"SysML Requirements on Excel" is a new MDG Office Integration feature that allows users to author SysML requirements using Excel. Users can seamlessly integrate SysML requirements between MS Excel and Enterprise Architect.

Key features

• Import and export SysML requirements data from Excel into Enterprise Architect.
• Ability to create SysML Compliant requirements with inter-dependencies

SysML Requirements in Enterprise Architect

Using the “SysML Requirements on Excel” menu, users can connect an Enterprise Architect Model with an Excel spreadsheet.

This will create an Excel Document with required templates to let users create SysML requirements. This will also copy any existing Enterprise Architect requirements and the derived relationships to the Excel spreadsheet, to let users update or modify these contents.

Working with Excel to author Requirements

The Excel template for SysML requirements authoring will have two spreadsheets,

1. Requirements – The requirements sheet is used to create and update SysML compliant requirements, including Id and text, the sheet also displays any derived requirements (interconnected requirement)

The Requirement Sheet has two parts: "SysML Requirements" and "Derived SysML Requirements".

SysML Requirements – It contains Name, Notes, Status, Version and Id, Text (Mandatory tags for SysML)

Derived SysML Requirements – It also contains Name, Notes, Status, Version of Derived Requirement for each SysML requirement. This part is completely non-editable.

2. Requirement Matrix – This worksheet will present all requirements in a matrix format to let users easily create derivation inter-dependencies between them.

• This sheet will be automatically updated when new requirements are added in the ‘Requirements’ worksheet
• New relationships created in this spreadsheet will also be automatically updated in the ‘Requirements’ worksheet

Insert Elements and Connectors

Insert the element in the Name Column of the Requirement Sheet (with Notes, Status, Version, ID, and text, but the Name column is mandatory). And create a connector between the newly created element and the existing element in the ‘Requirement Matrix’ sheet.

Newly created connector details are updated in the ‘Requirement’ sheet.

To sync or update the modifications to the Enterprise Architect Model, use the Excel to EA icon. The changes reflected in the Enterprise Architect Model will be shown in the preview form. To update into an Enterprise Architect Model, select Export.

New elements are created under the chosen package.

The EA to Excel icon is used to restore the produced items to their original state as in the Enterprise Architect Model.

Prior to ‘EA to Excel’

Post ‘EA to Excel’

SysML Requirements on Excel (from Excel)

MDG Integration for Microsoft Office offers integration within Microsoft Excel (Office 2007 and above), and a new feature called SysML Requirement Manager is added to the feature dropdown of the Enterprise Architect ribbon. Using this, users can easily push the contents of SysML requirements from an Excel document to an Enterprise Architect or vice versa.

To import SysML requirement data into Enterprise Architect from Excel

	Dropdown list to choose the Export to Enterprise Architect Model or the SysML Requirement Manager for the document. ‘Export to EA’: Export the elements to Enterprise Architect using Profiles ‘SysML Requirement Manager’: Import SysML Requirements from Enterprise Architect and Export SysML Requirements and their connections to Enterprise Architect.
	Allows one to select a *.eap or *.eapx or *.feap or *.qea or *.qeax or *.eadb through Local project, server Connection, or cloud connection. Local Project - To Connect Local Enterprise Architect model. Server Connection - To Connect to an Enterprise Architect repository through a database Cloud Connection - To Connect to an Enterprise Architect repository through Pro Cloud Server

Select a package

• This screen will be displayed when the Package button is clicked.
• It displays all the models and packages from the selected Enterprise Architect model, with SysML Requirement items being imported specifically.

