Terry Landes

It is always interesting when I hear someone talk about using Sparx EA to document a software project. 

I have started this blog category in an effort to ease the frustration levels when using this tool.

Regardless of the tool, it is important to remain clear on what UML is and is not. UML is a modeling language, not a methodology.

So, why are we talking about UML when it comes to the Sparx tool?

Easy, without a fundamental knowledge of UML you will find that your effectiveness in using the Sparx EA tool will be very limited. To the credit of the developers of this tool, they have included a great UML tutorial which not only covers most of the fundamentals but gives valuable information regarding usage within the tool (Context).

Note: I will not cover the product setup procedure here as that is a different use case.

I offer the following for creation of your first project:

Pre-Condition: Sparx EA is installed correctly, running with the default configuration settings and no project has been opened.

1. User selects "Create a New Project" from the "Manage Projects" menu items list.

 2. User enters an appropriate project name and selects the desired directory for EA project file storage (Assumption: EA has not been installed using a database for project repository).

4. The system (Sparx EA) creates the following project model folders:

Note: We will be modifying and deleting some of the project models and artifacts next. Why? I will explain as we go.

Part 2 | Part 3