Add an Author to Sparx Enterprise Architect

This post is mostly for me :-). Every time I create a new project, I have to hunt the internet to remind myself how to add an author to sparx enterprise architect.

If you’re like me, I always pull a Diagram Notes section onto my drawings for the metadata that it provides. By default, on windows, it will display the Author from some subset of your windows user id, which can be somewhat cryptic.

I don’t store my Project files in a global database. Instead, I create different project files in the Git repositories of the particular application that I’m designing for. This means that I’m periodically having to remember how to do this, which frustrates me when I can’t remember how. It’s not just me, the options are buried a little deep in the hierarchy.

This post shows how to do it from beginning to end using Sparx Enterprise Architect 16.0.x.

First, you need to add your new name as an Author.

Click on the “Settings” tab, then click the drop down in the “Reference Data” section called “Model Types”.

Sparx Enterprise Architect EA Author Addition
Settings – Reference Data – Model Types

Then select “People” from the drop down.

In the “Name(s)” section, type the name that you would prefer over the default. Select a Role if you want one and you can even add notes if that is important. Then click on “Save”. Then you can click on “Close”.

Back at your diagram, right-click on any open space and select “Properties”.

It defaults to the General tab on the left. You can then change the Author from the drop down on this dialogue box.

Sparx Enterprise Architect EA modify Author

You typically have to do this for every new drawing, but at least once you’ve added it to the list authors, it will stick for any drawing in the project.

Now, when you drag Diagram Notes onto your drawing, it will reflect your new Author Name

Sparx Enterprise Architect EA Diagram Notes

Author: Jack Yasgar

Jack Yasgar has been developing software for various industries for two decades. Currently, he utilizes C#, JQuery, JavaScript, SQL Server with stored procedures and/or Entity Framework to produce MVC responsive web sites that converse to a service layer utilizing RESTful API in Web API 2.0 or Microsoft WCF web services. The infrastructure can be internal, shared or reside in Azure. Jack has designed dozens of relational databases that use the proper primary keys and foreign keys to allow for data integrity moving forward. While working in a Scrum/Agile environment, he is a firm believer that quality software comes from quality planning. Without getting caught up in analysis paralysis, it is still possible to achieve a level of design that allows an agile team to move forward quickly while keeping re-work to a minimum. Jack believes, “The key to long term software success is adhering to the SOLID design principles. Software written quickly, using wizards and other methods can impress the business sponsor / product owner for a short period of time. Once the honeymoon is over, the product owner will stay enamored when the team can implement changes quickly and fix bugs in minutes, not hours or days.” Jack has become certified by the Object Management Group as OCUP II (OMG Certified UML Professional) in addition to his certification as a Microsoft Certified Professional. The use of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) provides a visual guide to Use Cases and Activities that can guide the product owner in designing software that meets the end user needs. The software development teams then use the same drawings to create their Unit Tests to make sure that the software meets all those needs. The QA testing team can use the UML drawings as a guide to produce test cases. Once the software is in production, the UML drawings become a reference for business users and support staff to know what decisions are happening behind the scenes to guide their support efforts.

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