UML

UNIT-3
Interaction Diagrams

Interaction diagrams model the behaviour of use cases by describing the way groups of
objects interact to complete the task. The two kinds of interaction diagrams are sequence and
collaboration diagrams. This example is only meant as an introduction to the UML and
interaction diagrams. If you would like to learn more see the Resources page for a list of more
detailed resources on UML.

There are two types of interaction diagrams

1. Sequence diagram

2. Collaboration diagram(Communication diagram)

Sequence diagram:

Definition of sequence diagram

The sequence diagram represents the flow of messages in the system and is also termed as an event
diagram. It helps in envisioning several dynamic scenarios. It portrays the communication between any
two lifelines as a time-ordered sequence of events, such that these lifelines took part at the run time. In
UML, the lifeline is represented by a vertical bar, whereas the message flow is represented by a vertical
dotted line that extends across the bottom of the page. It incorporates the iterations as well as branching.

Purpose of a Sequence Diagram

1. To model high-level interaction among active objects within a system.

2. To model interaction among objects inside a collaboration realizing a use case.
3. It either models generic interactions or some certain instances of interaction.

Notations of a Sequence Diagram

Lifeline

An individual participant in the sequence diagram is represented by a lifeline. It is positioned at

the top of the diagram.
Actor
A role played by an entity that interacts with the subject is called as an actor. It is out of the
scope of the system. It represents the role, which involves human users and external hardware or
subjects. An actor may or may not represent a physical entity, but it purely depicts the role of an
entity. Several distinct roles can be played by an actor or vice versa.

Activation
It is represented by a thin rectangle on the lifeline. It describes that time period in which an
operation is performed by an element, such that the top and the bottom of the rectangle is
associated with the initiation and the completion time, each respectively.
Messages
The messages depict the interaction between the objects and are represented by arrows. They are
in the sequential order on the lifeline. The core of the sequence diagram is formed by messages
and lifelines.

Following are types of messages enlisted below:

o Call Message: It defines a particular communication between the lifelines of an

interaction, which represents that the target lifeline has invoked an operation.

o Return Message: It defines a particular communication between the lifelines of

interaction that represent the flow of information from the receiver of the corresponding
caller message.
 o Self Message: It describes a communication, particularly between the lifelines of an
interaction that represents a message of the same lifeline, has been invoked.

o Recursive Message: A self message sent for recursive purpose is called a recursive
message. In other words, it can be said that the recursive message is a special case of the
self message as it represents the recursive calls.
o

o Create Message: It describes a communication, particularly between the lifelines of an

interaction describing that the target (lifeline) has been instantiated.
 o

o Destroy Message: It describes a communication, particularly between the lifelines of an

interaction that depicts a request to destroy the lifecycle of the target.
o

o Duration Message: It describes a communication particularly between the lifelines of an

interaction, which portrays the time passage of the message while modeling a system.
Draw Sequence diagram Online course registration :
DRAW SEQUENCE DIAGRAM FOR ATM LOGIN PROCESS:
Collaboration Diagram :

The collaboration diagram is used to show the relationship between the objects in a system. Both
the sequence and the collaboration diagrams represent the same information but differently.
Instead of showing the flow of messages, it depicts the architecture of the object residing in the
system as it is based on object-oriented programming. An object consists of several features.
Multiple objects present in the system are connected to each other. The collaboration diagram,
which is also known as a communication diagram, is used to portray the object's architecture in
the system.

Notations of a Collaboration Diagram

Following are the components of a component diagram that are enlisted below:

1. Objects: The representation of an object is done by an object symbol with its name and
class underlined, separated by a colon.
In the collaboration diagram, objects are utilized in the following ways:
o The object is represented by specifying their name and class.
o It is not mandatory for every class to appear.
o A class may constitute more than one object.
o In the collaboration diagram, firstly, the object is created, and then its class is
specified.
o To differentiate one object from another object, it is necessary to name them.
2. Actors: In the collaboration diagram, the actor plays the main role as it invokes the
interaction. Each actor has its respective role and name. In this, one actor initiates the use
case.
3. Links: The link is an instance of association, which associates the objects and actors. It
portrays a relationship between the objects through which the messages are sent. It is
represented by a solid line. The link helps an object to connect with or navigate to
another object, such that the message flows are attached to links.
4. Messages: It is a communication between objects which carries information and includes
a sequence number, so that the activity may take place. It is represented by a labeled
arrow, which is placed near a link. The messages are sent from the sender to the receiver,
and the direction must be navigable in that particular direction. The receiver must
understand the message.
When to use a Collaboration Diagram?

The collaborations are used when it is essential to depict the relationship between the object.
Both the sequence and collaboration diagrams represent the same information, but the way of
portraying it quite different. The collaboration diagrams are best suited for analyzing use cases.

