UML & SysML modelling languages

This article is a preview of Enterprise Architect 16 beta (build 1600) which is available to download with your registered account (if you own an active license) from www.sparxsystems.com.

Covered features and enhancements:

• Enterprise Architect 64 bits
• New QEA/QEAx file-based repositories
• Native connection to DBMS repositories
• XEA new exchange format
• JavaScript support
• User interface improvements

Sparx Systems released yesterday the first official build (1207) of Enterprise Architect 12.

New features include user interface theming, a Windows Explorer like navigator bar, a complete redesign of the property dialogs, a new range of menus to access various features via the portals window, BPMN improvements (BPMN2 export, compliancy), requirements improvements, diagram shortcuts/quick keys, a database engineering toolset, a wireframing support to work on UI designs for common devices (Apple, Android...), support for XMI merge, built-in Visual Studio (VS 2013 support) and Eclipse links, a package navigator (replacing the package browser), a schema composer to build XSD and other schemas, an XSLT debugger, an XML and XSD editing and validation, and much more...

Note: a preview of the Wireframing UI modelling is available here.

Highlights of EA12 are detailled on Sparx Systems web site: www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/12/index.html

Sparx Systems released yesterday the first release candidate (RC1) of Enterprise Architect 12.

Enterprise Architect 12 is available to download for registered users on Sparx Systems official site.

New features include improved user interface themes, a Windows Explorer like navigator bar, a complete redesign of the property dialogs, a new range of menus to access various features via the portals window, BPMN improvements, requirements improvements, diagram shortcuts/quick keys, a database builder, a wireframing support to work on UI designs for common devices (Apple, Android...), support for XMI merge, built-in Visual Studio (VS 2013 support) and Eclipse links, a package navigator (replacing the package browser), a schema composer to build XSD and other schemas, an XSLT debugger, an XML and XSD editing and validation, and much more...

For more information, please visit Sparx Systems' Enterprise Architect 12 page.

Sparx Systems has announced the first beta release of Enterprise Architect 12.

Enterprise Architect 12 beta 1 is available to download for registered users via the dedicated section from Sparx Systems official site.

New features include improved UI themes, a database builder window, a datamodel pattern, wireframing support for a range of common devices and implementation scenarios using custom drawn graphics (Web, Apple, Android...), XSD schema composer, XSLT debugger, XML and XSD editing and validation, a document handler, tighter integration with Visual Studio and Eclipse,and more.

For more information, please visit Sparx Systems' Enterprise Architect 12 beta page.

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".

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