UML & SysML modelling languages

Sparx released this week a new and improved version of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect Community Site.

Sparx has announced the following : "In addition to making it easier to contribute, search and share material, we have added new functionality for connecting to social media, rating articles and subscribing to content via RSS.
We would like to thank all those that contacted us with feedback, as much of the redesign in response to your valuable comments and requests. We also welcome ongoing feedback as we continue to improve the user experience."

Visit Sparx EA community website on http://community.sparxsystems.com.

The Enterprise Architect User Group will be hosting its second User Group Event on the 15th of May 2013.

The event is being held in Central London for a registration fee of £50.00 per person + Vat. The agenda for the day provides a number of sessions split accross the following event tracks:

• Track 1 - Setting up projects for success with EA
• Track 2 - Project Delivery with EA
• Track 3 - Implementation & lessons learnt

This will be the first time that I'm going to an EAUG (Sparx version of the Java UG!), and I've already made my choice for the sessions to follow (SysML, BPMN2, user story, collaborative use...). I'm also keen on meeting other EA users, especially as I've had many exchanges via the Sparx forum with some of them for the last couple of years.

More information is available from www.eausergroup.com.

In order to factor a common behaviour between a given set of activities, there is sometimes a need to link a single activity diagram with several composite activities in Enterprise Architect. As a result a double click on any of those composite activities will open the same shared diagram. The benefit is to update a single activity diagram and its elements instead of updating the details of each composite activity diagram.

Prior to the current Sparx Enterprise Architect version (10), this could be achieved through a fastidious process.

Since version 10, EA lets you choose an existing and potentially shared/common diagram for a composite activity :

• either via a right click on the activity from the Project Browser > Add > Select Composite Diagram,
• or via a right click on the current diagram > New Diagram > Select Composite Diagram.

-> the pop-up window lets you choose an existing diagram from your EA project to set against the selected composite activity, as illustrated on the following screenshot.

Sparx Systems has officially released the new version 10 of Enterprise Architect, UML, BPMN, SysML modelling tool.

EA v10 includes:

• user interface improvements,
• a new diagram search box,
• a major improvement carried on the « Add Related Elements » feature,
• "textual overlays" support added to the relationship matrix e.g. to manage CRUD access properties;
• SysML 1.3 support and a SysML 1.2 to 1.3 converting tool,
• UML profiles creation wizards,
• Geography Markup Language and ArcGIS standards are now supported;
• model simulation improvements,
• supports debugging Android mobile apps.

Some of these features have been tested in the EA v10 beta preview article.

Sparx Systems will shortly release Enterprise Architect version 10. An overview of the main features is available from the following link: http://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/10/index.html.

This article is intended to provide a preview of the improvements and new features that are expected in Enterprise Architect v10 following a test carried on its beta 2. The features highlighted in this article are:

1. Improvements carried on the "Insert Related Elements”.
2. “Diagram Search Box” new feature.
3. “Textual Overlays" new Relationship Matrix feature.
4. Accessing views from EA menu to add them in the workspace has been modified.
5. QuickLinker improvement when creating aggregation links.

Using Enterprise Architect in a Team Environment often involves a version control repository like SVN (Subversion).

This article describes a way to compare the current version of a package in your model, which is controlled under an XMI file in SVN, with an older version of this package. This is achieved through the use of the EA Baseline feature.

This article is intended to illustrate the advantages of using the Diagram Filters, functionality added in EA version 9. Two case studies based on my current experience illustrate the purpose of Diagram Filters:

1- to filter dependency connectors between provided and required interfaces on a UML Component diagram,

2- to show the differences between the specifications and two implementations through the use of UML State Chart diagram.

Sparx Systems has officially released the new version 9.3 of Enterprise Architect with the following improvements:

• Visualize multiple diagrams at one time (floating and dockable views)
• Custom menu layouts
• State machine table simulation
• BPMN 2.0 support

This article deals with a recurring question in use case modelling: given a use case that’s automatically triggered by the system clock or timer, what actor should be used? To illustrate the options given in this article, I’ve chosen the example of a system that processes new card transactions on a daily basis, aim of the use case “Process customer transactions”.

In this context, it is common use to define as the primary actor the system’s clock or timer, since this actor triggers the use case. Is it the only approach or are there alternatives? This article deals with this subject through 3 alternatives.

This article is intended to illustrate the advantages of Commit Monitor, an SVN monitoring tool, when used to control Enterprise Architect modelling projects shared using SVN repositories.