EA protocol handler - again

[Oliver F.]

Some time ago Canonic announced a protocol handler for EA.
As Canonic does not seem to be able to deliver this a feature request has been started.
What we would like to achieve: Open Enterprise Architect from an external application and show the corresponding element or diagram.
This can be done the same way DOORS does it (doors://doors_ID -> ea://element_uid).

This solution will provide the necessary traceability from DOORS and other external applications.
Additional information: Yes, we are already using the EA MDG link for DOORS, however importing requirements is not enough as we need the backlink DOORS->EA while we already have EA->DOORS.

I am also grateful for hints how to create such a capability via scripting or addin or by other means.

Oliver

[Oliver F.]

I have a response from Canonic.
They have shifted priorities so the EA protocol handler is currently not under active development.
However they have signalised to open source the code which is, as they state, 90% finished.

I have offered to coordinate development efforts if necessary for such an open source solution.
Before I am going to raise an internal budget for development here (which might lead to licensing issues), I am seeking for volunteers who would like to participate in an open source solution.
My preference would be a free and open source variant instead of a corporate one.

Volunteers?

Oliver

[Geert Bellekens]

Oliver,

It's not because it is open source that the development neccessarily has to be free.
You could also try to raise an internal budget to sponsor the open source solution.
I think you will have a better chance getting volunteers that way. I think a lot of people are willing to devote some time and effort for an open source project for a lot less then their normal price.
I myself have recently proposed to one of the other forum users to create an open source addin at half my regular daily rate, which I think is a fair deal.
I could be interested to help you out on this one on the same conditions.

Regards

Geert

[Oliver F.]

Oliver,

It's not because it is open source that the development neccessarily has to be free.
You could also try to raise an internal budget to sponsor the open source solution.

Thanks for your offer which is highly appreciated.
Of course is the prefered way to have an open source solution.
However depending on the license model involved our corporate policy might (!) require that the result of our investment is kept internal if we use a coporate budget.
However we had a few projects in the past where we have given back some changes to open source projects due to the restrictive GPL.
So chances are high that something commonly available will be possible. A not so welcome option could be to branch the existing code with a new commercial license. I do not appreciate this myself.
Actually it is hard to create a budget and pay external resources due to political, commercial and financial issues in our business.

Personally I have spent more than half of my professional life actively supporting several open source projects (of which one was the Mozilla browser) so I hope to know about all aspects involved.

Thanks again for the offer, I will consider it when the issue becomes clearer.

Best regards,

Oliver