Enterprise Architect - YAKINDU EA-Bridge Integration Example

The example contained in this repository demonstrate the integration of the Enterprise Architect (EA) modeling tool with a command-line Java application for model validation. A simple EA Add-in calls the Java application which loads the .eap/.eapx file, performs validations on that model and returns the result. Then the EA Add-in loads and displays the validation issues in a custom UI view including the possibility to navigate to the corresponding elements in the EA project browser or in existing diagrams. The following diagram illustrates how this example works:

This example may also serve as a template for further use cases such as custom model validation, code generation, or reporting.

Advantages of this approach are:

• Performance: the Java application loads and processes large EA models much faster (up to 50x) than using EA's API.
• Standard compliance: the model is loaded as a standard UML model and can be processed with powerful languages such as Java or Xtend.
• Seamless integration: the EA Add-in integrates powerful model processing into the UI of Enterprise Architect.

This example is tested with Enterprise Architect 15.

How to run this example

This repository consists of two codebases:

• The command-line interface (CLI) is a headless Java application containing the YAKINDU EA-Bridge for loading UML models from eap-files; it further performs UML syntax validation and runs an exemplary custom validation rule. The result of this validation is stored in a json-file for further use with other tools such as the EA Add-in below.

• The EA Add-in allows the user to validate the model using a UI integrated in Enterprise Architect; it further lists the validation results in a custom view inside EA without the need to use the command line. A double click on a validation result in EA selects the corresponding element in the Project Browser and opens the diagram containing that element (if such a diagram exists).

Please follow these steps to try out the pre-built example on your local machine:

1. Download the zip-package and extract it to some location on your hard-drive.
2. Download the Add-in installer and install it (EA must not be running).
3. Start EA, go to Specialize → YAKINDU EA-Bridge Integration → Configure CLI Path → and set the path to the folder into which you extracted the zip-package.
4. Validate your model via the context-menu on a package in the Project Browser and select Specialize %rarr; YAKINDU EA-Bridge Integration → Example Model Validation → it will take a few seconds, then check the Add-in window for the result.

How to build this example

• Validation CLI:

  The validation CLI is an OSGi application written in Java. Simply run the following maven command to build it.

  cd CLI

  mvn clean package

• EA Add-in: The Add-in is written in C# and uses the automation API provided by Enterprise Architect to access the model and add custom views to the UI. The UI extensions are simple Windows controls and forms. The entire Add-in is a .NET-based COM application. To build the Add-in you need the following tools:

  • Visual Studio 2022. In the IDE, the following extensions are required:
    • NUnit 3 Test Adapter: required to build and run tests. It can be installed using the extension manager in Visual Studio.
    • Wix Toolkit Visual Studio 2022 extensions: The Wix toolset is required to build the Add-in installer package. It can be installed using the extension manager in Visual Studio. However, it must be accompanied by the installation of the Wix tool which can be downloaded here.
  • Enterprise Architect version 15.2

  After installing these tools, open the solution AddIn\EABridge_Example_AddIn.sln and build all projects contained in it. To register the built Add-in DLL with Enterprise Architect, run the script AddIn\EABridge_Example_AddIn\Install.bat. This script registers the DLL built by the IDE with Enterprise Architect as the Add-in. It needs to be run only once. When the Add-in installer is used, the DLL in the specified installation location will be used instead.

Contribute

We are always happy to see suggestions, bug reports, feature requests as well as pull requests. Please feel free to raise an issue or contribute with a pull request.

Further information

The YAKINDU EA-Bridge has a free 30-day trial period which can be used with models containing up to 1000 elements.
For a (free) unlimited evaluation license, please contact us via the website or e-mail: bridges @ yakindu.com