Help - element colours, defaults and resetting

[matthew.james]

Can someone explain this to me as I can't figure it out through the manuals or what I read in the forums ...

As I understand it:
- Elements have a default appearance (border, fill, font etc) associated with their class
- This default appearance can be overriden using a stereotype
- When a new element is placed on a diagram it gets this default appearance (either base or stereotype as appropriate)
- The element can be individually altered to have a specific fill, border colour etc using drawing tools --> This only affects the one element changed
- The colour for an element can also be altered using the Default Appearance dialogue (F4) --> This sounds like it should set the new default appearance for all elements of that class, but it appears to actually only affect the currently selected element (??)
- If the element is changed using this dialogue (F4) then the same dialogue can be used to reset the element to default colours
- However if the element is changed directly using toolbars then this 'Reset to defaults' has no effect
- (Note that above behaviour also holds true for stereotyped elements)

So, to the questions:
- Why is the "Default Appearance" dialogue called that when it doesn't change the default appearance?
- Why does this dialogue not reset appearance for elements which have been manually altered?
- How can such an element be reset to default appearance?

- Are any of the above bugs that I should be reporting? (or am I just not understanding how they work)

[qwerty]

Ah, you need to think Sparxian. Things have defaults per se and you can override them per diagram. Choosing the right wording for things is not a strength down under where they brew EA. Getting to know which default is which takes some time. Just sit and breathe slowly for a moment.

q.

[Eve]

This is to my knowledge, the complete list of overrides for the drawing style of elements.

• Print in Color - User option for black and white only during printing.
• Whiteboard mode - Suppresses fill colours and gradients. Set for a diagram
• Shape Script Rendering - Any drawing properties explicitly set in a shape script before explicit draw commands.
• Local Appearance - The user configured appearance of the object on this particular diagram. Set on the toolbar.
• Shape Script Defaults - Any drawing properties explicitly set in a shape script before drawing the native shape.
• Default Appearance - The user configured default appearance for this object on any diagram.
• Stereotype Appearance - The appearance for any objects created with this stereotype as configured by the profile order.
• Element Group Colours - (Optional) Fill colours for different element types configured by Sparx. Enabled in local diagram theme or user settings
• Local Diagram Theme - Theme override set by a user for an individual diagram.
• User Style Settings - Defaults set for appearance of all elements for a user. Can be set via a theme.
• Global Defaults - Defaults for the user settings defined by Sparx.

[matthew.james]

Simon - thanks for the comprehensive response, which sheds light on the implementation complexity of the issue I have stumbled into (!)

Some take-outs I have from this ...
- Default appearance is intended to be per element not per class, but sets that elements default appearance everywhere (ie on all diagrams).  Ok, makes sense
- Local appearance is controlled on an individual element for a specific diagram using the toolbars and overrides the default appearance for that element

From experience I can control the element's default appearance (using F4) and reset that appearance back to the original default (using 'Reset to Defaults' on F4).
So, for my last question from the earlier post:
- If I change the Local Appearance (using the toolbars) is there any way to reset that element back to the element's Default Appearance?
- If I were to manually change the colours back to match (using the toolbars), does that actually reset the appearance, or just make it look the same (ie to EA the element still has Local Appearance that just happens to be the same a Default Appearance)

[VKN]

- If I change the Local Appearance (using the toolbars) is there any way to reset that element back to the element's Default Appearance?

Before you could do that you'll have to reset the default on the Default Appearance dialog (F4) first.

- If I were to manually change the colours back to match (using the toolbars), does that actually reset the appearance, or just make it look the same (ie to EA the element still has Local Appearance that just happens to be the same a Default Appearance)

Interesting question. Curious to know why you'd want to know. Anyway, the answer is that when you create an element then change its color EA notes it down as an additional setting and when you set it back to default EA uses the same additional setting to set it as default. So if one wants to know that if a particular element was ever changed since it was created then yes, by looking at t_diagramobject.ObjectStyle

[Eve]

- If I change the Local Appearance (using the toolbars) is there any way to reset that element back to the element's Default Appearance?

On the toolbar/ribbon the three different colours have a 'Default' option at the top of the dropdown. Select to use the default appearance. The default appearance dialog has the same thing for its colour dropdowns to allow you got go back to a higher level defaul.

- If I were to manually change the colours back to match (using the toolbars), does that actually reset the appearance, or just make it look the same (ie to EA the element still has Local Appearance that just happens to be the same a Default Appearance)

Selecting the same colour as is used by the default does not remove the setting.

[matthew.james]

On the toolbar/ribbon the three different colours have a 'Default' option at the top of the dropdown. Select to use the default appearance. The default appearance dialog has the same thing for its colour dropdowns to allow you got go back to a higher level defaul.

Yes ... there is. And it does exactly what I was looking for.  Looked everywhere when it was right in front of me all along and I just didn't see it (!)
Thanks Simon :-)