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Wednesday, 09 December 2015 00:00

eaUtils Breadcrumb trail simplifies updating navigation between diagrams

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eautils fil d'ariane breadcrumb trail navigation pour Sparx Enterprise Architect

Navigating between a large number of opened diagrams within a Sparx Enterprise Architect modelling project can be cumbersome. When a composite element such as an activity, use case, or BPMN2 subprocess is opened, going back to the initial diagram is not easily supported in Sparx EA. This issue is not only valid when one uses Sparx EA tool, but also when an HTML export is used via a web browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome, IE).

A workaround involves creating a diagram hyperlink back to each associated or linking diagram; eaUtils addin provides a Breadcrumb Trail feature that automatically generates all possible hyperlinks within an active diagram.

In the example below, a BPMN2 process has been defined via a composite BPMN diagram:

eautils addin sparx ea breadcrumb trail evaluation

This article illustrates the use of eaUtils Breadcrumb trail feature to generate a link back. Note: this feature makes even more sense when multiple hyperlinks are created, so the user doesn't have to look up for each linking diagrams.

Caution - important! this feature runs on the selected diagram from the Project Browser, hence a right click > eaUtils > Generate diagram breadcrumb trail in a displayed diagram will not act on this diagram if it is not selected in the project browser. Prior to run this feature, use a right click in the diagram (the one of the right hand side in the above screenshot) > select Find in Project Browser so the diagram is selected in the browser.

addin eautils fil d'ariane

Right click on the diagram > Extensions > eaUtils > Generate diagram breadcrumb trail.

eautils addin generate breadcrumb trail

Confirm with "Yes" on the following dialog window: 

Close the final confirmation window; a hyperlink back to the linking diagram has been created. This link can be renamed, moved, or deleted.

eautils addin sparx ea breadcrumb trail resultat