Displaying items by tag: search

Thursday, 01 November 2018 04:59

Searching for Orphan Elements

Orphan Elements are elements that exist in the model, but are not included on a diagram for some reason. They can occur in the process of creating and editing diagrams and get left behind, sometimes due to being deleted off the diagram, but not subsequently the model.

Enterprise Architect has a pre-defined search that identifies any Orphan Elements, which can come in handy when cleaning up your model.

To search for Orphan Elements, open the Model Search using Crtl+Alt+A and from the Pull Down Menus > select Diagram Searches > then Find Orphans.

SearchMenu

 

You can search for specific terms as well, for example name - this case "Oliver Twist."

OliverTwist

 

If you would like a list of other pre-defined model searches take a look at our User Guide

Published in Tutorials
Tagged under
Saturday, 25 November 2017 06:00

ArchiMate Search helper in EA

Introduction

One of the challenges of a teambased architecture repository based on the ArchiMate language is to reduce the number of duplicate entities. With duplicates I mean an Archimate concept with the same name and stereotype that has two or more instances in the repository.

Especially in large repositories with a complex project browser configuration and a large number of modellers the changes of duplicates are substantial. Therefore mostly a procedure is introduced based on the steps that a modeller has to do a repository search before he or she can actually add an element from the toolbox and modify it

Search

For searching for elements in the repository there is a search dialog availabe that opens by default in a simple common search that searches for a text in all the items. This works fine but has a number of limitations for an ArchiMate modeller:

  • The search is relatively slow
  • The modeller is not interested in the full content but only in ArchiMate elements of a specific type.

Luckily we can define our own searches in EA and an example of a ArchiMate specific search is shown bin the image below:

In this image you see that we can search for application components only and the list is by default sorted by objectname. This will help us in a later stage in user friendliness. The SQL statement is given below.

 

SELECT t_object.ea_guid AS CLASSGUID, t_object.name as ObjectName, t_object.Stereotype, ParentPkg.Name as ParentName, t_object.ModifiedDate, t_object.Author, t_object.[Version], t_object.[Alias], t_object.Object_Type as CLASSTYPE,t_object.Note as Notes FROM t_object, t_package as ParentPkg WHERE (t_object.name LIKE '#WC#[Search Term]#WC#' OR '[Search Term]'='') AND t_object.stereotype IN('ArchiMate_ApplicationComponent') AND t_object.Package_ID = ParentPkg.Package_ID ORDER BY t_object.Name

The trick is in two parts of the select statement:

  • The first one is that we filter on the stereotype of the element so we only see a limited number of elements based on that stereotype
  • The second is that we do a trick with the search term. We combine a search term search with a full search so you can see all the elements when the search term is empty

Model view

 

This helps us a lot in finding the relevant elements relatively fast however the search screen has a number of limitations in which selecting all the time the right query is relatively user unfriendly. However luckily Enterprise Architect has another screen for implementing this user friendly approach in a convenient way: the model view.

In the modelview you can define your own search view and link these views to a search in the search component of EA. See the picture below

In this screen you see a sample of a number of ArchiMate specific searches based on their stereotype. When you expand one of these searches you get the list of elements based on this stereotype. Since we have a combination of a keyword search and a full search (on the stereotype) the modeller can select the approach that best fits his needs. In the view you can select an element by typing in the first characters another option is to open the conext menu and go to the search function in EA and now we open the richt search immediately.

Download

For download of this solution or for downloading other scripts or add ons please visit the eaxpertise website.

Published in Community Resources
Thursday, 17 November 2016 10:04

Fast access to each diagram in Enterprise Architect

We have often to do with EA models we’ve never seen before. In such cases, you have either to click through the project tree (can be confusing and time-robbing) or you use some pre-defined Model Views.

The picture bellow shows how it could look like on your machine when you’ve read the article to the end.

Model Views - Diagrams

The feature could be very helpful also in other situations and we wonder why it’s used so rarely. Using Model Views you can create access points to any elements you want independently from its position in the project browser. It can be compared with database views if you are familiar with databases.

