I have often to do with EA models I’ve never seen before. In case like this you have either to click through the project tree (can be confusing and time-robbing) or you use some predefined Model Views.

The picture bellow shows how it could look like on your machine when you’ve read the article to the end.

Model Views - Diagrams

The feature could be very helpful also in other situations and I wonder why it’s used so rarely. Using Model Views you can create access points to any elements you want independently from its position in the project browser. It can be compared with database views if you are familiar with the databases.

The only thing which is annoying while creation a view, you need create a model search first. If you use Query Builder the created search can be used as a basis for a view without any problem. In case the functionality of the Query Builder is insuffizient and you need to create an SQL query, it has to fulfill some criteria. In you query you need to define tree fields: CLASSGUID, CLASSTABLE and CLASSTYPE, like shown in the following example.

SELECT ea_guid AS CLASSGUID, 't_diagram' as CLASSTABLE, Diagram_Type AS CLASSTYPE, Name, [Version], Author, Stereotype, CreatedDate, Diagram_Type, ModifiedDate
FROM t_diagram
WHERE t_diagram.Diagram_Type = 'Statechart'
ORDER BY ModifiedDate ASC

In my case diagram views help me a lot to explore unknown projects so I’ve created views for all common diagram types over the time. Fill free to download and to use them: Searches and Views

First step – open Model Search / Find in Project dialog and import the xml file that contains the definition of searches:
Model Views - Import Searches

Second step – activate Model Views window and import the xml file that contains the definition of views:
Model Views - Import Views

Enjoy!