While developing the Model Guardian editions, we realized that there were several modeling capabilities that were either missing within Enterprise Architect or could be improved. Since these capabilities do not relate to the Model Guardian frameworks and yet provide valuable features, we decided to make them available in a standalone edition. The following describes the features currently provided by MGU. The list keeps growing. Click on the headings for a closer look.
With Enteprise Architect you can only modify one connector at a time. It also requires using multple dialogs to change the different properties and characteristics. MGU lets you do all this with a single command.
There may be times when you decide to change a given stereotype. However, changing the stereotype for each element or connector that uses it can be very tedious. The MGU edition allows you to change the stereotype of all model elements or connectors with one command. MGU properly handles elements that have multiple stereotypes.
When used in conjunction with one of the other editions, it will also synchronize any updated elements or connectors with the framework, adding any missing tags. It will optionally remove any tags that are not defined in the framework for the new stereotype.
If you change the name of a tag definition in Enterprise Architect using the ‘Settings | UML Types’ menu option, all of the model elements and connectors that have the old name are left orphaned, i.e. the definition of their tags no longer exist. For example, tags that pointed to other elements within your model will simply show a Guid rather the element’s name.
The MGU edition allows you to change the tag names of model elements or connectors across the entire model, thus bringing them back into sync with any tag definition changes you make in Enterprise Architect.
You do not need to use this form if you made the tag definition changes in the Model Guardian framework. You can apply the framework changes to the model, which will include updating the tags.
The MGU edition lets you list all of the diagrams in your model, optionally filtered by name, stereotype, MDG metatype, and/or UML type, thus making it easy to find a particular diagram. You can then choose to copy the contents of one diagram to another. You can even indicate that you want to copy all elements on the diagram, only the non-selectable items, or just the selectable ones. This lets you copy the background of a diagram as if it were a template and then place other elements on the new diagram.
Package management, i.e. locking, exporting, importing, and versioning, is a very important aspect of model management. This means locating model elements in the correct package is a very important task.
Unfortunately, whenever you create a model element by dragging a toolbox item onto a diagram, the element is created in the package that contains the diagram. This may not be the appropriate place for the new element. After creating numerous elements this way, you are then faced with the task of finding the right packages for the new elements and then dragging them throughout the Project Browser to relocate them. The same is true if you decide that an element really belongs in another package.
Model Guardian makes it easy to get the elements into the correct package in the first place and just as easy to relocate them to another. There are two approaches to moving elements to the appropriate package.
You can create diagram references on the current diagram that point to the packages where you want items to be located. Then you can locate new items be dragging the toolbox item onto a diagram reference or relocate existing items by moving them onto a diagram reference and selecting ‘Relocate Items via Diagram References’ from the Model Guardian menu.
You can invoke the Relocator Form from the Model Guardian menu and then select the item or items. You may highlight items to be moved in the current diagram or in the browser. When selecting only one item or more than one item that all have the same stereotype, a list of packages that already have one or more items with the same stereotype is displayed. You may then select the target package from the list or by highlighting the package in the Enterprise Architect browser.
Model Guardian provides a configuration parameter that lets you decide whether you want the Relocator Form to open whenever you create a new item.
Sometimes it is helpful to understand how an element is being used by other elements. This is especially the case when deleting an element from a model. MGU provides a dialog that shows the following information.
- All of the diagrams containing the element. Double clicking on the diagram’s name opens it.
- All of the other elements that use the element as an attribute. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
- All of the other elements that use the element as a parameter of an operation. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
- All of the other elements that use the element as the return type of an operation. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
- All of the other elements that use the element in a tagged value. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
- All of the other elements that are directly linked to the element. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
- All of the other elements that are indirectly linked to the element through exposed interfaces. Double clicking on a listed element selects it in the project browser.
Enterprise Architect provides an Alias for model elements that can be used as a user friendly form of the name. You may want the name to conform to a programming standard, e.g. all capital letters with no spaces. With such a standard, elements with longer names will not be word-wrapped on diagrams, resulting in very wide and cumbersome elements.
To make their appearance better, you can choose to show Aliases on a diagram rather than the name. Model Guardian can create the Aliases for the elements within a selected package, and optionally its sub packages, from the elements’ name. It capitalizes the first letter of words and makes the rest lower case. It replaces underscores with space. It also puts a space before each word that has an initial capital letter followed by lower case letters. Here are two examples:
Name: THIS_IS_A_DATABASE_TABLE_NAME_THAT_FOLLOWS_THE_NAMING_CONVENTIONS
Alias: This Is A Database Table Name That Follows The Naming Conventions
Name: ThisIs_mixed_WithCaps_And_Underscores
Alias: This Is Mixed With Caps And Underscores
Enterprise Architect lets you put conveyed information items on various types of connectors. MGU makes it easy to track the conveyed items.
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