Enterprise Architect Notes

Directions for EA 16.1

Version 16.1 of Enterprise Architect was first distributed in fall, 2023. Directions for older versions are here.

• Installation: install version 16.1 from the MSOE Company Portal (the replacement for Software Center)
• Version 15 and earlier used .EAP format files; when loading these into EA 16 it will prompt you to change file formats. Use the default, .QEA for personal projects.
• Sometimes students see a blank screen after opening files - there is no project browser. You can reopen the project browser by clicking on the Start tab on the menu bar, clicking on Design, and selecting Browse.
• Reverse engineering a class model using EA 16:
  1. Ensure the project builds so the import does not fail mid-way through.
  2. Create a new EA project. This pops up a dialog asking where to put the project; I recommend either putting the EA file at the top level of the project or in a doc folder.
  3. Click on the Design tab and select Add Package. Name the package appropriatly.
  4. In the Browser window, click on the new package and then click on the triple-line menu marked by the arrow in the following image:
     
  5. Select Code Generation then select Import Source Directory.
  6. Set the source type to Java.
  7. Click on the triple-dot button to the right of Root Directory and browse to the folder containing your project source code.
  8. Click OK twice to run the reverse engineering tool.
  9. When prompted, I set the current package to be the namespace root. Close the reverse engineering dialog.
  10. If desired, select the Layout tab, pick Diagram Layout (in the middle of the bar), then Apply Default Layout.
  11. Move the classes so they fit nicely on a single page or as close to a single page as you can et.
  12. Move the associations, generalization arrows, and role names so that elements do not overlap and have clear attachments.
• Creating a .PNG of your model (class, sequence, etc):
  1. If necessary, reorganize your classes and lines to minimize crossed lines and and empty white space. This should result in both placing related classes together and fitting the diagram on a single page. If it will not fit on a single page, be sure to minimize the number of pages while keeping the diagram readable.
  2. Open the Publish tab.
  3. Select Save | Save to File.
  4. Change Save as type to PNG.
  5. Browse to the desired location and set the name in the normal way.
  Do not take a screen shot instead. The resolution will be inadequate for grading. Also important: when pasting the screen shot into a document or converting it to a PDF, watch that your final document does not have lots of white space on the page. Diagrams are full of detail, and if you are not careful to keep images as large as possible then that detail will be impossible to read even if the document is zoomed to the maximum size.

• Creating a sequence diagram:
  1. Right click on the class model, select Add Diagram....
  2. Select UML Behavioral and then the triangle by Sequence. Select UML Behavioral::Sequence.
  3. Click on OK.
  You can then do the following:
  • Pop out the diagram by dragging the page title (often "Class Diagram") off of the main EA window.
  • Drag a class from the class diagram to the sequence diagram and select Instance(Object) to create an instance of the class
  • Use the Quick Connect arrow (the small arrow) to add an arrow from one class's lifetime to another class's lifetime, double-click to bring up the properties, and set Lifecycle to New (bottom right of form) to show creating a new instance.
  • Use the Quick Connect arrow to create an arrow from object to another, open the Properties for the arrow, and set the Message to be the name of an method to show a method call on an object.
• Tips for class diagrams:
  • Opening the properties window: to re-open the docked properties window (rather than double-clicking to open it), click on the Start tab, click on Properties (in the All Windows section), then select Properties under General.
  • Making associations travel around other classes: Create a direct association, then right click on the line and select Bend Line at Cursor. This will add a small box to the line that you can move to move the mid-point of the line. If necessary, you can add other bend points so the line can be routed around another class. You might also experiment with changing the Line Style to auto-routing.
  • Almost all lines can be moved by clicking on them and dragging. This is especially important when association and generalization lines are on top of each other.
  • The most common multiplicities are 1, *, and 0..1; others should be driven by specific requirements (such as "a tenant has up to three pets"). But if the requirements specify different roles for the multiple assocations, be sure to capture that in the diagram:
  • To create an interface class, drag the Interface object from the toolbox. One might imagine it would be possible to add the stereotype to an existing class, but it appears this is not possible.
  If this was a domain-level class diagram, the associations could be shown as undirected (since direction in domain-level diagrams is not required).
• Tips for EA in general:
  • Exporting your image to a PDF: The best way is to click on Publish, select Save, and then Save to File. This will create a .png that can be saved on your computer, loaded into a word processor, resized to fit the page, and then saved to PDF. Never use print-to-screen; the details are impossible to see that way. Do not use Print|Print to PDF, either, because it often prints the diagram in a corner of the page, resulting in text that is too small to read and lots of wasted space.
  • Double-clicking on the tabs at the top of the screen will open and close the ribbon. Closing the ribbon gives more space for the drawing area.
  • Start | Preferences: can control things like opening in full screen mode.