eaUtils 2.1 has been published early September with the following enhancements:
- New feature to easily create dynamic notes on diagrams.
- New custom searches to find diagrams showing the element matching the given ID or GUID.
- Find in All diagrams improved: item flows realization links and attributes data type support.
Dynamic notes
As stated from eaUtils online help:
Enterprise Architect models can be easily documented using the Notes field, available within elements (e.g. classes, components, activities, etc.), attributes, operations, connectors, diagrams, etc. [...] Working on a diagram, UML "sticky notes" are often used to show relevant information.
A powerful feature in EA involves creating an attached note and converting it to a dynamic note to render specific data stored within the linked element or connector e.g. to show the description of a selected attribute within a class, the list of an application component tagged values, a use case description, etc. [...]
Whilst setting this up in Enterprise Architect requires a few steps, eaUtils provides a simple way to create a dynamic note with a single right click or using a keyboard shortcut (Alt + D).
The required steps to create a dynamic note on a single class with Enterprise Architect are illustrated below:
Result:
Note: similar steps apply to create a dynamic note on a connector in the diagram.
With eaUtils, not only a single click is required to create this dynamic note, but it can also be processed on multiple elements matching the current selection.
Result:
eaUtils can also be run on a connector. As an alternative to the menu, the Alt + D keyboard shortcut can be used:
Important: eaUtils feature only supports the Element Note feature since this is the most common use case.
Custom searches
An MDG technology is embedded within eaUtils add-in to provide access to custom model searches by using Ctrl+F in Enterprise Architect and selecting eaUtils MDG:
The new searches are Find Diagram with visible Element by GUID and Find Diagram with visible Element by Object ID. In the example below, a search is run on a class GUID, visible in the Abstract Class Model (see Sparx EA Example).
Find in all diagrams
eaUtils Find in all diagrams is an enhanced version of Enterprise Architect native feature.
eaUtils 2.1 supports two new types of usage types.
- For the selected class, data type or enumeration, the DataType usage type identifies all diagrams with an element where at least one attribute's data type matches this class.
- In the example below, Find In All Diagrams is run against the class Order: the second row with DataType usage type identifies a diagram with MyClass2 due to its first attribute.
- Where eaUtils already supports item flow relations from a selected element e.g. an ArchiMate DataObject selected in the item flow between application components, it now supports a specific case on the item flows i.e. when the flow is realized.
- This usage type is also relevant for MBSE projects involving SysML i.e. in the example below Find in All Diagrams on a block finds the internal block diagram where this block is conveyed on a connector between parts (based on a SysML with EA training exercise).
Download eaUtils latest build from www.eautils.com/en/download.