Moving Models from SparxEA to Archi

[tkazimie]

Hi!
I am trying to move my models from Sparx EA to Archi. Import process of the models using Archimate format was surprisingly smooth, quick and easy. Non Archimte elements were lost as expected but most of the rest looks quite ok.

There are a lot of things made very convenient and better then in EA especially GIT integration and ability to run natively on Mac

... but I really miss some functions or I don't know how to use Archie properly:

• 
  Ability to change element type. For example I have Application Service where Business Service should be used. I need to change the type without removing old element and create new one moving all relations and descriptions.
  
• 
  Publish element description by the note relation. In Sparx EA you can create note related to the of the elements of your diagram and change content of the note to description from linked element rather than copying description to the note itself.
  
• 
  Ability to export part of the model to the XML file to move it between models.
  
• 
  Have a shortcut to go from diagram to element in tree and from the element in tree to the element on diagram. I know it is possible using context manu and Analysis tab but I looking for something quicker
  
• 
  When I put element to the diagram which has some relations to the elements already existing on the diagram, all the relations are shown when I would prefer in most cases to show only some of them instead.
  
• 
  Generally when there are many relations between to elements which are shown automatically they are put to the single area very difficult to move and arrange
  

Any ideas how to compensate lack of BPMN notation in Archimate? Any experience with integration some third party tools?
If you have some other experience with such migration I would appeciate hints.

BR,
Tomek

[Jean-Baptiste Sarrodie]

Hi,

[...] Import process of the models using Archimate format was surprisingly smooth, quick and easy. Non Archimte elements were lost as expected but most of the rest looks quite ok.

There are a lot of things made very convenient and better then in EA especially GIT integration and ability to run natively on Mac

Welcome to Archi ;-)

... but I really miss some functions or I don't know how to use Archie properly:

• 
  Ability to change element type. For example I have Application Service where Business Service should be used. I need to change the type without removing old element and create new one moving all relations and descriptions.
  

You can do this by first installing jArchi (a plugin which enable scripting) and then using the scripts I provided on Gist.

Publish element description by the note relation. In Sparx EA you can create note related to the of the elements of your diagram and change content of the note to description from linked element rather than copying description to the note itself.

This is possible with Archi 4.7. You add a note, connect it to an element, and then you define the note's text through a label expression: $connection:target{documentation}

Ability to export part of the model to the XML file to move it between models.

In Archi 4.7 you can import a model into another model, so you simply have to create a strip down version containing only the views and elements to export, then import it into the other model. To make it easier, you can keep only wanted views, and then cleanup the model from its unused elements by using this script.

Have a shortcut to go from diagram to element in tree and from the element in tree to the element on diagram. I know it is possible using context manu and Analysis tab but I looking for something quicker

A quicker way to select element in tree is to enable the "Link to View" option (double arrow icon in the top of the tree): each time you select something in a view it gets also selected in the tree.

Nothing quicker for the opposite, but can you explain why you would need this (I never need this, while I work everyday with Archi, so there must be some hidden use-case).

When I put element to the diagram which has some relations to the elements already existing on the diagram, all the relations are shown when I would prefer in most cases to show only some of them instead.

Keep CTRL (maybe another on MacOS, see user manual) pressed while dragging the element ;-)

Generally when there are many relations between to elements which are shown automatically they are put to the single area very difficult to move and arrange

The best way to manage this is to add element without relationships and then add then one by one and rearrange them using bendpoints.

[/list]Any ideas how to compensate lack of BPMN notation in Archimate? Any experience with integration some third party tools?
If you have some other experience with such migration I would appeciate hints.

You don't need BPMN notation at all as you can do almost exactly the same with ArchiMate: simply add Actors or Roles and nest process and events inside (look at the attachment).

Regards,

JB

[tkazimie]

Thank you for quick response! All solution worked perfectly.

I knew about scripting but I definitely underestimated it.

I wasn't aware about "link to view" functionality - it's great for elements!
However, for relations I would prefer not to follow automatically as I have hundreds of them in the single folder which is opening all the time and I have to close it all over again. Can I somehow decide about this behaviour?

Two more questions:

• I have pretty long names on the relationships. Is there any way to break the line? Pls see attached screenshot.
• Is it possible to search for properties values?

BR,
Tomek

[Phil Beauvoir]

I wasn't aware about "link to view" functionality - it's great for elements!
However, for relations I would prefer not to follow automatically as I have hundreds of them in the single folder which is opening all the time and I have to close it all over again. Can I somehow decide about this behaviour?

No, it selects all objects there are no further options to refine the selection. If you are selecting the object in the Model Tree then the context menu item "Select in Model Tree" might be better.

I have pretty long names on the relationships. Is there any way to break the line? Pls see attached screenshot.

You could enter a different or the same name in the "Label Expression" (Properties) for the object and enter line breaks. Or the following label expression will add a break every 12 characters:

Code Select Expand

${wordwrap:12:${name}}

(See attachment).

Is it possible to search for properties values?

Not in the Search box in the Model Tree. A jArchi script could search for them if you wanted to do some bulk processing.

[Jean-Baptiste Sarrodie]

Hi,

Is it possible to search for properties values?

Not in the Search box in the Model Tree. A jArchi script could search for them if you wanted to do some bulk processing.

Well, you can search for properties values in the Search box, but this requires you to first select (using the little arrow on the left of the search box) on which property you want this search to apply (and don't forget to unselect the default criteria which is "Name").

Regards,

JB

[Phil Beauvoir]

Hi,

Well, you can search for properties values in the Search box, but this requires you to first select (using the little arrow on the left of the search box) on which property you want this search to apply (and don't forget to unselect the default criteria which is "Name").

Regards,

JB

You're right! I didn't know that. (It was done a long time ago...  )

Edit: at some point (in the 7 year backlog) the Search should be enhanced to include this kind of thing.

[tkazimie]

Thank you for the answers!

Actually I can't find little arrow in the search box (please see my dialog attached). Am I looking in proper place?

[Phil Beauvoir]

The Search in the Model Tree.

See https://www.archimatetool.com/downloads/Archi%20User%20Guide.pdf

Page 12

[tkazimie]

Thank you! All clear