visio 2003 enterprise architect looks like visio 2002

[MR]

i installed Visio 2003 enterprise architect but am unable to open any files
that were save by Visio 2003 professional. In fact when i open the Architect
version help , it shows that it is version 2002. when installed the office
updates, it installed the service packs for Visio 2002.
this doesn't make sense, is it right?
thanks

 

[CT]

You're right, VSEA 2003 is indeed a new implementation of Visio 2002. It was
built before Visio 2003 was available...

 

[John Marshall, MVP]

The 2003 refers to VSEA rather than Visio. 2005 will contain Visio 2003.

John... Visio MVP

Need stencils or ideas? http://www.mvps.org/visio/3rdparty.htm
Need VBA examples? http://www.mvps.org/visio/VBA.htm
Common Visio Questions http://www.mvps.org/visio/common_questions.htm

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

Are you sure it's really new implemntation? Look into readme.wri. My
readme.wri contains:

"Microsoft® Visio®
Version 2002

Release Notes

Copyright © 1991-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved."

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

Does it mean we can say "good bye" to, say, ORM?

And what about UML support in Visio? Currenty it allows to store a lot of
meta-info, more than, say, Rational or Toghether. But you can neither use
this information in Visio environment (I mean not only watch it, but process
it also), nor export it for processing it outside of Visio. It is stored in
custom properties in an undocumented way, and it is encoded when models are
stored in XML format.

It's a big issue. Constraints are unavailable, meta object (class, use case,
etc.) can be accessed only if it presented in some diagram, but is hidden
even from add-ons, if they are deined only in the Model Explorer.

If I'm wrong, please, correct me. If I'm right, please answer the quiestion
about Visio future.

 

[Mark Nelson [MS]]

Microsoft has no plans to upgrade the UML support in Visio. Visual Studio
2005 still supports the same level of UML (1.4 if I remember) as Visual
Studio 2003.

 

[CT]

Well, it's new in that the add-in to VS .NET 2003 has been added

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

Ok, Mark, thank you for an answer.

The answer itself is dismal, however...

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

You absolutely right about the add-in. The rest remain intact.

Howerver, after Mark's answer we have to think about our own.

 

[CT]

Yes, the UML support in Visio has always been second class really. However,
with the new designers in VS 2005 there's a lot of "similar" design tools,
and you can still work with Use Cases for the abstract modeling.

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

Yes, the UML support in Visio has always been second class really.

However, Visio 2002/2003 has almost the most comprehensive support of UML
notation. More strong and complete than "more serious" CASE tools. Look at
Rose. - Up to v. 6 it (not Visio) was a painting tool. Even now both IBM &
Borland talk too much about standards, but support them in their own (and
restricted) way.

So I can undersand Micorosft's position. Why work hard, if competitors only
talk about "industrial standard support". But actually it is "double standard
support".

However,

with the new designers in VS 2005 there's a lot of "similar" design tools,
and you can still work with Use Cases for the abstract modeling.

You are right, but we work not only in Microsoft environment, and we need a
real standard support.

 

[CT]

You are right, but we work not only in Microsoft environment, and we need

a
real standard support.

Yes, that is an issue I see daily. I seriously doubt that will happen
anytime soon. MS has made it clear what they support about UML and what they
dislike and why. I tend to agree with MS that UML 2.0 is just too bulky...

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

Yes, that is an issue I see daily. I seriously doubt that will happen

anytime soon. MS has made it clear what they support about UML and what they
dislike and why. I tend to agree with MS that UML 2.0 is just too bulky...

You're right again, but I will be absolutely happy, if somebody shows me the
way to gain a full access to all the UML metadata Visio already stores. No
matter it's UML 1.4.

OCL 2.0 constraints, action language constructs, etc. - there already are a
lot of placeholders for them. No matter it does not suppor them, at least it
does not disturb with it's own magic way of UML 2.0 support like Together,
Rose and many others do. I don't need new fashion Activity diagrams. I just
need a way for building more strong models. And for a years I saw that the
support of N-ary associations is too hard task for "serious" CASE tools, but
not for Visio. Both Togheter 2005 and Rose 6 still not support 2-element
constraints between assosiation. Rose at least allows to use some
work-around... But does this feature prohibited by UML 2.0 standard? Not at
all.

Eh... Excuse my verbosity.

P.S. How about to autograph the book? ;-)

 

[CT]

Vadim,

P.S. How about to autograph the book? ;-)

We might want to take this offline; could you possibly send me an email to
carstent AT integratedsolutions.dk?

 

[Vadim Indrikov]

It was just a joke. However, I will contact you in any case.

 

[CT]

 

[John Saunders]

However, Visio 2002/2003 has almost the most comprehensive support of UML
notation. More strong and complete than "more serious" CASE tools. Look at
Rose. - Up to v. 6 it (not Visio) was a painting tool. Even now both IBM &
Borland talk too much about standards, but support them in their own (and
restricted) way.

So I can undersand Micorosft's position. Why work hard, if competitors only
talk about "industrial standard support". But actually it is "double standard
support".

For "industrial standard support" of UML 2.0, see Sparx Enterprise Architect
at http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/products/ea.html.