ElementGUID

[Erik]

We are starting to use EA as the central hub for information for a few projects. This said, it would be fun if we could "right-click" on a element (or diagram), select "Copy Unique Identifier to Clipboard" and then paste that "GUID" into something else (i.e. word or code).

There should be an option in the "Element" menu to "find Element by Unique Identifier", that would query the user for a GUID. If a GUID is on the clipboard, the space could be prepopulated. It would the locate the element in the project browser and the first diagram would be displayed.

It would be really cool if we could provide the "Element GUID" on the command line to launch EA and have the right thing show right away.

URL Monikers could also be used :
so we could go into Window`s Run prompt, and type : SparxEA://./c:/models/mymodel.eap/Element={123-123-412-3123-123}

That way we could really link things together.

Any thouhts ?

[Geert Bellekens]

I'm against providing a context menu option for copying the GUID to the clipboard. There are already enough context menu items, adding things like this, wich I think would only be used by a small number of users will only make it more complex.
You can copy the GUID from the properties window, or you could write a (very) small addin that performs that function for you.

[«Midnight»]

I do see Erik's point, but IMHO Geert is correct.

This concept could be applied to several properties of an element (or other entities withing EA) and would quickly overwhelm the UI if implemented.

If this is something you do often then an add-in is the way to go. There's nothing exotic involved in retrieving an element (or other) GUID from EA, so this would not require major programming.