After selecting the package and clicking ‘OK, ‘Enterprise Architect will begin exporting information to an Excel sheet and proceed with Refer "Working with Excel to author Requirements"

Check out the SysML Requirements in the Enterprise Architect video here

To know more or to request a demo, please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Taking your daily commute to work, paper cup of scalding coffee in one hand and the other hand gripping the rail, you gently rock to and fro as the rail car shuttles along its pre-ordained route. From experience you know that you need to be especially careful not to scald yourself when you enter and depart a station as the rail car smoothly de-accelerates and accelerates, respectively. These events are mercifully predictable but despite your status as a veteran commuter the jerks[1] between stations remain mercilessly unpredictable.

unsplash-logoMr Cup / Fabien Barral

Have you ever wanted to generate code from your Enterprise Architect UML or SysML models? Have you tried to customize Enterprise Architect’s code template framework? Do not give up the dream of project-specific code generators and read how easily they can be implemented.

The Need for a Code Generator

A good software or system architecture is on a higher abstraction level compared to the implementation. It should be a consistent model that documents decisions and neglects unnecessary, often technical, details. Consider, for instance, the class diagram in Figure 1. It shows a domain model that defines the data structure needed for a shop to allow customers to order articles. The properties of each class are modeled in detail, but other unnecessary aspects like operations to access properties are left out.

If the software architecture/design is made upfront before starting with the implementation, a lot of cumbersome and error-prone work can be avoided by code generation. Commercial out-of-the-box code generators often do not change the degree of abstraction. That’s why they often do not match the needs of the project.

The code template framework of Enterprise Architect can be tailored according to the project-specific needs. But this requires some initial training. And often the expected outcome is hard to achieve as described in Eclipse-based Code Generation for Enterprise Architect Models.

A Simple Project-specific Code Generator

I prefer a general-purpose programming language such as Java or Xtend to implement code generators. In particular Xtend is well suited to implement templates because of its template expressions. They allow one to embed executable code inside the text to be generated. It feels like programming PHP, JSP, or JSX. The code in Listing 1 shows a code generation template written in Xtend. It generates Java classes for the classes declared in the class diagram of Figure 1.

package com.yakindu.ea.examples.orderingsoftware.template

import com.yakindu.bridges.ea.examples.runtime.codegen.EACodegen
import org.eclipse.uml2.uml.Class
import org.eclipse.uml2.uml.NamedElement

class ClassTemplate {
   @EACodegen("Java")
   def String generate(Class element) '''
      package «element.package.javaQualifiedName»;
      
      «val superType = element.generals.findFirst[true]?.name»
      «val extends = '''«IF !superType.isNullOrEmpty» extends «superType»«ENDIF»'''»
      public«IF element.isAbstract» abstract«ENDIF» class «element.name»«extends» {
         
         «FOR attribute : element.ownedAttributes SEPARATOR System.lineSeparator»
            «val type = attribute.type?.javaQualifiedName»
            «IF 1 != attribute.upper»
               «val defaultValue = '''new java.util.LinkedList<«type»>()'''»
               private final java.util.List<«type»> «attribute.name» = «defaultValue»;
            «ELSE»
               private «type» «attribute.name»; 
            «ENDIF»
         «ENDFOR»
         
         «FOR attribute : element.ownedAttributes SEPARATOR System.lineSeparator»
            «val type = attribute.type?.javaQualifiedName»
            «IF 1 != attribute.upper»
               public List<«type»> get«attribute.name.toFirstUpper»() {
                  return «attribute.name»;
               }
            «ELSE»
               public «type» get«attribute.name.toFirstUpper»() {
                  return «attribute.name»;
               }
            «ENDIF»
            «IF 1 == attribute.upper»
               
               «val params = '''«type» «attribute.name»'''»
               public void set«attribute.name.toFirstUpper»(«params») {
                  this.«attribute.name» = «attribute.name»;
               }
            «ENDIF»
         «ENDFOR»
      }
   '''
   
   protected def String getJavaQualifiedName(NamedElement element) {
      element.qualifiedName.replace("::", ".")
   } 
}

The generated Java code shown in Listings 2, 3 and 4 does not look like handwritten, because qualified names are used instead of imports. This will be improved later in Figure 4 by methods collectImports and printImports.

