Note on Archimate Element Quick Linker?

[Rich Anderson]

Hi There, I remember that the Archimate MDG used to have a Note option on the quick linker, but apparently not any more.  I t might have been under 'Common/Note'.   So now I have to make a note and then link back to the Archimate element, which works, but is kind of a pain.   Does anyone know what happened to this and is there a way to get it back?   

[KP]

We used to add notes to all quicklinker menus whether it was appropriate or not. We don't do that now. You can still find them on the "Common" toolbox page.

[Rich Anderson]

Yes, I know that I can use the Common area of the toolbox page, but what I'm saying is that it's not as good (or as fast) as having the note avaliable from the quick linker. When doing Archimate modeling, that's a great way to make notes on elements for later reference or for review.  I don't see anything 'inappropriate' about that!   This is really about usability!

[Eve]

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. We also regularly had people complaining that showing UML relationships and elements when modeling with ArchiMate was a usability issue.

The good news is that because the quicklinkers are built dynamically, you can add it yourself.

• Create a new profile (I named mine UMLNoteForArchiMate)
• Drop a Metaclass from the toolbox and select Note
• Drop another Metaclass from the toolbox. Go to the profile page and select any/all ArchiMate3 stereotypes
• For each ArchiMate type that you want to attach UML notes, add a metaconstraint relationship and set the umlRole to annotatedElement (This is repetitive and frankly annoying if you want all ArchiMate stereotypes to show notes. There's no common supertype for the ArchiMate stereotypes)
• Select your profile in the browser
• On the Specialize ribbon, select Publish-Tech > Import Package as UML Profile

Alternatively, you could define a set of stereotypes that apply to notes (optionally with a common supertype that has the constraints). If you pin the toolbox page containing these stereotypes then you will be easily able to add any of those stereotypes that are specific to the types of notes that you want to add.

[Rich Anderson]

Thanks for letting me know.  I will try this once I have some time.

[Modesto Vega]

We also regularly had people complaining that showing UML relationships and elements when modeling with ArchiMate was a usability issue.

Eve - what do you mean with the above quote? ArchiMate should not be make look like UML. But somehow I concluded that the ArchiMate technology is no longer based on Sparx underlying interpretation of UML.

[Eve]

ArchiMate is still implemented in Enterprise Architect in the same way. The difference is that it no longer offers the common UML relationships that were previously offered for everything.

It does that by adding _HideUmlLinks to each of the stereotypes.

[Rich Anderson]

I just never thought that a Note was UML!  Live and learn!

[qwerty]

I just never thought that a Note was UML!  Live and learn!

And it isn't, so to say. UML has Comment elements which in EA terminology are called Note.

q.