Connector: Aggregation. Notation lost

[Graham_Moir]

So I've been using this connector a lot over the last couple of weeks and have not had a problem with the diamond notation at one end of the connector.  Until today, when exactly the same connector has lost the diamond and I can't get it back. 

It's disappeared in some cases on some diagrams for existing connectors but not across the board,  however all new connectors are just a plain line at both ends - no diamond at all.  I am using the exact same method to create these that I have used without problems in the last couple of weeks.

Anyone come across this?   And is there a fix?

[qwerty]

How do you create it? QL, toolbox or context. What do the properties tell about the connector (Roles/Aggregation)? What MDGs do you have enabled?

q.

[Graham_Moir]

Initially created from the toolbox before the issue arose and the same way now.  F3 is used to repeat the connector from time to time.  Quicklinker not used for this.

It's "Aggregation" from the Archimate 3 structural relationships toolbox.  The stereotypes and roles etc.. are the same for connectors with the diamond and those without it.

No MDGs have been enabled/disabled.

Just to recap, this has been working for a frew weeks but has stopped.  My behaviour as an EA user hasn't changed, same element types, same connectors, but rendering is different without the diamond being shown. 

Very odd.

[qwerty]

So at least the Archimate MDG seems to be active. Maybe someone broke something with that?

q.

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Initially created from the toolbox before the issue arose and the same way now.  F3 is used to repeat the connector from time to time.  Quicklinker not used for this.

It's "Aggregation" from the Archimate 3 structural relationships toolbox.  The stereotypes and roles etc.. are the same for connectors with the diamond and those without it.

No MDGs have been enabled/disabled.

Just to recap, this has been working for a frew weeks but has stopped.  My behaviour as an EA user hasn't changed, same element types, same connectors, but rendering is different without the diamond being shown. 

Very odd.

Hi Grandma!

Just in case you can't suck eggs, I'd check the t_xref entries for the various connectors to confirm they are all correct.  I'd also check that there isn't a local stereotype with the same name as the ArchiMate one.  We once found a couple of these (ArchoiMate_XXXX) in our local stereotype list.  In fact, EA will create local stereotypes with the same name as the MDG (our MDG stereotypes are VERY distinctive so we know these came from EA) under some circumstances (which we haven't figured out yet). We didn't investigate much (we DO have "day jobs"  ), but instead wrote a query as part of our overnight processing to ensure that any created (normally, during our overnight process) are removed at the end.

Solved some anomalous rendering problems similar to yours.

HTH,
Paolo

[Graham_Moir]

I raised this as a support issue, and the problem appears to be as Paolo has described.

Here's the info from Sparx:

"the earliest aggregations (with the lowest IDs) are Associations with the stereotype 'ArchiMate_Aggregation', then there is a single NoteLink with the stereotype 'ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation', and then after that there are many Associations with stereotype 'ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation'.  It appears that the stereotyped NoteLink was created accidentally and that caused subsequent problems......  We are working on a fix to prevent the same thing happening in the future.   Issue ID: 17056234..... "

And for new aggregations
".... the problem is that there is now a stereotype named "ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation" in the stereotypes table. When you create an Archimate aggregation from the toolbox, EA looks for a stereotype match for "ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation" and finds an incorrect match in the stereotypes table when it is hoped it would have instead found "ArchiMate_Aggregation" in the "ArchiMate3" profile. Deleting the stereotype "ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation" from the stereotypes table will prevent any future incorrect matching."

[rjheward]

Graham - how did you actually get round this? Did 'Deleting the stereotype "ArchiMate3::ArchiMate_Aggregation" from the stereotypes table' work? Do you have to resort to database level commands?

I have the same problem with Composition relationships. I've created a load of ArchiMate ArchiMate_Composition connectors between nodes and devices and they are all rendered as a straight line. Manually creating them are fine.

[Graham_Moir]

Yes you need to delete the rogue stereotype.