package com.example.orderingsoftware;

public abstract class AbstractIDObject {

   private java.util.UUID id; 

   public java.util.UUID getId() {
      return id;
   }
   
   public void setId(java.util.UUID id) {
      this.id = id;
   }
}

package com.example.orderingsoftware;

public class OrderItem extends AbstractIDObject {

   private java.math.BigInteger amount; 
   
   private com.example.orderingsoftware.Article article; 

   public java.math.BigInteger getAmount() {
      return amount;
   }
   
   public void setAmount(java.math.BigInteger amount) {
      this.amount = amount;
   }
   
   public com.example.orderingsoftware.Article getArticle() {
      return article;
   }
   
   public void setArticle(com.example.orderingsoftware.Article article) {
      this.article = article;
   }
}

package com.example.orderingsoftware;

public class Order extends AbstractIDObject {

   private java.util.Date date; 
   
   private com.example.orderingsoftware.Customer customer; 
   
   private final java.util.List<OrderItem> items = new java.util.LinkedList<OrderItem>(); 

   public java.util.Date getDate() {
      return date;
   }
   
   public void setDate(java.util.Date date) {
      this.date = date;
   }
   
   public com.example.orderingsoftware.Customer getCustomer() {
      return customer;
   }
   
   public void setCustomer(com.example.orderingsoftware.Customer customer) {
      this.customer = customer;
   }
   
   public java.util.List<com.example.orderingsoftware.OrderItem> getItems() {
      return items;
   }
}

If you look carefully at the template in Listing 1, you will realize that it does not know anything about Enterprise Architect. Instead, it handles instances of the UML metamodel which is available in Eclipse thanks to the Eclipse UML 2 project. The missing connection between Enterprise Architect and UML is the YAKINDU EA-Bridge. It is an API that offers UML-compliant read and write access to Enterprise Architect UML and SysML models. The database behind an Enterprise Architect project is automatically transformed into instances of the UML metamodel. This has three major advantages for you as a developer: 

• Your code is compatible with other tools that are based on the UML 2 project such as Papyrus.
• Highly performant read and write access to Enterprise Architect models without the need to reverse engineer the database schema of Enterprise Architect.
• You do not have to learn anything about the API of the YAKINDU EA-Bridge. It is completely hidden for you as a developer, because the YAKINDU EA-Bridge integrates itself into the ecosystem of the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF).

The YAKINDU EA-Bridge comes with an optional Eclipse IDE integration which allows one to implement project-specific code generators. Those code generators are often prototypically developed and are executed only within a certain context. Thus, it is crucial that the development effort is less compared to  manual coding. To implement a project-specific code generator, all you have to do is to place the EAP file in an Eclipse project and to annotate methods in the code generation template with @EACodegen. Annotated methods should accept the UML element for which code should be generated as the only parameter and return the generated text. If your Enterprise Architect model is hosted by a remote database such as Microsoft SQL Server, you can use a shortcut file instead of an EAP file.

When the project is built, e.g. automatically or manually via the main menu item ‘Project, Clean…‘, the template is launched for all UML classes declared in all EAP files. Of course, only EAP files stored in the template’s project are considered. The generated code is saved in a file specified by the qualified name of the class. The file extension is specified by the argument of the @EACodegen annotation. The structure of the Eclipse project can be seen in Figure 2.

Please observe that the YAKINDU EA-Bridge is an API. It allows you to process the Enterprise Architect model in any way. Indeed, the original use case were comprehensive code generators such as an Autosar RTE generator based on UML architectures. 

Generating More than one Artefact per Model Element

Let’s make the example more exciting by implementing a product line with two different persistence approaches: One that uses JPA to store data in a relational database and one that uses HBase as a big data store.

I suggest implementing a persistence manager which can be used to load and save instances. Only the product based on JPA should allow one to start and complete transactions. Furthermore, I would like to place JPA specific annotations in the Java classes. Figure 3 shows the methods offered by the persistence manager.

