Book a Demo

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

Prev Next

General Settings

The 'General' tab of the element 'Properties' dialog provides the name of the element and any notes that are recorded on it. To the right of the tab are subordinate tabs, the number and type of which depend on the type of element selected. For a Class element, those tabs are:

  • 'Main' - defining additional identification and status properties, as described here
  • 'Details' - defining the cardinality, concurrency and features (attributes and operations) of the element
  • 'Advanced' - defining any high-level properties of the element that might exist; the properties are a function of the element type, and you do not add or remove them but just reset their values
  • 'Tags' - defines the Tagged Values of the element; any Technology-specific Tagged Values are grouped on a separate tab

Access

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

Ribbon

Design > Element > Editors > Properties Dialog

Context Menu

Right-click on the element and select the 'Properties | Properties' option

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shift+Enter

Alt+Enter

General Options & Main tab

Different types of element might have these fields in different sequences.

Option

Action

See also

Name

This field displays the element's name which, for a new element, defaults to either:

  • <element type><number of elements of this type already in the Package> (for example, Class3) or
  • A name conforming to the auto-naming/numbering convention you have defined

If necessary, overtype the default name with a different name.

 Set Auto Naming and Auto Counters

Notes

Type in or edit any notes text associated with the element, applying any notes facilities required such as hyperlinks or Glossary terms.

You can format the notes text using the Notes toolbar at the top of the field.

 The Notes Window Notes Toolbar

Stereotype

(Optional) Type the name of a stereotype for the element, or click on the Browse. button to the right of the field and use the 'Stereotypes for <object name>' dialog to select one.

 UML Stereotypes Stereotype Selector

Alias

(Optional, for elements other than an Object element) Type in an alias or alternative display name for the element.

Status

Click on the drop-down arrow and select the appropriate element management status (such as Approved or Proposed).

Type

For a Requirement element, defines the requirement type. You can change the type by clicking on the drop-down arrow and selecting a new type from the list.

Role

(Optional, for an Object element) Type in the role played by the object represented by the element.

Keywords

(Optional) Type in any significant terms that the element might be associated with and that might be filtered on to identify the element in Use Case Metrics and Searches.

Author

This field defaults to the user ID of the person who created the element. If necessary, you can type in a different user ID, or click on the drop-down arrow and select one.

Complexity

Click on the drop-down arrow and select the appropriate development complexity (used for project estimation). You normally select from three levels:

  • Easy
  • Medium
  • Difficult

You can change your user defaults to add 'Extreme' and 'Unknown' to this list of options.

 Object Display Options

Difficulty

An estimate of the difficulty in meeting the Requirement, Feature, Change or Issue defined by the element; select from:

  • Low
  • Medium
  • High

Priority

The relative importance of meeting this Requirement, Change, Issue or Feature compared to other elements of the same type; select from:

  • Low
  • Medium
  • High

Language

Defaults to the programming language defined for the model (in the 'Default Language for Code Generation' field on the 'Source Code Engineering' page of the 'Preferences' dialog).

If this element is required to have a different language, click on the drop-down arrow and select it. If the element is not language-specific, select '<none>'.

 Source Code Engineering Options

Version

Defaults to the value defined in the 'Object Display' options, for the version of the current element.

If necessary, type over the field with a different version number or code.

Phase

Defaults to the value defined in the 'Object Display' options, for the phase this element is to be implemented in (for example: 1, 1.1, 2.0, ...).

If necessary, type over the field with a different phase number or code.

Package

Identifies the parent Package of the selected element.

Created

Displays the date and time the element was created.

Modified

Displays the date and time the element was most recently modified.

Learn more

Prev Next