We have compiled a list of frequently asked questions about EventStudio. We will keep the FAQ updated with the latest on EventStudio. You can order EventStudio directly from the EventStudio Ordering Page. This gives you the option of purchasing a single license, 10 license pack and 40 license pack. You can also purchase a single license of EventStudio by using the Buy Now button. When you invoke EventStudio, it will display a dialog box with an OK, Enter Key and Buy Now buttons. Clicking on the OK button will let you try EventStudio for period of 45 days. When you decide to buy EventStudio, simply click on the Buy Now button. You will automatically be taken to the order form for EventStudio. Once you place an order for EventStudio, the license keys will be delivered to you via a e-mail. Enter the license information by clicking the Enter Key button on the startup dialog box. EventStudio support is available via e-mail. Please send your queries to support@eventhelix.com. All licenses include free support for one year from the date of purchase. The downloadable version of EventStudio is fully functional for a period of 45 days. The only restriction during the 45 day period is that Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word documents have Evaluation Related messages printed in large font. These messages will disappear as soon as you purchase a license. Rational Rose is a general object modeling tool while EventStudio focuses on feature design and message sequence chart generation. Rational Rose provides very basic sequence diagram generation capability. EventStudio supports sophisticated multiple scenario definition, feature review, unit test procedure and interface document generation capabilities. For details refer to the Comparison with UML article. Also, Rational Rose uses graphical input techniques. As projects grow in size graphical input methods cannot scale well with complexity. EventStudio on the other hand, supports a semi-formal design language FDL for feature definition. EventStudio is equipped with a powerful syntax coloring text editor that supports FDL. Lastly, EventStudio licenses are an order of magnitude cheaper than Rational Rose. FDL stands for Feature Description Language. FDL is a simple but expressive design language that allows you to specify complex message interactions. The language has built in support for object management, resource management, timer management and state management. One of the most powerful features of FDL is multiple scenario management. See the next question for details. EventStudio includes a comprehensive tutorial and help for FDL syntax and programming. The FDL language is so simple that you would be writing your FDL programs in a matter of minutes. Also check out the article on getting started with EventStudio. We believe that the best way to learn a new language is to go through examples. The EventStudio download also includes the FDL source code and scenario definitions for the following Thought Projects: FDL Design Language allows you to specify multiple legs in a feature execution. EventStudio allows you to club different leg selections to define a Scenario. You can specify multiple Scenarios in a single project file. When EventStudio generates documents, it will generate a composite document that will include all the defined Scenarios. Download EventStudio and checkout the examples to get a complete idea of the power of this feature. EventStudio can generate the following documents:  Adobe PDF and  Microsoft Word Picture Documents
The following documents are generated in PDF format with bookmarks to quickly access different sections. EventStudio automatically adjusts the size of the documents so that the documents will always fit on letter size paper. - Sequence Diagrams containing a complete sequence of message interactions, timer interactions, state transitions and actions can be generated.
- Interface Sequence Diagrams at object, processor and module level can be generated.
- Interaction Sequence Diagrams can filter out message interactions to just include environment interactions, inter module interactions or inter processor interactions.
- Message Filter Sequence Diagrams can be used to filter message interactions based on message name. Regular expressions can be used to define the filters.
- Collaboration Diagrams provide a birds-eye-view of the feature. Message interactions are shown with less focus on the temporal aspect of the interactions.
- Interface Collaboration Diagrams at object, processor and module level can be generated.
- Interaction Collaboration Diagrams can filter out message interactions to just include environment interactions, inter module interactions or inter processor interactions.
- Message Filter Collaboration Diagrams can be used to filter message interactions based on message name. Regular expressions can be used to define the filters.
 HTML Documents
The following documents are generated in HTML format. These documents can be easily edited in any word processor that supports HTML. The documents can even be saved into the native format of the word processor by using the "Save As" command. - Unit Test Procedures can be generated for any object in the feature.
- Summary Documents provide a summary of the message interactions from the point of view of the participating objects and processors.
- Statistics Documents give you a quick snap shot of number of messages being exchanged between different entities.
- Index Document lists all the generated documents in a single HTML document. This is an easy way to keep track of all generated documents.
First, generate the document to be exported by following the steps given in the following sections. - How to Add a Document. Be sure to select "Graphics Format" of the document as "Word Picture EMF".
- How to Generate and View Documents. (Note that EventStudio has generated a separate EMF file for every page in the document.
You can export the generated Word Picture (EMF) files to Word in two different ways: - Insert pictures. Here the EMF files are inserted into the document and there is no dependency on external files. The advantage of this approach is that the document is completely contained in a single Word document.
- Link to pictures. A link to the EMF files is inserted. Microsoft Word loads the EMF files when the document is opened. The advantage of this approach is that the Word document is always "in sync" with the generated EMF files. You just need to link the Word Picture files once, any changes to these files will be automatically reflected in the Word document.
Both the schemes are described below. Insert Pictures - Open the Microsoft Word document in Microsoft Word into which you want to insert the "Word Picture EMF" files.
- Position the cursor in the document where you want to insert the "Word Picture EMF" files.
- If the images to be inserted are in landscape format, change the page to "Landscape" from the "File->Page Setup" menu in Microsoft Word.
- Select "Insert" from the toolbar. Click on "Picture" followed by "From File"
- A file dialog box will appear.
- Set the path to the directory where the EMF files have been generated. (See the notes below).
- Select all the files in the directory and click the "Insert" button.
- Microsoft Word will now automatically insert all the pictures in the correct sequence, creating a new page for every picture.
Link to Pictures - Make sure that you locate the Scenario Project in the same directory as the Word document that will contain the EMF files generated by EventStudio (This will ensure that the generated EMF files are at a relative path to the Word document).
- Open the Microsoft Word document in Microsoft Word into which you want to insert the "Word Picture EMF" files.
- Position the cursor in the document where you want to insert the "Word Picture EMF" files.
- If the images to be inserted are in landscape format, change the page to "Landscape" from the "File->Page Setup" menu in Microsoft Word.
- Select "Insert" from the toolbar. Click on "Picture" followed by "From File"
- A file dialog box will appear.
- Set the path to the directory where the EMF files have been generated. (See the notes below).
- Select all the files in the directory.
- Click on the little downward arrow on the right side to the "Insert" button to select "Link to file".
- Microsoft Word will now automatically link all the pictures in the correct sequence, creating a new page for every picture.
- Changes made to the EMF files will be automatically reflected in the Word document.
- When sending the document via e-mail simply zip the contents of the entire directory. This way the EMF files and the Word document will be available to the recipients.
Notes: - The document in "Word Picture EMF" graphics format is generated as a directory of the name same as that of the document in the path where the scenario project is present.
- The document is actually created as a set of files in this directory. Each page of the document is represented by a file. The files are named as four digit number starting from 0001 with "0001.emf" representing the first file.
- Add EventStudio into the default search path. See the help for your version of Windows for the exact command. On Windows NT/2000/XP, the following command sets the PATH for EventStudio:
PATH = %PATH%;"c:\Program Files\EventHelix.com\EventStudio" - Once the path has been set you can issue the following command to Generate All documents for a Scenario:
start/wait evstudio ScenarioName.scn /GenerateAll - Verify that all the documents have been generated.
- You can add the command-line into a batch file to generate documents for multiple scenarios. For example:
start/wait evstudio Examples/XenonProject.scn /GenerateAll
start/wait evstudio Examples/SpacePortProject.scn /GenerateAll
start/wait evstudio Examples/WebTaxiProject.scn /GenerateAll
Note: The command-line mode can be invoked without the "start/wait" command. For example:
evstudio Examples/XenonProject.scn /GenerateAll
The only problem with this approach is that the command-line shell does not wait for the document generation to finish before returning to execute the next command. Needless to say, this approach is not suitable for scripting. | 
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