The consequence is now, that the implementation of all six classes is slightly different in both products. The Java code in Listings 5, 6, 7 and 8 shows an excerpt of the code to be implemented.

package com.example.orderingsoftware;

public class Article extends AbstractIDObject {

   private String name; 

   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
}

package com.example.orderingsoftware;

import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.Table;

@Entity
@Table(name = "ArticleTable")
public class Article extends AbstractIDObject {

   private String name; 

   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
}

public class PersistenceManager implements AutoCloseable {

   private final Table articleTable;

   public static final byte[] MODEL_FAMILY = "Model".getBytes();

   public static final TableName ARTICLE_TABLE_NAME = TableName.valueOf("ArticleTable");

   public Article getArticle(UUID id) {
      try {
         if (id != null) {
            Get get = new Get(id.toString().getBytes());
            if (articleTable.exists(get)) {
               Result r = articleTable.get(get);
               Article result = new Article();
               result.setId(id);
               result.setName(Bytes.toString(r.getValue(MODEL_FAMILY, ARTICLE_NAME_QUALIFIER)));
               return result;
            }
         }
         return null;
      } catch (Exception e) {
         throw new RuntimeException(e.getMessage(), e);
      }
   }

   // ...
}

public class PersistenceManager implements AutoCloseable {

   private EntityManager entityManager; 

   public Article getArticle(UUID id) {
      if (id != null) {
         return entityManager.find(Article.class, id);
      } else {
         return null;
      }
   }

   // ...
}

Feasible solutions to realize the product line are: 

• To use inheritance. That would require an interface definition with the public API for each class and to implement it for JPA and for HBase. The consequence would be that the rest of the application must be adjusted to operate only on the interfaces and never on the concrete classes. 
• To copy, paste, and modify the implementation for both products would avoid the need to modify the rest of the application. Maintaining two variants might sound reasonable. But is this still the case with an increasing amount of variants? You should think carefully about the pros and cons of copy and paste.
• To use a code generator which generates the product specific code. The classes realizing code generation templates could be based on a common implementation and each subclass could adjust the product-specific parts. 

I prefer the last solution. The outline in Figure 4 shows the refactored class template of Listing 1. Each introduced method generates a specific member of a Java class. This allows me to override these methods in the product-specific templates. In Listing 9 for instance can be seen, that JPA specific annotations are placed before the class definition.

class JPAClassTemplate extends ClassTemplate {
   @EACodegenFile
   def IFile path(Class element, IFile ^default) {
      val path = "com/example/orderingsoftware/" + ^default.name
      return getTargetFilePath("jpa", path)
   }
   
   @EACodegen("java")
   override generate(Class element) {
      return super.generate(element)
   }
   
   override printClassDeclaration(Class element) '''
      «IF element.isAbstract»
         @MappedSuperclass
      «ELSE»
         @Entity
         @Table(name = "«element.name»Table")
      «ENDIF»
      «super.printClassDeclaration(element)»'''

   // ...
}

The method path(Class, IFile) in the template subclasses annotated with @EACodegenFile is used to define the target location at which the generated code should be saved. It has two parameters. The first one is the UML element for which code should be generated. The second is the default location where the generated code should be stored. The return value of the annotated method is the adjusted location at which the generated code should be stored.

The screenshot in Figure 5 shows all templates. The arrows point to the files that are generated by each of them. In addition to the production code, also the test code is generated.

Conclusion

Modern general-purpose programming languages such as Xtend are well suited to implement complex code generators. The input could be a UML model, possibly modeled in Enterprise Architect. The YAKINDU EA-Bridge transforms the relational database behind an Enterprise Architect model on the fly, and completely hidden, into instances of the UML metamodel. There is no need to learn the proprietary code generation language provided by Enterprise Architect or to reverse engineer the database schema of Enterprise Architect. 

The Eclipse IDE integration of the YAKINDU EA-Bridge allows one to implement project-specific code generators at low costs in a short time. In this way, you can save a lot of cumbersome, error-prone, and mindless implementation work.

If you want to see and run the full example for yourself, try out the YAKINDU EA-Bridge. The presented example is one of the examples shipped with the YAKINDU EA-Bridge.

Sparx Systems has released Prolaborate 3, the latest version of its web solution for Enterprise Architect modelling tool.

Main improvements:

• Increased performances.
• New widget to include Impact Analysis views in the dashboards.
• New CxO multi-level charts to represent complex data in an impressive and easily understandable way.

The EAExample sample project pre-installed with Enterprise Architect has been used in this article to illustrate some of Prolaborate 3 features.

Model visibility and access

Prolaborate makes it possible to pick and select the models that are relevant for a user profile, e.g. a business stakeholder could request visibility and access only on the BPMN diagrams matching the enterprise business processes.

In the screenshot below, a user has a read/write access to the SysML model from the EAExample project. The full project content is illustrated on the left (Enterprise Architect Project Browser).

The above customization has been entered via Prolaborate administration screen:

Model navigation and access

Prolaborate supports multiple Enterprise Architect projects (restrictions may apply based on the owned license) as set up in Sparx Systems Pro Cloud Server. The user below can either access both Sparx EAExample and an Archimate project.

The above main screen is a Dashboard with convenient links to the main SysML diagrams for the Portable Audio Player system. Clicking on the Design BDD opens the diagram below. Once displayed, the user can select an element (e.g. the main block) to open its properties (real-time details from the EA database). Text based information such as the element's notes can be updated directly with Prolaborate (note: Enterprise Architect tool is required for advanced modelling uses including updating diagrams).

Once the notes description has been saved, the update is straight away visible within Enterprise Architect:

Amongst the other properties tabs, EA matching traceability functions are available: find the element's usage within diagrams and the linked elements.

Collaboration modelling platform: discussions, model review

Prolaborate provides most features that users can expect from a collaboration tool. As regards it supports discussions on selected elements and diagrams, model review processes, etc.

As illustrated hereafter, a user submits a query to the system engineer in charge of the system design:

The target user is notified and submits a reply online, having dealt with the request within the given context.

A link to any model element or diagram can easily be created and copied into an e-mail or document.

Charts and reports

A model based approach involves gathering all the project related information and knowledge within a single location, the model repository. An Enterprise Architect modelling project is a true database with a structured content that can be analyzed and used in EA:

• Advanced model search.
• Custom add-in to run model validation as defined by the team (contact me for any query).
• Charts.

Prolaborate expands the access to this content beyond the EA users group via custom charts and reports.

Charts and sub reports

Prolaborate supports most chart types: pie, donut, bar, stacked bar, bubble, heat map, and nested pie.

A report can be enabled as an option for the chart selected values.

A Nested Pie chart has been defined for the SysML model:

• To review the number of SysML blocks, parts and ports, organized by stereotype.
• To display a list of results for the selected value e.g. all Flow Property stereotyped parts.

Click here or on the image below to open a video demonstration.

For Enterprise Architect projects, the Heat Map is useful to review the identified applications.

Reports

As an alternative to charts, a table can be produced according to the definition of a custom query. Sub reports are also available as an option to access details for a selected line within the main table.

Publishing model information via tables can be useful for common data models or glossaries maintained via UML models.

In the following example, the Portable Audio Player SysML parts are listed (name + type). Selecting a part opens its properties (name, notes, diagram usage, traceability...).

The "View" link in the last column can be clicked to open the part's details i.e. its ports and parts.

The first Sparx University Week for 2018 will be run during March, with most training sessions being held during the week of March 2-9.

University Weeks are hosted by Sparx Systems Japan, Sparx Systems Central Europe, Sparx Services North America, Sparx Systems India and Sparx Services UK (Hippo Software).

The delivery format for each course varies depending on the subject, audience and location, with a mix of both online and face-to-face seminars and courses.

It is anticipated that Sparx University Week will be run on a global basis every few months, in conjunction with Sparx Systems Sister and Services Partner network.

