The EA Validator is an add-in that will help you validate the syntactical correctness of your EA model.

Validations as based on SQL queries and is fully customizable to your specific requirements. It comes with a set of example rules that may be used as is, or can serve as a basis for writing your own validation rules

Download

Installation

EA Mapping is part of the Bellekens EA Toolpack which includes other useful add-ins such as

Settings

Open the settings via the menu option Specialize | EA Validator | Settings

  • Checks directory
    • Indicates the directory where the check files are located. In a corporate environment this would probably point to a shared network drive
  • Allowed repository types
    • Indicates the types of repository that are supported. Since the checks are SQL based, and the SQL syntax can vary quite a bit between different database types, this will ensure that the checks will only be executed on compatible databases.
  • Scope Element types
    • Sets the allowed elements types to be selected as scope.
  • Scope Diagram types
    • Sets the allowed diagram types that can be used as scope.
  • Exclude archive packages
    • Often there are a type of Archive or Temporary packages in a model that are to be ignored by the validator. Use this checkbox to exclude these type of packages from validation. Make sure to fill in the Archive packages query as well.
  • Archive packages query
    • Fill in the conditions to be added to the where clause of checks in order to exclude the archive packages. The default query excludes content from any package with a name that contains archive, delete or old.

Usage

Start the EA Validator tool using the menu option Specialize | EA Validator | Open EA Validator… This will open the EA Validator user interface in EA.

Select Checks

The top section lists all validation available validation checks. You can check or un-check the checkbox next to the validations in order to enable or disable them.

Define Scope

You don’t have always validate the whole model. In the Scope section you can select which part or the model should be validated. If left empty the EA Validator will validate the whole model.

In the Element section you can select either a Package or an element such as a Use Case or Class.

The Diagram field works a bit differently. You have to select a diagram in the project browser first and then click on the […] button to select that diagram.

Press the Clear Scope button to remove any scope selection.

Validating

Press the Validate button to start the validation of the selected checks.
Once the validation is finished an overview of the results is shown in the top table with the checks.

Double-clicking any of the checks that have status failed will show the results for that specific check in the bottom table.

Double-clicking any of these results will select the validated element in the project browser.