tagged value of type memo?

837 views
Skip to first unread message

Julian@localhost Patrick Julian

unread,
Mar 20, 2013, 11:14:00 AM3/20/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Hi,

is it possible to add a tagged value of type "MEMO" by creating a UML profile in which I define the tagged values in a stereotype?

I ran into the 255 characters limit for "char" and saw that the type "MEMO" exists and it is used in MDGs (like in the SysML one) and in the SDK (http://www.sparxsystems.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1351844315/3#3). However, I cannot find "memo" as a type in the dropdown.

Entering "memo" manually didn't do the trick.

Best regards
Patrick

[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 20, 2013, 7:05:00 PM3/20/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
You can enter 'Memo' (note the uppercase M) in the name field and leave the type field empty... seems wrong to me (how do i define 2 memo-type tags for a stereotype?) so maybe i missed something, but at least it works.






[original message]

RoyC

unread,
Mar 20, 2013, 7:34:00 PM3/20/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Not quite. You type Memo in the Value field and type the long tag value text you need in the Notes field.
[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 10:29:00 AM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
I was referring to an attribute for a stereotype in an UML stereotype profile, where you can enter the fields Name, Type, Initial Value, and Stereotype for an attribute.

When you enter Name = 'Menu' and leave the rest blank you will get a tagged value named 'Memo' and of type Memo in elements of the stereotype.

I would have expected i would be able to enter Type = 'Memo' and Name='xxxx', resulting in a tagged value 'xxx' of type Memo but this is not the case, instead i get a tagged value 'xxx' of type String.

[original message]

Julian@localhost Patrick Julian

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 1:19:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com

322F23273131272C420 wrote:
I was referring to an attribute for a stereotype in an UML stereotype profile, where you can enter the fields Name, Type, Initial Value, and Stereotype for an attribute.


Me too, this is exactly what I meant :)



322F23273131272C420 wrote:
When you enter Name = 'Menu' and leave the rest blank you will get a tagged value named 'Memo' and of type Memo in elements of the stereotype.


Doesn't work for me, sadly. EA 10 Build 1005.

[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 2:33:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Woooops my bad: I used an old profile of mine that had just this but missed out on something vital.

Just to be sure this time i started with a brand new project and used the new MDG technology wizard to create a 'Basic template' profile from scratch (@Sparx thx for that �it makes life sooooo much easier :) ).

So here's what you need to do to get it to work:

1) Define a tagged value type (settings->UML types, tagged valuetyupe tab) for your memo field, with say Tag Name='ACMENotes', and Detail='Type=Memo;'

2) (as before) Add an attribute with Name='ACMENotes' to your stereotype (in my case 'Animal'), leave the remaining fields blank and save the profile and generate the MDG (be sure to include the newly created tagged value type in the MDG)

grts,

Paulus

[original message]

philchudley

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 4:05:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Sorry, still not working for me, and I have never got this to work! I have tried every combination of name, type, default in all versions of EA from 7.5, 8, 9 and 10

Yes, I get the Memo type if I use the same repository in which the MDG is defined, BUT, when the MDG is used in a different repository the Memo type tagged value always appears as  a String

I have had to export the TaggedValue as a resource and then import it, this works just fine.

I have looked the  BPMN 2.0 MDG xml file, and all the Memo TaggedValues have an extra line in the TaggedValue definition, namely BaseStereotype=

I have even tried this, but yet again it does not work

There must be a way, since SysML and BPMN all work, but try as I might I cannot get Memo (or DateTime) to work as stated in the User Guide in as in previous replies to this post.

Cheers

Phil

[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 4:52:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Well, i can use the MDG in another repository and the memo field works.
I even switched to another (clean install) machine and it worked as well.

Maybe you overlooked something. I uploaded the zip file containing the EAP, MTS and generated XML's i used here: https://github.com/Paulusma/ACME (i hope i'm not breaking any rules here).

Maybe you can download that and see if the ACME.xml MDG works for you, if it does check the source EA & MTS how its created (you'll have to change the paths D:\CGI in the MTS ofcourse to get it working).

best regards,

Paulus

[original message]

qwerty

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 5:20:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
I don't see where animal has any tagged value that creates a memo. The ACMEnotes simply create a tag without anything. In order to make it a memo you have to manually enter 'memo' in the tag value. Or am I missing something?

q.

