Beta versions can change radically between releases, and there a new build has just come out this week.

If the generated document is "unusable" why bother reordering it? Or do you mean something different by "unusable?"

Are you sure the model that is on your server was created with a recent script? I had some issues after moving to EA 7.0 that cleared up when I downloaded newer scripts. [Note: This might be a catch-22, since I don't think there are scripts to go with the beta release. We kind of have to take it on faith that the 7.0 scripts still work.]

It might be worth knowing what DBMS you are using on your server, though that might not be a factor here.

Finally, what do you mean by "tags and gibberish?"

David

[Claudia_Dogaru]

Hi Simon:

Thank you for your reply. I selected the master document, hit F8, then checked the "Overwrite Document Fields" checkbox on the Advanced tab. Nothing happened. I checked to ensure the "Overwrite Document Fields" checkbox was still checked and it wasn't, it had unchecked itself.

Can you please offer me step by step guidance on what to do? I have the master document built with 8 model documents and 1 template for the master and 1 separate template for each model document and the problem is that the order of the model docs in teh Project Browser is not reflected in themaster document, the model doc order in the master doc is different and I need it to reflect the order in teh Project Browser like it should.

Please help - Thanks

Claudia

[Oliver F.]

Hi Claudia.

Hi Simon:

Thank you for your reply. I selected the master document, hit F8, then checked the "Overwrite Document Fields" checkbox on the Advanced tab. Nothing happened. I checked to ensure the "Overwrite Document Fields" checkbox was still checked and it wasn't, it had unchecked itself.

The document options which you can see in the dialog are just a copy of the template document options used if you open it by pressing F8. You can change it once but if you close the RTF generation dialog and reopen it it will be reset.

How this relates to (and works with) master documents should be investigated.
However if you want to ensure the field override feature I suggest to go to each template involved (including the one of the master template) and check the box in the "File->Document Options..." dialog.

Can you please offer me step by step guidance on what to do? I have the master document built with 8 model documents and 1 template for the master and 1 separate template for each model document and the problem is that the order of the model docs in teh Project Browser is not reflected in themaster document, the model doc order in the master doc is different and I need it to reflect the order in teh Project Browser like it should.

I had a similar issue here though I can not reproduce it, currently.
Have to set up a few master and model documents first.

Oliver

[Claudia_Dogaru]

I followed your instructions and checked the Overwrite document fields option in all templates including the master template. What do I do now?

It still doesn't resolve my issue - the model document order in the master document is alphabetical and still doesn't match the order in the Project Browser.

Help, I am at my wits end!

[Oliver F.]

I followed your instructions and checked the Overwrite document fields option in all templates including the master template. What do I do now?

It still doesn't resolve my issue - the model document order in the master document is alphabetical and still doesn't match the order in the Project Browser.

Claudia, it should solve at least your problem with the document fields and the garbage.

My second statement said that I had a similar issue and I believe this is still the case.
The reason propably is a bug in the software which does a select statement in the DBMS based on alphabetical order, while from the file system it works ok.
That does not help you much, I believe but if you file a bug report at Sparx they will very soon come back to your problem.

Please be reminded that 7.1 is a beta and Sparx has advised very clear not to use it for productive purposes (an advice which we of course all follow, right guys ? I know the master document feature is tempting to use it productively)

Best regards,

Oliver

[«Midnight»]

IIRC the problem with alphabetical order has been around for a while. I think I saw something a while back about reports not respecting the Tools | Options | General dialog setting for Allow Free Sorting. What I think the prior item said was that although the Project Browser allows you to order packages the way you want, reports still used the default (alphabetical) order.

I'd say this is a bug, and should be reported as such. Since the bug persists into the 7.1 beta, that should be where you report it. The appropriate link is on the 7.1 beta download page.

If they can resolve this before production you should be OK Claudia. You can probably develop and test your master document - excepting the order of the packages - and then just retest that part when beta 3 or 7.1 production comes out.

The main thing is to get a bug report in to Sparx (not just the forum) now.

David