UML & SysML modelling languages

Last May I went the the European EA User Group in the UK (Maidenhead) where the Enterprise Architect community gathered. Prior to run my presentation on the alternatives to set up a shared EA project, I attended several presentations, including the following ones that are covered in this article:

1. Pragmatic agile model driven development using smart use cases by Sander Hoogendoorn (Capgemini, NL)
2. EA Version 11 Cloud Services, OSLC and RAS by Phil Chudley (Dunstan Thomas, UK)

Early this month, I published a script to sort elements from a selected package by the alias name. This article provides another project browser script that finds and selects the classifier for an instance or a class attribute, or the property type for a SysML port or part.

Sparx Systems released yesterday the new version 11 of Enterprise Architect (Build 1105). The version is available to download from the "registered users" section of Sparx Systems web site.

This article provides a summary of the main enhancements.

Important:

• This script has been updated on the 1/09/2014 to resolve the case where elements in the package have an empty alias.
• Features from this script have been enhanced and are now maintained in eaUtils Sparx add-in; please click here for more information.

I recently imported a number of requirements in my Enterprise Architect project with the following details: title, reference (stored in the requirement's alias), and description. By default Sparx Enterprise Architect sorts requirements within a given package by the element's name in the alphabetical order. When a package contains various types of elements (e.g. classes, interfaces, use cases, etc.), each group of elements from the same type is sorted separately.  

Going back to my requirements, I needed to sort them by the alias value e.g. REQ-TEST-001, REQ-TEST-002, REQ-TEST-003, etc. On the following screenshot, I illustrated on the left hand side the default sorting order in Enterprise Architect project browser, and on the right hand side the list of requirements in the desired alias order. 

This article explains how to create and use an Enterprise Architect Project Browser script aimed at sorting elements from a selected package by the alias name. An additional script is provided at the end of the article to sort elements by a dedicated Tagged Value called "SortingOrder".

The next EA User Group will take place in the UK on the 16th of May at the Sir Bernard Miller Centre, Maidenhead, hosted by the John Lewis Partnership.
The venue is 50 minutes away from London Heathrow airport by train + taxi via the Maidenhead train station.

The planning for the event is underway with a full day of seminars covering two or three different streams delivered by real users of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect
As regards, the call for speakers has been released if you would like to participate as a speaker and share your experience with Enterprise Architect: www.eausergroup.com/component/content/article/16-next-event/71-london-may-2014-call-for-speakers

Online registrations are available from the EAUserGroup web site.

Come and join me at the next EAUG!

Sparx Systems has made available its first release candidate of the upcoming Enterprise Architect version 11.

The list of enhancements and additional supported standards supported in Enterprise Architect 11 is available from www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/11.

Sparx Systems next webinar on "how to Design a Geodatabase with Enterprise Architect" will take place on the 25th of February at 10pm (UK time), and on the following day at 9am (UK time). This webinar will demontrate the integration of Enterprise Architect with Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.) ArcGIS 10.0 suite of tools via its free UML Profile.

Sparx Systems introduces the initial context, prompting the need of designing geodatabases with a modelling tool such as Enterprise Architect:

The proliferation of location based services in banking, finance, energy, health, entertainment and many other industries, makes geographic data more valuable than ever! To store and manage geographic data, many organizations rely on Esri's ArcGIS geodatabase. How can you now leverage state-of-the-art modeling tools to design and document these geodatabases, and facilitate their integration with other enterprise systems?

Ben Constable, Senior Analyst at Sparx Systems, will cover the following topics:

• Design an ArcGIS geodatabase from scratch
• Validate, document, search and trace your design model
• Auto-generate and reverse engineer geodatabase schemas

Note: Esri's ArcGIS is a geographic information system (GIS) for working with maps and geographic information. It is used for creating and using maps, compiling geographic data, analyzing mapped information, sharing and discovering geographic information, using maps and geographic information in a range of applications, and managing geographic information in a database.

Registrations are currently open from the following link: www.sparxsystems.com/webinar

Sparx Systems has announced the beta release of Enterprise Architect 11, which maintains the current pace of a new major release each year.

Enterprise Architect 11 beta is available as a 30 day trial to all, or as a full beta version to all registered users via the dedicated section from Sparx Systems official site.

Sparx has announced the release of several new enhancements and additional supported standards in EA v11 on its dedicated page: www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/11.

A colleague recently enquired about a simple way to run a batch import of several XMI files into an Enterprise Architect project. The client's project required importing a rather large number of XMI files, created from various Enterprise Architect projects via the standard XMI export (note : each file store an extraction in the XMI format from a selected part of the modelling project). Having to import each XMI file is too cumbersome, and Enterprise Architect's existing "Batch XMI Import" is limited to controlled packages i.e. involving a VC repository like SVN set up with the current project.

This article explains how to create in your Enterprise Architect project a VBScript that can import a batch of XMI files, located on a local or networked drive, within a selected package from the browser.

Important : this script is intended to easily run a one-off import of a large number of XMI files into a single target package of an EA project. 

A new webinar from Sparx Systems is scheduled on the 17th and 18th of December to accomodate time zones. This webinar will introduce the topic of software engineering using Enterprise Architect, including:

• Configure Enterprise Architect to write, debug and compile software
• Generate source code from a package in Enterprise Architect
• Synchronize changes between the model and code

Registrations are available at : www.sparxsystems.com/webinar