[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 5:42:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Animal has an attribute ACMENotes, and ACMENotes is defined as an UML tagged value type, of type Memo. When using the MDG it is included in the tagged-value set ACME.

When generating the MDG the tagged value type ACMENotes is included in the MDG along with the stereotype, diagram & toolbox profiles.

It works but i wonder if this is the way it's meant to be done, because, like i said, i find it a bit strange that name & type of the tag are tied to each other in this way. It prevents re-use of that type in other attributes.


[original message]

qwerty

unread,
Mar 21, 2013, 10:48:00 PM3/21/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
I see. It really works! I also had difficulties creating the memo tags, but the way you did it seems to be the solution. Certainly it's strange, but it's EA. You've done a great job bringing light into this formerly dark room.

q.

[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 22, 2013, 3:58:00 AM3/22/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
:) �

I'll move the link to the community site then and perhaps embellish it a bit.

[original message]

S@localhost Robert S

unread,
Mar 22, 2013, 6:29:00 AM3/22/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Way back when I got it to work in a profile by adding <memo> as the stereotype and initial value, I had to put the <> in for it to work; are these no longer needed?
[original message]

Paulus

unread,
Mar 22, 2013, 10:38:00 AM3/22/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Robert thx for replying, this was just what was missing!

And btw they are still needed. I checked various combinations of <memo>, <Memo>,memo,Memo as values for Type and Initial Value, and it turns out that to create a Memo type tagged value:

- you need to set Initial Value = '<memo>' (exactly like that).
- Name can be freely chosen and remaining fields (including Type) can be left blank

Do you have a similar solution for custom tagged types like ACMENotes? Setting Initial Value = '<ACMENotes>' or '<acmenotes>' does not work.




[original message]

philchudley

unread,
Mar 25, 2013, 6:58:00 AM3/25/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
Thanks Paulus, yes your ACEM example did indeed work for all repositories.

Tried to re-create it myself and it did not work! Even though all XML files appeared to be identical in your ACME and my ACME.

However, I have got it work by adding the initial value of <memo>

Although the memo field has the default text of <memo> rather than blank as in your ACME example.

In addition, I notice that in your ACME, there is no initial value

All a mystery to me, but for now I will continue with the initial value trick

All the best

Phil

[original message]

Julian@localhost Patrick Julian

unread,
Mar 24, 2013, 8:52:00 PM3/24/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
I dropped a feature request at Sparx' asking for an integration of the memo type to the dropdown.
[original message]

KP

unread,
Mar 25, 2013, 7:13:00 PM3/25/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
The full answer (how to create a memo-type tagged value in a profile) is:

1. Create a tagged value type in Settings > UML Types > Tagged Value Types. Tag Name is the name of the tagged value you want to create and Detail contains "Type=Memo;"

2. Create your profile giving your stereotype class an attribute with the name (and type?) set to the name of the tagged value type created in 1.

3. Generate an MDG Technology including the profile created in 2 and the tagged value type created in 1. The technology must have exactly the same name (case-sensitive) as the profile for this to work.

The other steps are as expected...

[original message]

philchudley

unread,
Mar 26, 2013, 6:10:00 AM3/26/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
A million thanks, it now works!!

The key to success was the all important step 3 (highlighted) which I had overlooked, renamed the MDG to agree with the profile and hey presto, everything works including one of my favourite tagged value types DateTime

The step which is vital is

The technology must have exactly the same name (case-sensitive) as the profile for this to work.

Thanks again

Phil

[original message]

S@localhost Robert S

unread,
Mar 27, 2013, 6:54:00 AM3/27/13
to sparx-enterprise-archite...@googlegroups.com
I found that using <memo> in the tagged value of the stereotype meant that I did not have to set up a tagged value type via UML types which meant that the profile was portable (important if the users will be creating their own repositories and are not technically savvy).  The downside is that the 'details' of a new element created using the stereotype contains '<memo>' etc. as the default value; the only work around to this I have found is that if you are doing an import via the automation interface you can add a step to check for and delete the default value if the details field should be empty.
[original message]
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages