A few query and opinions to seek on the best type of relationship and representation to be used in a class diagram for modelling with uml
1) Third party library used by my class
-- I have modeled them as packages
2) Wrapper Class to wrap around modified code
-- I have modeled this class as an interface
3) My wrapper class actually use non-class member function that is written in another namespace
-- This puzzled me. How should I modeled them?
4) For classes in my own created library(dll), how do i differentiate the class that is exported and those that is not
Thanks
1) That's fine. However, it depends on the layer. I could think of a component to represent a library.
2) Not necessary. A wrapper inherits from a class. So use a generalization.
3) You can not really do that. You might use an artifact and a relation (association) to it.
4) I would use a component with interfaces (lollipops) to show the exported ones. The others are kept inside.
For all answers: YMMV
Related
I have class Controller in my java project, which has method like this:
As you can see, in the first line I am getting Singleton instance of ActualModes class and call method getActualModes().
So the first question is, which relatinship I should use in class diagram.
After that I am creating new instane of ModeContext class and then call method executeStrategy. In this case, which relatiship is better ?
It should be like this:
Access to the singleton (note the stereotype which is just convenient and no obligation or general standard) is anonymous and so you just have a dependency. The ModeContext in contrast uses a private (I don't know the scoping rules of the language you used, so I made it pivate) property called context. Note the dot which is saying exactly that.
Disclaimer: UML does not specify a mapping between Java and UML, so every answer to your question is open for debate.
I think both relationships are dependencies, drawn as dashed arrows from Controller to ActualModes and from Controller to ModeContext. The definition of 'dependency' according to the UML 2.5 specification (§7.8.4.1) is:
A Dependency is a Relationship that signifies that a single model Element or a set of model Elements requires other
model Elements for their specification or implementation.
An example of a type of relationship which is in my opinion less suited, is the association, although its definition (§11.5) is quite broad:
An Association classifies a set of tuples representing links between typed instances. (...) An Association specifies a semantic relationship that can occur between typed instances.
One could argue that there are links between Controller and the other two classes, in the form of variables, but these variables are local method variables, which exist only temporarily during the execution of the method. Associations represent more durable links, e.g. class members - as far as I understand UML and as far as I have seen associations used in practice.
I have three object :object1,objectA,objectB .
and also have an interface
How can I model as the following:
an object1 provides an interface from objectA to objectB
There are two immediate interpretations of what you want. Either you have an interface ("Interface1") that acts as a shared interface implemented by ClassA and ClassB OR you want the interface to be the way that ClassA and ClassB interact. I'm not sure which you mean.
In any case, the first option, where the interface is implemented by both is modelled like this:
The second option, where the interface is used to allow interaction is modelled like this:
If I understand your question correctly, that is you want to create an UML diagram in where one class implements interface (Producer) and another uses it (Consumer) then I would say you'd have few choices:
1) Denote inteface explicitely, and use realization relationship to indicate implementation of interface, and dependency relationship to indicate usage:
2) Use lollipop notation to denote exposed interface, and dependency to indicate usage.
3) Use ball and socket notation (UML 2.0)
How do i model a call to a static method in a class diagram ? Can someone show me a link to a class diagram that has done that?
for example there's a class called Animal. and i have another class called Vertibrates, and it has a method which is static (and this is the only method in that class). My Animal class will be using this static method of the class Vertibrate. Therefore how can i model it in class diagram ?
You don't. Well, not in a class diagram at least. Instead, you should use sequence chart diagrams to express method calls (whether static or dynamic).
You can't model the call directly in a class diagram (as #Imontrieux says), but you can model the relationship (i.e., that Animal uses (calls) static methods in Vertibrate; BTW, the correct spelling is Vertebrate), which I suspect is actually what you meant.
You use a UML dependency for this, not an association (since the latter are for associations between instances of the classes at each end)--- see How to show usage of static methods UML Classdiagram.
Great question. One thing the GoF do in Design Patterns is used notes to demonstrate intended uses. For example, from the section on the Command Pattern:
Command Pattern
While #user1315906 is technically correct that you don't model such things in Class Diagrams, but rather in Use Case or Sequence Diagrams, if it makes sense to note how something is intended to be used in a Class Diagram, you can use a note :)
In a UML diagram when you create an instance of a subclass do you usually include the implicit construction of the superclass prior to the sub class constructor?
I usually wouldn't include it. The purpose of the UML sequence diagram is to show what happens between components. It shouldn't be read isolated from other parts of a design, so if a reader is unsure about what any of the components is (i.e. an instance of the subclass and the superclass), he or she should look into the - hopefully - accompanying class diagram.
sequence just shows the sequence of the logic of the module in question. Do you feel there is need to identify which method is truly being called? Also I would guess that the purpose of having a parent clas have a reference to a subclass is that until runtime you won't know which subclass is actually being referred to. If this is not the case, then should the concrete subclass be referred to explictly? does the method being called whether on the subclass or parent class alter the sequence in some way?
I am writing a system which generates code for a number of classes and I need to document it with a UML diagram. The classes will follow the same structure but they will have names set by the user. Is there a way to specify that CCodeGenerator generates the code for these classes?
Also, I currently have a relationship between my CDataDefinition class (which defines what should be included in each of the generated classes) and the CCodeGenerator, is there a way to denote that the multiplicity of the relationship between the generated classes and the generator is exactly equal to the number of CDataDefinition instances?
These classes will be used in another system which will also need UML class diagrams made for it. Is there a way to show that a class in this project (CEditior) uses them?
Example of operation:
I have 3 CDataDefinition objects which define classes X, Y, and Z. My CCodeGenerator instance will create 3 classes (C# code in .cs files) from these.
CEditor in a separate solution will then interface with these 3 classes.
If you read some of the introductory information on MOF, you will see that in the UML family an instance of a metaclass in one layer is a classifier in the next.
In your case, a class in the code generator describing the class in its output will be a metaclass (CDataGenerator), and the classes in the output represented by instances of the metaclass.
There is no way in plain UML for associations other than 'X is of type Y' to cross between the layers.
You may be able to model such a relationship using MOV QVT (query, view, transform - i.e. a language for mapping one model to another), but I don't know current state of tool support for that, and if you had a QVT tool you probably wouldn't need to be writing a code generator.
You need to build a template class (CDataDefinition) that will represent the structure of a class that can be created by CCodeGeneratorWhen you're creating actual class you do the binding so all you have to do is show that CCodeGenerator has an operation (let's say) classGenerator(name:String) and then you can show that this method creates a class as a proper binding on CDataDefinition.