With version 4.0, the LemonTree family now has a completely new user interface as well as innovations for web-based reviews and continuous integration. The new user interface has been optimised for user friendliness and feedback and offers a 4K resolution for even better image sharpness.

Vienna – Shortly after the introduction of the LemonTree family (Desktop, Web, Automation, Components, Connect), version 4.0 provides a user interface based on the latest technology with 4K resolution and a special focus on user friendliness and user feedback (Figure 1). The only exceptions are the LemonTree.Connect products (Codebeamer, Polarion), which are kept up-to-date in a separate release cycle.

The LemonTree Addin for Enterprise Architect also gets a new interface to improve the user experience for model versioning and the management of LemonTree Components. The possibility to switch directly between the different addin menus avoids unnecessary loading times and improves performance considerably (Figure 2).

Dr. Konrad Wieland, CEO of LieberLieber: “With the release 4.0, our development team has succeeded in providing the products with a new user interface that is even more appealing and intuitive and involves the users more. Furthermore, models can be better integrated into a continuous integration process, as features for web-based reviews, diagram export and XML reports have been implemented. Once again we own that we are constantly adapting LemonTree to the growing expectations of our target group and also always keep an eye on ease of use.”

The modernisation is reflected not least in the new example model “Power Window Controller”, which is executed with SysML. This current example model is supplied with the new version, incidentally also as an Enterprise Architect 16 SQLite project.

Features for better clarity

LemonTree 4.0 offers the possibility to set a “Custom Root”, whereby only certain Enterprise Architect packages are displayed in a LemonTree session. This allows for more focused merge reviews by hiding other model areas (Figure 3).

Since LemonTree calculates the difference of Enterprise Architect models on database level, it often detects differences that are not directly associated with changes. Therefore, it was a frequently mentioned customer request to improve the clarity here. Using the new function “Noise Reduction”, the display of LemonTree can now be reduced to essential changes in order to get a clear overview more easily (Figure 4).

In order to better perform evaluations of changes to the Enterprise Architect model, the model changes of diff/merge processes calculated by LemonTree can now be exported as an XML report. This XML report is created by LemonTree Automation and can be used as a review artefact in order to carry out reviews, e.g. on a build server, in a more targeted and automated manner.

Models better integrated into the continuous integration process

In order to better integrate models into a continuous integration process, features for web-based reviews, diagram export and XML reports were implemented with LemonTree.Automation 4.0 and LemonTree.Web 4.0. With these features it is possible for the first time to integrate LemonTree into the pull / merge request workflow and to edit models in the same schema as source code. In order to be able to use LemonTree more easily on build servers, a Docker image for Linux is now also available.

Reviews easier to carry out

For a more comfortable execution of model reviews, LemonTree.Automation offers an additional diagram export function. With this, diagrams can be exported as SVG, e.g. to attach them to a GitHub comment (Figure 5).

Furthermore, LemonTree.Web was enabled to open LemonTree session files. Thus, diff or merge sessions created with LemonTree.Automation can be reviewed via LemonTree.Web.

The most important innovations in LemonTree 4.0

• User interface with 4K resolution and a special focus on user-friendliness and user feedback
• LemonTree Addin for Enterprise Architect: New interface improves user experience for model versioning and management of LemonTree Components
• Custom Root: Only certain Enterprise Architect packages are displayed in a LemonTree session
• Noise Reduction: Only the most significant changes are displayed in LemonTree.
• In LemonTree.Automation 4.0 and LemonTree.Web 4.0 features for web-based reviews, diagram export and XML reports have been implemented.
• Docker Image for Linux