ArgoUML / ArchGenXML things to watch out for

get_transaction error

When you try to install a product you've created using ArgoUML and ArchGenXML, if you see an error like

global name 'get_transaction' is not defined

it is likely because you have switched to ArchGenXML 2.x, which creates products in the Plone 3 way, but you have some old files left from when you were running ArchGenXML 1.x.  The safest thing to do is delete the entire folder that ArchGenXML is generating for your product so that you can start from scratch.  Alternatively, delete the Extensions folder since ArchGenXML 2.x doesn't usually create anything in there.  In my case, the offending file was the Install.py in the Extensions folder.

The id "-115--..." contains characters illegal in URLs

When you try to install a product you've created using ArgoUML and ArchGenXML, if you see an error like

  Module OFS.ObjectManager, line 83, in checkValidId
BadRequest: The id "-115--23--18--84--564a7770:11b47367809:-8000:0000000000000AC4" contains characters illegal in URLs.

it is because you did not name the workflow ("state machine") in ArgoUML.  (If you export the diagram to an XMI file, you will see that the <UML:StateMachine> tag is missing a "name" attribute).

To give the workflow a proper name, click on a state in the workflow diagram, then in the Properties tab, click on the "^" icon to go up one level (to see the parent object).  Keep doing that until the object type is shown as "StateMachine" and you will see that the "Name:" field is blank.  Enter a name in that field, save the diagram, and re-run ArchGenXML.