Modeling
In this section
| Page | What it covers | Code | Cowork | Desktop chat | VS Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build a model from source documents | Turn requirements or design documents into an ArchiMate and BPMN model with packages, elements, connectors and diagrams, and prove it by counting back and rendering. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Load a hierarchy and generate navigation diagrams | Load a hierarchical reference model, such as a capability map or technology taxonomy, into the repository and build click-through drill-down diagrams over it. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Model classes | Create classes with attributes, operations and operation parameters, relate them, and draw a class diagram. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Start from a model pattern | Import a model pattern that ships with EA, such as a cloud reference pattern, through XMI as the starting point for a diagram, then give its elements vendor icons. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Choose the right diagram | From what you want to understand and the measured content of a scope, recommend a diagram type and viewpoint, including when the scope spans several modeling languages and no conformant view exists. | Yes | No | No | With you |
| Compose a diagram | Build a diagram from model content, rather than hand-placing it, by choosing a layout grammar, computing the geometry, placing and styling the elements, then verifying, linting and correcting. | Yes | No | No | With you |
| Tidy and style a diagram | Make an existing diagram read as deliberate: align and size it, route its connectors, and set its colors, line styles and labels. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Reproduce a diagram from a picture | Recreate a diagram that exists only as an image, as real model content in EA, and measure how closely the result matches the picture. | Yes | No | No | With you |
| Draw a cloud architecture diagram with vendor icons | Draw AWS, Azure or Google Cloud elements as their vendor icons instead of plain boxes. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Copy a package as new | Duplicate a package subtree, including its elements, attributes, operations, tagged values, connectors and diagrams, with fresh identifiers everywhere, so the copy is independent of the original. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
| Move content in and out of Enterprise Architect | Export a package as XMI (or import XMI back), export a diagram as a picture or an editable Visio file, or generate a formatted document, and know what each of four ways of moving content gives you and what it does not. | Yes | Yes | With you | With you |
Where it runs: Yes = runs fully · With you = runs, and you do the steps in EA’s window · Partly = one part needs a capability the client lacks · No = not available · TBC = to be confirmed
Modeling is getting the architecture into the repository and keeping it there: models built from documents and hierarchies, class models and patterns, diagrams that make an argument, and content moved in and out of Enterprise Architect.
How to read these scenarios: How to read a scenario. Examples use Westbrook Bank as an illustration. Substitute your own model, technology and paths. Run the start-of-session check (Start a session safely) before any write.
Conventions for the writing scenarios
- Writes are sequential. EA handles all automation calls on one thread. Parallel package creation fails intermittently. The bulk operations of AI Power Tools replace many single calls.
- A success reply means data was written. It does not mean every property landed, and it does not mean a diagram looks right. Read back what matters, and render what you drew.
- Baseline first. A deletion made through EA's automation interface cannot be undone. See Protect a change with a baseline.
Diagrams. A diagram is an argument about the model, made visually. The model cannot tell you where things go. The diagram scenarios, Choose the right diagram to Draw a cloud architecture diagram with vendor icons, use the two diagram skills together. ea-diagram-advisor decides what to draw, and recommends without drawing. ea-diagram-composition draws it, then checks and corrects it.
Things to know about EA diagrams
- Look at every diagram you generate. A success reply means data was written, not that the picture reads well. EA caches renders, so use the verify step of AI Power Tools, which reloads before it renders, when the question is "is this right".
- Z-order: a lower sequence number is nearer the front. A container needs a higher sequence number than its contents, or it paints over them.
- EA draws relationships between placed elements whether or not a stored link exists. A visible line is not evidence that you can style it. A line with no stored link has nothing to write a style to.
- EA grows a box to fit a name it cannot break. It wraps on spaces only and never inside a word. The stored geometry keeps the old size, so any check that reads stored rectangles can certify geometry that EA does not paint. Render, and read the picture.
- EA's coordinates are not the usual ones. Vertical positions are negative and the top edge is the larger number. The AI and AI Power Tools handle this. It matters only if you read raw coordinates in a result.