Absent parents - not in model

[Paolo F Cantoni]

When a parent of a class is not present on the diagram (and the Show Additional Parents checkbox is checked), then EA will display the parents not on the diagram at the top of the class.

However, EA does not make any distinction between those parents that are not on the diagram, but in the repository) and those parents not in the diagram BECAUSE they aren't in the repository!

This can cause a lot of unnecessary searching and apparent inconsistencies.

(There are related problems in the Hierarchy window and the Links panel)

Could I suggest that the truly absent parents be specifically adorned (such as by enclosing in parentheses) - so that it is clear that these parents are "somewhere else", not in this repository.

Voting starts now...  
Paolo

[Eve]

You can find out what parents are in the model or not in the set element parent dialog (http://www.sparxsystems.com/EAUserGuide/index.html?setelementparent.htm)

Are the related problems you mentioned that the parents not in the repository aren't listed?

[Paolo F Cantoni]

You can find out what parents are in the model or not in the set element parent dialog (http://www.sparxsystems.com/EAUserGuide/index.html?setelementparent.htm)

Are the related problems you mentioned that the parents not in the repository aren't listed?

Thanks for the prompt response Simon, but the problems I'm describing are what happens AFTER you have checked the box [X]Accept Classifier even if not in model.

(BTW: If you import an exported XML package to another repository, you will also get this effect, whether or not the checkbox is checked.)

My point is that the classifier knows what parents it is generalized from - and these are (correctly) displayed on the diagram.  They should also be displayed on the Links panel and the Hierarchy window.  The problem is that they need to be identified as not being in the model - hence the suggestion that they be enclosed in parentheses.

Otherwise, you have an apparently inconsistent model - diagram says one thing, the other viewpoints say different.  By giving these absent parents the same adornment on all viewpoints, consistency is regained, plus the added information that they aren't present in this repository.

Paolo

[sargasso]

This one certainly gets my vote with two thumbs up and a chocolate shake on the side!!!

At the moment I work around this using a set of stub classes in a ¨stub" package to specifically avoid using the aforementioned ¨ [X]Accept Classifier even if not in model¨.


bruce