Deploy an MDG Technology and prove it works

Goal

Put a technology into a model, or onto a machine, and prove with runtime checks that it works, then retire the builds it replaces. For an EA administrator or MDG author. You end with one entry for the technology in Manage Technologies, at the expected version and Location, confirmed loaded and enabled, creating correctly stereotyped content, with older builds retired.

Where it runs

This scenario needs the MCP server. Computer use covers its UI steps.

Before you start

• A technology to deploy that reads back cleanly: either an «mdg technology» package in the open model (Build an MDG Technology from a source model), or a technology XML file (Hand-author an MDG Technology or the file saved in 6.3.3).
• A baseline of the target model or package, since storing a technology in the model changes the model.
• Computer use, for restarts, for Import to Model and for reading dialogs, or you at EA, pasting a screenshot of any dialog into the conversation. An import can raise a modal dialog, such as "Profile already exists. Overwrite?", that blocks the connection even where dialogs are suppressed.
• Knowledge of the installed EA version, from the repository read.

A technology can reach EA in three ways, and Manage Technology shows which in its Location column.

This choice is independent of whether the technology is hand-written or model-built.

Never keep one technology id at two places. If the model holds the id at both Locations, EA lists both in Manage Technologies and answers from the Project copy, so the Project copy shadows the Model copy. If a file copy on the machine and a copy in the model both exist, EA shows a duplicate entry with an asterisk, and the asterisk entry cannot be removed through the interface. ea-mdg-deploy carries this scenario. It exists because "deployed" is not "working": a deployment call can return true and leave the technology unloaded, shadowed, disabled, or at the wrong version.

Steps

1. AI with computer use; otherwise you If EA is not running or the model is not open, start EA and open it. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy checks the build folder against EA's search path (get_mdg_search_paths, with a folder to check). Any MDG file that EA finds in a folder on its search path is registered at startup, regardless of deployment mode. The path list is at Manage Technology, Advanced, and often includes a Downloads folder. A build written there shadows the intended copy. The search path is not recursive, so a subfolder is safe.

2. You Choose where the technology goes: into the model at Location: Model (preferred), into the model at Location: Project (only for a technology with no toolbox pages), or onto this machine only.

3. You Approve the removal of any other copy of the same id: the file copy on the machine for an install into the model, a Project copy for an install at Location: Model, or the model's copy for an install on the machine.

4. You Approve a baseline, then ea-change-management takes it.

5. Install, by the place you chose:

   • Location: Model from an «mdg technology» package. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy builds the technology from the package in the open model and imports it at Location: Model (install_mdg, with a model scope and the package), with dialog suppression turned on for the call. It reads the stored copy back and reports the id, the version the copy declares, the sections it holds, and the number of stereotypes, diagram types and toolbox pages. If the model also holds the id at Location: Project, the reply says the Project copy shadows the new one. Ask for the Project copy to be replaced and the reply says whether it was removed. If EA keeps it, reopen the project and run this step again. If removing it takes the Model copy too, the reply says so and you install again.
   • Location: Model from a technology file. AI with computer use; otherwise you Use EA's own Specialize, Publish Technology, Import MDG Technology, and choose Import to Model. The AI drives it by computer use; without computer use it hands you each click.
   • Location: Project. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy stores the file in the model through the operation that does so (install_mdg, with an embedded scope). The reply lists the sections the stored copy holds and the sections it does not, and says the install is incomplete when the toolbox pages are missing. Treat that as a reason to install at Location: Model instead.
   • This machine only. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy copies the file into the user technology folder as <tech_id>.xml and refreshes the model view (install_mdg, with a user scope).

   An install that fails reports why: the usual causes are an id over 12 characters, malformed XML, and a base technology that is not installed.

6. AI with computer use; otherwise you Look at the screen straight after, twice, a few seconds apart, with ea-mdg-deploy and ea-help. A modal dialog blocks the connection and never appears in a response. With computer use, the AI reads it, uses the message to correct the call, dismisses it and confirms. Without computer use, you take a screenshot of the dialog and paste it into the conversation so the AI can analyze it, then dismiss the dialog so processing can continue.

7. You Approve closing EA. AI with computer use; otherwise you ea-mdg-deploy restarts it, or ea-com does where local code execution is available, in the order: save, shut down, wait for the process to exit, relaunch the same file, reconnect with retries. Never open a second EA instance to do this, and never repeat a restart without confirming the first. Restart EA before judging the toolbox. At Location: Model the diagram types resolve and the toolbox pages are listed at once, but the toolbox does not switch to them dependably when a diagram opens until EA has restarted.

8. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy proves it is loaded and enabled, most reliable check first (see the table below). The Manage Technologies check is AI with computer use; otherwise you.

9. AI Power Tools ea-mdg-deploy proves it works on real content, in a scratch package: one element of each stereotype with its tags, and a diagram of each custom type. AI with computer use; otherwise you In EA, check that the toolbox page appears (use the toolbox's filter if it does not switch), that dragging an item gives an element showing <Tech>: <Stereotype> in its properties, and that a tab named after the technology lists the tagged values. For the Westbrook technology, each of its three diagram types opens its own toolbox page, with 12, 5 and 5 items. A single automatic page, named after the profile and listing every stereotype, means the copy EA is using is at Location: Project, which keeps no toolbox pages: install at Location: Model. Quick Linker needs the preference switched on (Preferences, Objects, Links), and its hover overlay cannot be captured by a screenshot.

10. You Approve retiring superseded builds. An older build that is still registered or embedded can shadow the new one. AI with computer use; otherwise you Disable superseded builds in Manage Technologies, and check again with disabled technologies shown.

A technology that declares no version reports none. If the expected version is missing from every check, read the file's own version first.

Prompts to use

Opening

Follow-ups

Recommended models

Ratings are guidance based on the kind of reasoning the skill needs, not measured benchmarks.

Checking the result

• Accurate. The runtime reading says live, not registered but not enabled, and the version matches the file's. The Location it reports is the one you chose. EA's own checks and the Manage Technologies dialog agree with it. A test element carries its stereotype and its tagged values, and, after a restart, a custom diagram has its designed toolbox page and not a single automatic page.
• Complete. Every stereotype, diagram type and toolbox page in the technology is present, and the install reply's counts of stereotypes, diagram types and toolbox pages equal the design. The shadow check was run, and exactly one entry per technology id exists, with no copy at the other Location.
• Nothing unintended changed. Comparing the model with the baseline shows no change to existing content. Test content in the scratch package is removed or kept deliberately. A deletion through EA's automation interface cannot be undone, so remove only what you created.

Variations

• Application-level for one machine. Choose the user scope and restart. Remove any copy stored in the model first.
• Deploy a model-built technology. Install it straight from its «mdg technology» package at Location: Model, with no file. Or use the file that Build an MDG Technology from a source model produced. Save Package as MDG Technology writes a file and installs nothing. Import Package as MDG Technology builds the same technology and imports it into the open model at Location: Model, toolbox pages included, and writes no file. Verify either with the runtime reading and the model's list of embedded technologies, which read Location: Model, and with Manage Technologies.
• A file with no package behind it. The file reaches Location: Model only through Import to Model, a UI step. Without computer use the AI hands you each click and asks what the dialog shows.
• Migrate existing elements. After deploying a new language, an existing element does not pick up new stereotypes by itself. See Hand-author an MDG Technology, step 11.

Limitations

• A true reply from an import is not proof. Check loaded, enabled, version and the dialog.
• The loaded check is session-scoped. It is the right check for the session and says nothing about the next one.
• A technology removed through automation can persist. The removal reports success while the entry persists until a restart, because it is removed from the registry and not from memory.
• Automation removes only the Project copy. The call that removes a technology removes the Location: Project copy. A Location: Model copy is removed in Manage Technology with Remove, a UI step that is AI with computer use; otherwise you. In a long-running EA session the Project copy sometimes stays after the call, and reopening the project and running the step again removed it in the one case measured.
• A duplicate with an asterisk cannot be removed through the interface. Prevent it by keeping one copy per id.
• A Project copy answers first. While the model holds the id at both Locations, EA reports the Project copy's version, so a Model install can look as if it did not take.
• Location: Project keeps no toolbox pages. An install there succeeds and reports what it did not store. Users get an automatic page of stereotypes and not your designed pages.
• The toolbox may not switch until EA restarts. The pages are loaded at once but the automatic switch when a diagram opens is dependable only after a restart. Restarting EA is your decision.
• An id over 12 characters is rejected silently. The import returns false.
• Encoding. The declaration and the bytes must both say UTF-8.
• EA is single-instance per seat. Never launch it again to bring it forward.