With the current release 2.1 the EA Navigator has now matured into a real product that will make the life of any Enterprise Architect user a lot easier.
I can know, as it’s primary user I use it constantly during my daily modelling tasks, and I can assure you that it has already saved me heaps of time.
And because any real product should have a logo, so I proudly present to you: The EA navigator logo.
After the complete re-factoring of version 2.0 version 2.1 has been more about polishing and refining. I’v been using my own user feedback to enhance the existing features, and add the features I was missing.
One of the things I’ve been focusing on is the bi-directionality of all navigate features. So if I can navigate from an operation to the sequence diagrams that use it, then I also want to be able to navigate from that sequence diagram back to the operations it shows.
What’s new in EA Navigator 2.1
New and improved icons
Most of the icons used in the navigator window have gotten an update. The folder icons now already show what kind of elements can be found here.
Tagged values
In Enterprise Architect you can define “RefGUID” style tagged values is you want to link an element to another element (see EA Manual for more information).
This is a flexible way to add your own customized relations to the model.
All tagged values of a class are being examined. If their value is a reference to another element they will show up in the navigator:
Referencing Tagged Values
The referencing tagged values allow for navigation in the other direction. It will show all RefGUID style tagged values that reference the selected element.
This feature is available for all types of elements.
Owner
The owner feature simply allows to navigate further to the owner of the element. This feature is available for all types of elements.
The owner feature is a bit special as it doesn’t have a folder that you have to open, but it shows directly under the selected element.
Sequence diagram operations
Starting from a sequence diagram you can now quickly navigate to all operations called on the diagram. This sequence diagram
shows up like this in the EA Navigator window
Other changes
- Attribute Type
The attribute type’s behavior has been changed to show without a containing folder, just like the owner feature. - Relationship select
Relationships can now also be selected. Selecting a Relationship will select it’s source, except for sequence diagram messages, they open their sequence diagram when double-clicked. - Number of items in window
The number of items retained in the navigator window has been increased to 50. - Implementation to operation
From a Behavior (Interaction, Statemachine or Activity) or from a diagram contained by such an element can be navigated to the operation it is implementing. - Add/Remove programs Icon
The EA Navigator now has its own icon that shows up in the add/remove programs, to easily identify the add-in among all other installed programs.
Downloads
More Information
More information about the EA Navigator add-in for Enterprise Architect can be found here:
