Watermark feature for lanes

[MWHBS]

Hi everyone

Sometimes I have very long lanes in my process diagrams and then I have to scroll to the the start to look which lane that actually is and back again. I would like to have feature which prints little reminders with the lane title in regular distances in a long lane. Or does such a feature or something that does the trick in another way already exist?

Best regards
Martin

[qwerty]

You mean just as it is in SDs?

q.

[MWHBS]

I am sorry, but I do not know what SD means.

[qwerty]

Sequence Diagram

q.

[MWHBS]

Frankly, I am not sure. I used a customized BPMN diagram as layed out by a template in our organization. And in a standard sequence diagram there is a watermark option? I will look into that? Is there a way to use that in other diagrams with lanes, too?

[MWHBS]

Sequence Diagram

Could you be so kind and elaborate on this?

[qwerty]

In SDs the name in shown in some headline. Go and create one. If you scroll the head is always seen).

q.

[MWHBS]

Dear qwerty

First of all: Thanks for your advice.

When I now have to ask, I do not want to appear lazy. I really do not know where to look fot this SD. I want to give you an example. I am in a sandbox package. There I do a right click and get a context menu. I select "Add Diagram".

Then I get a new window entitled "New Diagram". On the left it has a dropdown menu with the type options, which is set to "All perspectives". Below I can select different kinds of diagrams. In my last attempt I selected "BPMN 2.0" and in the right part of the menu "Business Process".

In the new diagram I added a pool and in it a lane. I drew them very long so that they go beyond the border of the current window. But when I then scroll to their ends I can still not see the name of the pool or lane. Therefore I guess that I misunderstood your advice regarding SDs in the first place.

Best regards
Martin

[qwerty]

A bit strange to see someone dealing with UML with no idea about SDs. Well, open the example model from the help. Dbl-click Basic Modeling, then Seq. Diag. then choose one and you have your example.

SDs do not have pools/lanes but lifelines.  I just meant it as example how similarly pools could have a header.

q.

[MWHBS]

Okay, I can see where my question must have been confusing. In the past I just had some intro into topics like BPMN 2.0 for process modeling and no further deep dive into UML in general. With regard to BPMN 2.0 I had to do with other tools, which focused on BPMN 2.0 and everything else was just ignored. Now I entered the EA world and of course I am flashed with all the things that the EA offers.

And now to the question itself: My colleagues and I have to use vertical swim lanes. And these tend to get very long. When we scroll down, we cannot see the head of the swim lane anymore. Does this help to understand my problem?

[qwerty]

Probably :-) Actually I thought you were thinking about a new feature which I suggested to be like in SDs. Well, you are unlucky right now. You might send a feature request, but that would take a long time, if ever, to be implemented.

The only way for you is to have the Properties window docked (anyway a good idea) and click the pool/lane to see the name.

q.

[MWHBS]

Ah okay. And how can I post such a request? Is there an official way?

Besides, I thought I could find a workaround like text that is rotated 90° or so and that I could copy and paste multiple times to see the lane name at the lower end of the lane or so.

[qwerty]

You need to go through the Support/Feat. Req. at the bottom of this page. Once you sent the request - don't hold your breath. Those times are over. Usually EA has (crude) and multiple ways form many things to achieve the same or an equivalent result. Sometimes you need luck of some experience to find the right way. For your problem: avoid long lanes (which needs thinking about how to represent things stepwise rather than in a wallpaper). Only a thought...

q.

[MWHBS]

Thank you for all your help. I know that you are right about the wallpapers. Still, it is sometimes difficult when you have to fit in with the usual way of modeling in your organization.