Editing the Combined Fragment in Sequence Diagram
A combined fragment is used to specify an area of a group of lifelines/actors to show conditional flow in a sequence diagram. This combined fragment notation is a new notation in UML 2.0 which will be used to handle the functionality problems, for some logic that is required for a sequence diagram that UML 1.x could not handle.
Creating Combined Fragments
Create a sequence diagram by any of these 3 methods listed below.
Method 1- Creating a sequence diagram from the menu bar:
On the menu, select
File > New Diagram > UML Diagrams > Sequence Diagram. A new sequence diagram will be created.
Method 2 – Creating a sequence diagram from the toolbar:
Click on the
New Sequence Diagram button
from the toolbar. A new sequence diagram will be created.
Method 3 – Creating a sequence diagram from the Diagram Navigator:
Right click on the Sequence Diagram from the Diagram Navigator on the left side.
Click on the
Create Sequence Diagram from the pop-up menu. A new sequence diagram will be created.
Draw two lifelines by choosing the LifeLine icon on the diagram palette then clicking anywhere on the diagram. Rename the lifelines by double-clicking on the newly created lifelines (For example
Check Balance and
Checking Account lifelines).
Create a message between the two lifelines by selecting the
Message icon on the diagram palette, clicking on the
Check Balance lifelines and then dragging to the
Checking Account lifelines. Rename the message as
Get Balance by double-clicking on the message.
Create a combined fragment.
Method 1:
Select a combined fragment icon (
Alternative Combined Fragment or
Loop Combined Fragment) in the diagram palette (For example,
Alternative Combined Fragment is chosen)
Select the lifelines/actors to be covered by ticking the check box of available lifelines from the
Add/Remove Covered LifeLines dialog box.
OR resize the combined fragment to cover the desired lifelines/actors (the lifelines / actors added to coverage will be blinking to green).
Method 2:
Right click on the diagram and use mouse gesture (right-down-left-up for
Loop Combined Fragment and right-down-left-up-right for
Alternative Combined Fragment) to surround the desired lifelines/actors and/or the messages.
Method 3:
Select two or more lifelines/actors and click on the Create Combined Fragment for Selected LifeLines resource.
Adding/Removing Covered LifeLines
Method 1:
Resize the combined fragment to cover the desired lifelines/actors.
Method 2:
Right-click on the combined fragment and select Add/Remove Covered LifeLines... from the pop-up menu. You can add/remove the covered lifeline by selecting or deselecting the check box of available lifelines from the Add/Remove Covered LifeLines dialog box.
Note: The combined fragment will cover the selected lifelines on the Add/Remove Covered LifeLines dialog box.
Changing Combined Fragment’s Type (operator)
Method 1:
Right-click on the combined fragment, select Operator from the pop-up menu and select a type from the Operator submenu.(For example alt operator is selected).
Method 2:
Right-click on the combined fragment, select Open Specification... from the pop-up menu. A Combined Fragment Specification dialog box is displayed.
On the
General tab, select a type from the drop down menu of the
Interaction operator attribute.(For example
alt operator is selected.)
Resizing an Operand
Mouse over on the separator between operands (the dashed line), click and drag to resize the operand.
Adding Operands
Method 1:
Right-click on the combined fragment and select Add Operand from the pop-up menu.
Method 2:
Right-click on the combined fragment and select
Manage Operands... from the pop-up menu. A
Manage Operands dialog box is displayed.
Click on the
Add button on the
Manage Operands dialog box to add a new
Operand. Edit the
Operand properties as needed.
Click on the
Apply button to confirm the changes. Click
OK to close the
Manage Operands dialog box.
Removing Operands
Method 1:
Right click on the combined fragment and select Remove Operand from the pop-up menu, then select the operand to be deleted from the submenu.
Method 2:
Right-click on the combined fragment and select
Manage Operands... from the pop-up menu. A
Manage Operands dialog box is displayed.
Select the operand you want to delete from the list of
Operands.
Click on the
Remove button on the left of the dialog box to remove the selected operand and click
Yes on the
Confirm Remove pop-up message.
Click on the
Apply button to create the changes. Click
OK to close the
Manage Operands dialog box.
Editing Operand’s Guard Condition (and other properties)
Right-click on the combined fragment, select
Open Specification… from the pop-up menu. A
Combined Fragment Specification dialog box is displayed.
Select the
Interaction Operands tab, select the desired operand and click
Open Specification… button. An
Interaction Operand Specification dialog box is displayed.
Select the
Guard tab and edit the desired properties. You can also edit other properties by choosing any of the tabs available in the dialog box. Click on the
Apply button to confirm the changes. For example you can put
Have more than 1 checking account constraint for the guard properties of the selected interaction operand.
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