Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

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Properties Dialog

The element 'Properties' dialog helps you to define and review a wide range of properties of an element. For a Class, these properties include:

  • General settings, such as name, notes, alias, stereotype (if any), version, scope, dates created and modified, and status
  • Details such as cardinality, concurrency and features (attributes and operations) owned
  • Advanced, or custom, properties that you can edit
  • Tagged Values assigned to the element
  • Technology-specific Tagged Values grouped on a separate tab
  • Requirements associated with the element, both internal (responsibilities) and external
  • Constraints on the element's actions
  • Scenarios under which the element operates
  • External files associated with the element
  • Links (relationships or connectors) in which the element is the source or target
  • Template Parameters and Bindings

These properties are presented on either a main tab of the 'Properties' dialog or a secondary tab in the panel at the right of the dialog.

Access

On a diagram or in the Project Browser, select an element and:

Ribbon

Design > Element > Manage > Properties

Context Menu

Right-click on element | Properties

Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt+Enter

Other

Double-click on Element

Buttons

On any tab of the 'Properties' dialog, at any time, you can click on the buttons at the foot of the dialog and save or clear your changes.

Button

Action

See also

OK

Click on this button to save your changes and close the 'Properties' dialog.

Cancel

Click on this button to abort your changes and close the 'Properties' dialog.

Apply

Click on this button to save your changes and keep the 'Properties' dialog open, so that you can continue working.

It is a good idea to click on this button when you have finished working on a tab and are just about to move on to another tab.

Help

Click on this button to display the Help topic for the tab you are currently working on.

Notes

  • The 'Properties' dialog automatically displays when you drop a new element onto a diagram; you can suppress this display of the dialog by deselecting the 'Edit Object on New' checkbox on the 'Objects' page of the 'Preferences' dialog
  • There are several variations of the 'Properties' dialog:
         -  The dialog for a Table or Stored Procedure element has slight differences on the 'General' tab, and a 'Table Details' (or
            'Stored Procedure Details') tab instead of a 'Details' tab
         -  The dialog for a Class element of a stereotype other than Table is as shown in the General Settings topic
         -  The dialog for an element of any type other than Class does not have a 'Details' tab
         -  Port and Part elements have a 'Property' tab
         -  Activity elements have a 'Behavior' tab, and Action and Invocation elements (depending on their type) have other
            tabs such as 'Effect', 'Trigger' and 'Call' tabs
         -  Action Pins have a 'Pin' tab
         -  System Boundaries have a single 'Properties' tab on which you define the element appearance
         -  The 'Properties' dialog for Wireframe elements automatically opens to either a top-level 'Wireframe' tab on which
            you can edit the element rendering directly, or a second-level 'Wireframing Tagged Values' tab (see the note on Tagged
            Values for stereotyped elements) if you define the element rendering by editing the XML for the properties of that
            element type
  • In all cases, the 'Properties' dialog is expandable; you can enlarge it for adding longer entries and clearer reading of the text field values
  • The 'Tags' tab of the 'Properties' dialog simply provides the Tagged Values window within the frame of the 'Properties' dialog
  • If Tagged Values have been derived from a stereotyped element in a Profile, they are listed on a separate tab having the Profile name; they are still listed on the Tagged Values window, in a separate compartment
  • An Object element will show the properties of its classifier, some of which are changed to represent this specific instance of the classifier

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