Defining Entity Types

Each object the parser generates is an instance of an entity type. You need to define these types in the extended metamodel. If you are adding support for Objective C, for example, you would define an entity type that represents an Objective C function.

For each entity type, you specify two kinds of information:

The properties of the entity type define its characteristics: its internal and external names, icon in Enterprise Analyzer, flags, and so on.
The attributes of the entity type define the characteristics of the entity instance: its name, the name of the source file from which it derives, its complexity metrics, and so forth. The default attributes and attribute values supplied by Architecture Modeler are sufficient for most entity types. You can add or delete attributes and edit their values as necessary.

Click the Entities button in Architecture Modeler and choose Add New in the drop-down menu. The properties definition page of the Add New Entity window opens.
On the properties definition page, fill in the properties of the entity type. Architecture Modeler flags any errors with a symbol.
Note: Do not enter spaces in the Name property.
When you are satisfied with your entries on the properties definition page, click the button. The attributes definition page opens.
On the attributes definition page, add, edit, or delete attributes as necessary:
- To add an attribute, click the Add New button. The Add New Attribute dialog opens, where you can specify the values for each property of the attribute. Architecture Modeler flags any errors with a symbol. When you are satisfied with your entries, click OK.
- To edit an attribute, click the Edit button. The Edit Attribute dialog opens, where you can specify the values for each property of the attribute. Architecture Modeler flags any errors with a symbol. When you are satisfied with your entries, click OK.
- To delete an attribute, click the Delete button.
When you are satisfied with your entries on the attributes definition page, click the button. Architecture Modeler flags any errors with a symbol.
Note: The errors may not be immediately visible. If you are on the attributes definition page, errors may be flagged on the properties definition page, and vice versa.

Assuming there are no errors in your entries, Architecture Modeler saves the entity type definition, and displays the entity type in the list of entity types in the righthand pane of the window.

Note: Select an entity type and click Entities > Edit to modify its definition. Select an entity type and click Entities > Delete to delete the definition.