This example add-in demonstrates how to define a custom compartment to show the Notes defined by an Element's classifier. For example, an Object Instance will show the notes of the Class that it instantiates.

The CS_AddinFramework example project can be used as the basis to implement this functionality. The code snippets attached to this article can be inserted into any working C# add-In.

Summary of Code

Two broadcast events need to be implemented to define a custom compartment - EA_QueryAvailableCompartments and EA_GetCompartmentData.

EA_QueryAvailableCompartments returns the names of the custom compartments to be made available. Multiple compartments can be defined using a comma separated string. Options could be implemented at this level to globally disable display of certain compartments. For a more detailed example, refer to the API documentation for this event.

EA_GetCompartmentData handles the compartments defined in EA_QueryAvailableCompartments and defines the data to be inserted in the compartment. This event is called for each element on the diagram and each custom compartment to be handled. If the compartment should not be displayed for the current element, return null.

Some basic input checking is included in this example to determine whether the custom compartment is displayed for a given element. The following checks are made:

• The element has a Classifier ID
• The referenced Classifier contains some notes
• The element contains a Tagged Value named named “ShowClassifierNotes” with the value “True” (this helps users of the add-in to prevent breaking the layout of existing diagrams, by giving the user explicit control of the compartment visibility)

Example of the resulting compartment in Enterprise Architect: