Sorting elements: help section
eaUtils sorting features act on the elements from a package or an element within an Enterprise Architect project. Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect applies a default alphabetical sorting order based on the type and name of the elements. However in order to achieve a better management and more efficient use of the elements from within the Enterprise Architect project browser, it can be useful to have the choice between a number of alternative sorting options.
Extended eaUtils sorting features and settings provide the option to sort elements based on various fields (e.g. stereotype), an integer value which may be surrounded by a prefix and/or suffix (e.g. REQ-1-PERF), having case sensitivity enabled, etc.
eaUtils sorting features include:
- Sort elements from a selected package or element by Alias
- Sort elements from a selected package or element by the Tagged Value “BrowserOrder", or a custom one
- Sort elements from a selected package or element by Stereotype
- Sort elements from a selected package or element by Name
- Sort elements from a selected package or element by object id (creation order) (eaUtils 1.14)
- Sort diagrams by the modified or created date and time
- Sort elements or diagrams within a Package Tree
- Revert, apply the default sorting order
- Sort a package elements by the order displayed from top to bottom, or from left to right, on the active diagram
Important - this feature can modify the elements or diagrams "Tree Position" hidden field value.
eaUtils add-in lets you sort elements from a package or an element either by the Alias, Stereotype, Name, Tagged Value, or Object ID (creation). This feature can be executed by selecting the package or element to process from the project browser.
This help article covers the following topics:
- Tree position update
- Illustration with a simple example
- eaUtils Sort By settings
- Combination of sorting settings
- Example used in the associated articles covering each feature (except from the Object ID):
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Sort By Alias feature on the elements that are contained within a package or element.
This feature runs from a package or an element, selected from the Project Browser (it can also be run on a package tree, click here for more information).
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Sort By Tagged Value feature on the elements that are contained in a package or element. By default, eaUtils sorts elements according to the "BrowserOrder" Tagged Values. Settings introduced in eaUtils 1.11 make it possible to change the name of the Tagged Value, e.g. "element id" or anything else.
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser (it can also be run on a package tree, click here for more information).
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Sort By Stereotype feature on the elements that are contained in a package or element.
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser (it can also be run on a package tree, click here for more information).
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Sort By Name feature on the elements contained in a package or element.
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser (it can also be run on a package tree, click here for more information).
Enterprise Architect already sorts elements by their name, however this feature has been implemented so that elements can be sorted by taking into account integer values within a string value. Hence this feature only makes sense when the option "Identify and sort integers within string values" is set (default setting).
To illustrate the purpose, the following list is sorted by EA when running Contents > Reset Sort Order:
- Class03, Class1, Class10, Class15, Class2, Class3, Class32, Clatss35, Class39, Class5, Class9.
eaUtils Sort By Name will update the list with the following order:
- Class1, Class2, Class03, Class3, Class5, Class9, Class10, Class15, Class32, Class35, Class39.
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Sort By Object ID feature on the elements contained in a package or element. Object ID refers to the unique identifier for any element created in EA, with an incremented value matching the creation order e.g. 1, 2, 3...
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser (it can also be run on a package tree, click here for more information).
This help article explains how to use eaUtils Apply Default sorting Order feature on the elements that are contained in a package or element.
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser.
Enterprise Architect already lets you reset the elements sorting order with a right click > Contents > Reset Sort Order, however this is only available for a package. Hence this feature makes it possible to run it on a composite element e.g. a use case, class, activity.
The other advantage is to prevent users from searching for SparxSystems Enterprise Architect Reset Sort Order.
This help article explains how to use eaUtils sort elements within a package according to their order or position in a selected diagram.
This feature runs on a diagram selected from the Project Browser or from the active diagram.
This help article describes the use of eaUtils sorting features on a package tree to sort diagrams or elements contained in each selected package by alias, stereotype, tagged value, name or object id (note: the package tree sorting feature was introduced in version 1.11).
This feature runs from a package selected from the Project Browser. Once launched, it displays the entire tree for the selected package, where each subpackage can be selected so its diagrams or elements order is updated accordingly. If the selected package doesn't contain any subpackage, the standard sorting dialog window is displayed.
This help article explains how to use eaUtils to sort diagrams within a package or an element according to their modified or created date/time. This feature has been added in version 1.12.
This feature runs on a package or an element selected from the Project Browser.