Bookings are essential, please review the course schedule below and visit the course provider's website for more details and to register your place.

Sparx University Week Schedule:

The second Sparx University Week will be run during October, with most training sessions being held during the week of October 23-27.

University Weeks are hosted by Sparx Systems Japan, Sparx Systems Central Europe, Sparx Services North America, Sparx Systems India and Sparx Services UK (Hippo Software).

The delivery format for each course varies depending on the subject, audience and location, with a mix of both online and face-to-face seminars and courses.

It is anticipated that Sparx University Week will be run on a global basis every few months, in conjunction with Sparx Systems Sister and Services Partner network.

Bookings are essential, please review the course schedule below and visit the course provider's website for more details and to register your place.

Sparx University Week Schedule:

Hello fellow Enterprise Architect user!

we are very happy that the new release of EA's diff & merge extension LemonTree (c) by LieberLieber is available.

You can request the new version 1.3: http://lemontree.lieberlieber.com

Benefit of all features of your version control system by checking in EAP files! But do you already know that LemonTree can also diff DBMS such as SQL Server, Oracle, MySQl, etc.?

************* Release notes *************

We regularly provide updates like this to improve LemonTree.

Especially this release 1.3 brings improvements in speed and stability.

In addition, we have implemented the following improvements:

-          Dependencies of changes: When the user is manually changing the merge result, heavy dependencies of changes are now considered.

-          The order of swim lanes are now correct after merge.

-          SVN integration is now more robust: The SVN hooks are not used anymore

-          Git Integration: Bug fixed when writing model

-          Problems with ports and their types (classifier + redefined port) are solved.

-          Better logging

-          Additional UI fixes

Enterprise Architect User Group

London 2017; 18th - 19th May

The London

2017 meeting of the Enterprise Architect User Group sees a shakeup to the agenda in the form of an additional day being added to the roster. In additional to the traditional presentation day of User Stories, How to's etc the extra day added to the event is taking the form of a training day.

The training day adds to the event a selection of six, three hour training sessions on a variety of subjects from BPMN to TOGAF and Model Curation.

Location

Code Node, 10 South Place, London, EC2M 7BT

Get Directions

Agenda; Thursday 18th May

You can find information on these training sessions over at the EA User Group website.

Agenda; Friday 19th May

You can find a synopsis for each of these presentations over on the EA User Group website.

How to buy your tickets...

Tickets for the event are available directly from the EA User Group website and are priced as follows:

• Full two day event ticket; £550.00 +Vat
• Friday only ticket; £75.00 +Vat

The SysML reference card defined by Tim Weilkiens (oose.de) is now available in a version with diagrams done with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect modelling tool. This overview illustrates SysML modelling language concepts, organized by topic:

• System context diagram
• Use case diagram
• Block Definition diagram
• SysML ports
• Internal Block diagram
• Requirements
• Packages
• Sequence diagram
• Activity diagram
• State Machines
• Comments and constraints
• Allocations
• Parametric diagram

SysML 1.4 reference card is available in the PDF format.

Notes:

• SysML is available in the Systems Engineering and Ultimate editions of Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect.
• This reference card is also available in French and provided during VISEO SysML with Sparx Enterprise Architect training sessions (more details available in French here).

Download links:

• SysML 1.4 reference card with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect (PDF - english version)
• SysML 1.4 reference card with Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect (PDF - french version)

YouTube Live Stream Webinar: Enterprise Architect 13 Highlights, Part 2

In our second installment of the Enterprise Architect 13 release series, we delve into some of the new productivity tools introduced in this major milestone release.

In this LIVE webinar session, you will learn how to:

• Generate Dynamic Documents based on a selected Element
• Undertake Parametric Simulation using SysML and OpenModelica
• Publish models directly to Joomla!

We are trialling a new webinar technology based on YouTube Live streaming.

To access the webinar, simply visit and bookmark the webinar link below and return at your scheduled time.

Watch Now: Enterprise Architect 13 Highlights Webinar - Part 2