Is the RTF generator the way to go for EA?

[Kobus]

Reading all the comments in this forum about the new RTF generator I'm questioning if this is the right way to go! I presume that most of us use a very good text editor already (MS-Word, Open Office). Shouldn't Sparx invest their efforts in making better integration with these tools instead of making their own?

For example, why not making the templates in these editors instead of trying to match all the functionality of those editors! The new rtf editor is nice, but by no means enough to make real nice documents like the onces which can be produced with MS Word or Open Office. And it will take some time before the rtf editor is as stable as these text editors and has the same functionality.

Another thing is the use of subdocuments which is recommended. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but subdocuments use absolute paths which can cause problems when you have multiple developers in your team which each must be able to generate the document, or if you want to publish the document on a website (the subdocuments must be in the same directory location on all those machines to work  ). I know this isn't an EA issue; but still it effects useability.  So why not using Word automation en Word templates to generate documents?

I intend (and started) to develop an add-in which uses virtual documents and Word automation to generate documents. Using tags, a main Word document is associated with a virtual document. By using the same principle a template (don't know if I will use the new EA templates or use my own in Word) and a location marker is associated with each package in the virtual document. The location marker indicates where in the main document the package should be inserted. When generating a virtual document the main document and packages are combined and saved as one seperate document which can be distributed. This way it is easy to update a document, and still produce one output file. Well anyhow, that's the global idea  

Anyone any thoughts or suggestions?

[mikewhit]

I could, rather mischievously, add that EA should integrate better with Visio rather than exporting XMI ... :-) - after all, don't we all have copies of Visio on our systems ? [I don't]

But since RTF is something of a de facto lowest common denominator of formatted text (it even works in Wordpad !) I see it as a good thing to support, even if it does originate from a proprietary source (correct me?).

I can also see a case for a simple EA template creator, which is implicitly compatible with EA document generation - think of all the potential for problems if you created an RTF template in some other application which had a slightly different interpretation of some RTF element.

Since I've not used the new system though, I will now say no more.

[mike_bcn2003]

Hello,

I use an expensive report generator that integrates with MS Word (not with the EA). My experience is that such an integration with MS Word prodcues many many problems (compatibility, etc.). Many of the problems are unreproducible. I would prefer an report generator that produces a simple RTF file and just works.  

[kgish]

Yes I also prefer to go with something simpler that just works.

[fwoolz]

I agree. Documents can always be "prettified" in Word later on. But wouldn't an XML documentation generator be a good next step?

[thomaskilian]

Hi Fred,
in general you are right. Especially if you think of the possibilities with Office 2003. Unfortunately I have to stay with Office 2K for a while.

[macduff]

I just wanted to add my general agreement to this thread.  

Document generation always seems to be the poor cousin in all the UML Modelling tools I have tested - but is the main purpose for which I need such a tool.

In my previous organisation, we used a competing product to EA which allowed rtf in model element descriptions.  At the click of a button, this was pushed out to an external 'word processor' application - so that the tool did not need to replicate this functionality.  The tool was simply able to display (to a large extent) the rtf produced.

However, I agree rtf is not the way forward - but at the moment probably the only sensible option.  I too would like to see an open xml based document format - e.g. OASIS used by Open Office...

(I am currently just reviewing EA.  In general I am impressed - but not being able to produce adequate documentation from a model could kill it for me).

[sargasso]

EA should not, should not, should not rely on specific commercial products to provide desired functionality.  

EA should rely on standard interfaces  

rtf is not a standard interface  

XMI is a standard interface  

[thomaskilian]

XMI is a standard interface  

It does not tell you anything about formatting text :-/

[Thomas_Nilsson]

As long as there is no better lowest denominator RTF works fine for me. I can import it in many word-/documentprocessors.

I can even use words "dynamically import file as a field"-function to have my overall documentation in a word file which automatically imports and formats all model generated documentation. As soon as I have generated a new RTF, my document is ready for printing.

EA should not, and does not as I see it, replicate word-processing functions. It just tries to let you manage basic viewing of generated reports, right?

My problem is really that the template structure is illogical and cumbersome to tweak. I have a wish for a better visual clue to how the various template building blocks are logically connected.

Part of this problem is that meta-model is hard to understand, inconsequently used or possibly not documented well enough.

Would it not be possible to create a navigational structure following the hierarchy of the meta model that can be used when ever a relation/object etc. need to be selected.

One such instance is the Matricies where I have a hard time finding the correct association to use viz a viz the model that you have made.

[juliancooling]

I actually like the documents it produces but like Thomas, I sometimes want to structure documents on the relationship hierarchy rather than only 'the package and its children'. These are the documents that get distributed to the customer that should look good and be drawn directly from the modelling tool.

I cannot workout how to do this using the template structure but given the underlying way EA does things, I cannot believe that it cannot be done. I want to create a template, click on a behaviour diagram or a class diagram and print out the requirements and use cases with which it is associated.

It is as if the RTF editor interface is a glass wall that keeps me from reaching the best bits of the underlying data model.

Julian

[Weedman]

I tototally agrre with Julian.

I need to click on a diagram and genereate a report based on the contents of the diagram.

Another issue I have is needing to reormat the document after it is created in another tool (ie word). This is like printing somethingthing out to reneter in another system.

I also need the ability to make some descisions in the template for formating (ie If the element status = 'NEW") so I can change the document format based on element types, etc...

We are evaluating EA and these documentation issues will keep us from adopting the tool and force us to use a compeitors product.

[sargasso]

We are evaluating EA and these documentation issues will keep us from adopting the tool and force us to use a compeitors product.

My condolences.

[xtrand]

One of the biggest benefits to me with using EA is to be able to generate requirements documents.

For this to useful, it should be possible to attach a Word template (with all the company headings, sections and text styles) to the RTF generator.

It should then be possible to insert (drag and drop) the EA RTF sections into _specific places_ into this document.

OR

allow me to just type the XML straight into my Word template.

This way, I only have to do ONE generation of my RTF report to generate my updated requirements document. Also, new projects can reuse my Word template.

I have been trying all day to try and achieve RTF report generation containing the glossary and the requirements with the least effort and encountered the following problems:

- RTF generator screws up my formatting and I can't use the company textstyles.
- Can't add EA sections wherever I want in my template - it only wants to put the elements in sequence, and I get the protected text error.
- I tried doing it "the other way round", i.e. use EA to only export sections that I then link into my Word document.

The problem with this is that:
- I have to do the export for each section I want to use(glossary and requirements) AND REMEMBER to change output file.
- Every time we start a new project, we (presumably) have to recreate these export files, since the RTF export exports to RTF format, but the import imports in XML format.