Introduction
Add-Ins enable you to add functionality to Enterprise Architect. The Enterprise Architect Add-In model builds on the features provided by the Automation Interface to enable you to extend the Enterprise Architect user interface.
Add-Ins are ActiveX COM objects that expose public Dispatch methods. They have several advantages over stand-alone automation clients:
| • | Add-Ins can define EA menus and sub-menus |
| • | Add-Ins receive notifications about various EA user-interface events including menu clicks and file changes |
| • | Add-Ins can (and should) be written as in-process (DLL) components. This provides lower call overhead and better integration into the EA environment |
| • | Because a current version of EA is already running there is no need to start a second copy of EA via the automation interface |
| • | Because the add-in receives object handles associated with the currently running copy of EA, more information is available about the current user's activity eg. which diagram objects are selected |
| • | You are not required to do anything other than to install the add-in to make it usable; that is, you do not have to configure add-ins to run on your systems. |
Because Enterprise Architect is constantly evolving in response to customer requests, the add-in interface is flexible:
| • | The Add-In interface does not have its own version, rather it is identified by the version of EA it first appeared in; for example, the current version of the EA Add-In interface is version 2.1 |
| • | When creating your add-in, there is no need to subscribe to a type-library |
Note: At EA release 7.0 Add-Ins created before 2004 are no longer supported. If an Add-In subscribes to the Addn_Tmpl.tlb interface (2003 style), it will fail on load. In this event, contact the vendor or author of the Add-In and request an upgrade.
| • | Add-Ins do not have to implement methods that they never use. |
| • | Add-Ins prompt users via context menus in the treeview and the diagram. |
| • | Menu check and disable states can be controlled by the add-in. |
Creating and Using Add-Ins
This topic of the help file covers the following information on Add-Ins:
See Also