The only thing which is a bit annoying while creating a view, you have to create a model search first. If you use the Query Builder, the created search can be used as a basis for a view without any problems. In case the functionality of the Query Builder is insufficient and you need to create an SQL query, it has to fulfill some criteria. Within your query, you need to define three fields: CLASSGUID, CLASSTABLE and CLASSTYPE, as shown in the following example:

SELECT ea_guid AS CLASSGUID, 't_diagram' as CLASSTABLE, Diagram_Type AS CLASSTYPE, Name, [Version], Author, Stereotype, CreatedDate, Diagram_Type, ModifiedDate
FROM t_diagram
WHERE t_diagram.Diagram_Type = 'Statechart'
ORDER BY ModifiedDate ASC

Diagram Views help a lot to explore unknown projects. Thus, we have created views for all common diagram types.

Feel free to download and to use them: Searches and Views

First step – open Model Search / Find in Project dialog and import the xml file that contains the definition of searches:


Model Views - Import Searches

 

Second step – activate Model Views window and import the xml file that contains the definition of views:


Model Views - Import Views

Enjoy!

Published in Community Resources
Sunday, 17 January 2016 16:42

Script move/delete items from Search Result

Delete or move elements to package which are found by Searches (SQL, Query Builder, Standard Searches). These vbscripts allow you to easily handle found elements and to develop your own vbscripts to manipulate found things. In effect these scripts use bookmarked or elements copied to clipboard. It's an extension fo Geert Bellekens VBScripting Library.  

Abstract:

  • Use SQL Searches to move or delete found elements, diagrams or packages copied to Clipboard
  • Use Bookmarked elements from e.g. Standard / QueryBuilder Searches to move or delete elements
  • Handle bookmarked or result of SQL searches with your individual script

These scripts are using Geert Bellekens Script Framework (powerful!, Open Source)

  • See also there for updates, folder ho

 

Standard Search / Bookmark:

  • Set bookmarks
    • e.g. by Standard Search
  • If move: Select target package in ProjectBrowser 
  • Run Script:
    • hoModelSearch, DeleteBookmarkedItems or
    • hoProjectBrowser, MoveBookmarkedToSelectedPackage

 

Standard Search / Clipboard:

  • Run SQL Search 
    • each row shall contain GUID of the items to handle
  • Copy wanted rows to clipboard (eg: CTRL+A, CTRL+C)
  • If move: Select target package in ProjectBrowser 
  • Run Script:
    • hoModelSearch, DeleteClipmarkedItems or
    • hoProjectBrowser, MoveClipmarkedToSelectedPackage

 

In Action: Delete item found by SQL Search or Query Builder Search

  • Run SQL Search with element GUID as result / Run Query Builder Search
  • Copy to Clipboard (SQL Search / Bookmark (Query Builder Search)
  • Run Delete ClipboardedItems /  Delete BookmarkedItems

Delete clipboarded items from a SQL search

 

Move items found by SQL Search to package

  • Copy found elements to Clipboard
  • Select Package, Right Click, Scripts,...

 

Move bookmarked items
(
bookmarked in eg. Diagram or found by Standard Search / Query Builder Search) to selected package)

 

  • Run Standard Search or Query Builder Search
  • Bookmark wanted elements
  • Select Package, Right Click, Scripts,...
  • It works 

Install

  • Project DataManagement, Import ReferenceData, Select File (Script.xml)
  • Select 'Automation Scripts'
  • Import
  • See the scripts for details:
    • ho (reusable groups to extend functionality according to your needs)
    • hoModelSearch Group of type ModelSearch
      • DeleteBookmarkedItems
      • DeleteClipboardedItems
    • hoProjectBrowser Group of type ProjectBrowser
      • DeleteBookmarkedItems
      • DeleteClipboardedItems

 

Bookmarks (see also EA help):

  • Search Window: Query Builder Results,  Right Click, Bookmark Element,
  • Diagram: Select elements, Shift + Space
  • Diagram: Select elements, Edit, Bookmark selected,
Published in Community Resources