automatically creating indirect class dependencies in enterprise architect

Question

I have several internal logic dependencies in my source code. For example Class A accepts an object and that object to be valid in Class A needs to have particular interfaces such as InterfaceOne, InterfaceTwo

I would like a way to represent the Interface dependencies for Class A visually in enterprise architect. Right now i'm generating the base class by importing the source code then I'm manually creating the dependencies between the Classes and Interfaces.

In my source code these dependencies are all within a variable of the class

$requiredDependencies = array('InterfaceOne', 'InterfaceTwo')...

Is there a way to programatically either parse this code or maybe enterprise architect has a way to read comments (like doxygen) and I could specify such relation in comments?

Answer 1

The Grammar Framework lets you generate in-EA parsers for custom languages, allowing you to reverse-engineer code in whatever language you choose. This is a pretty complex beast, but have a look in the help file under Extending UML Models -- MDG Technology SDK -- Grammar Framework.

If the language is already supported by EA, then that reverse-engineering process cannot be modified (other than what's available in the options), although you can of course write your own parser from scratch using the grammar framework.

If you want to do additional processing for a reverse-engineered class based on what's in its source file, then you can find the source file in Element.GenFile. You would then have to parse it yourself, of course.