Following are some of the use cases enlisted below for which the collaboration diagram is
implemented:

1. To model collaboration among the objects or roles that carry the functionalities of use
cases and operations.
2. To model the mechanism inside the architectural design of the system.
3. To capture the interactions that represent the flow of messages between the objects and
the roles inside the collaboration.
4. To model different scenarios within the use case or operation, involving a collaboration
of several objects and interactions.
5. To support the identification of objects participating in the use case.
6. In the collaboration diagram, each message constitutes a sequence number, such that the
top-level message is marked as one and so on. The messages sent during the same call are
denoted with the same decimal prefix, but with different suffixes of 1, 2, etc. as per their
occurrence.

Steps for creating a Collaboration Diagram

 1. Determine the behavior for which the realization and implementation are specified.
2. Discover the structural elements that are class roles, objects, and subsystems for
performing the functionality of collaboration.
o Choose the context of an interaction: system, subsystem, use case, and operation.
3. Think through alternative situations that may be involved.
o Implementation of a collaboration diagram at an instance level, if needed.
o A specification level diagram may be made in the instance level sequence
diagram for summarizing alternative situations.

Example of a Collaboration Diagram

Benefits of a Collaboration Diagram

1. The collaboration diagram is also known as Communication Diagram.

2. It mainly puts emphasis on the structural aspect of an interaction diagram, i.e., how
lifelines are connected.
3. The syntax of a collaboration diagram is similar to the sequence diagram; just the
difference is that the lifeline does not consist of tails.
4. The messages transmitted over sequencing is represented by numbering each individual
message.
5. The collaboration diagram is semantically weak in comparison to the sequence diagram.
6. The special case of a collaboration diagram is the object diagram.
7. It focuses on the elements and not the message flow, like sequence diagrams.
8. Since the collaboration diagrams are not that expensive, the sequence diagram can be
directly converted to the collaboration diagram.
9. There may be a chance of losing some amount of information while implementing a
collaboration diagram with respect to the sequence diagram.

DRAW COLLABORATION DIAGRAM FOR LIBRARY BOOK ISSUE ACTIVITY:

Collaboration Diagram :
 Use Case Diagram

A use case diagram is used to represent the dynamic behavior of a system. It encapsulates the
system's functionality by incorporating use cases, actors, and their relationships. It models the
tasks, services, and functions required by a system/subsystem of an application. It depicts the
high-level functionality of a system and also tells how the user handles a system.

Purpose of Use Case Diagrams

The main purpose of a use case diagram is to portray the dynamic aspect of a system. It
accumulates the system's requirement, which includes both internal as well as external
influences. It invokes persons, use cases, and several things that invoke the actors and elements
accountable for the implementation of use case diagrams. It represents how an entity from the
external environment can interact with a part of the system.

Following are the purposes of a use case diagram given below:

1. It gathers the system's needs.

2. It depicts the external view of the system.
3. It recognizes the internal as well as external factors that influence the system.
4. It represents the interaction between the actors.

How to draw a Use Case diagram?

It is essential to analyze the whole system before starting with drawing a use case diagram, and
then the system's functionalities are found. And once every single functionality is identified, they
are then transformed into the use cases to be used in the use case diagram.

After that, we will enlist the actors that will interact with the system. The actors are the person or
a thing that invokes the functionality of a system. It may be a system or a private entity, such that
it requires an entity to be pertinent to the functionalities of the system to which it is going to
interact.

Once both the actors and use cases are enlisted, the relation between the actor and use case/
system is inspected. It identifies the no of times an actor communicates with the system.
Basically, an actor can interact multiple times with a use case or system at a particular instance
of time.

Following are some rules that must be followed while drawing a use case diagram:

1. A pertinent and meaningful name should be assigned to the actor or a use case of a
system.
 2. The communication of an actor with a use case must be defined in an understandable
way.
3. Specified notations to be used as and when required.
4. The most significant interactions should be represented among the multiple no of
interactions between the use case and actors.

Example of a Use Case Diagram

A use case diagram depicting the Online Shopping website is given below.

Here the Web Customer actor makes use of any online shopping website to purchase online. The
top-level uses are as follows; View Items, Make Purchase, Checkout, Client Register. The View
Items use case is utilized by the customer who searches and view products. The Client
Register use case allows the customer to register itself with the website for availing gift
vouchers, coupons, or getting a private sale invitation. It is to be noted that the Checkout is an
included use case, which is part of Making Purchase, and it is not available by itself.

The View Items is further extended by several use cases such as; Search Items, Browse Items,
View Recommended Items, Add to Shopping Cart, Add to Wish list. All of these extended use
cases provide some functions to customers, which allows them to search for an item. The View
Items is further extended by several use cases such as; Search Items, Browse Items, View
Recommended Items, Add to Shopping Cart, Add to Wish list. All of these extended use cases
provide some functions to customers, which allows them to search for an item.

Both View Recommended Item and Add to Wish List include the Customer Authentication
use case, as they necessitate authenticated customers, and simultaneously item can be added to
the shopping cart without any user authentication.
Similarly, the Checkout use case also includes the following use cases, as shown below. It
requires an authenticated Web Customer, which can be done by login page, user authentication
cookie ("Remember me"), or Single Sign-On (SSO). SSO needs an external identity provider's
participation, while Web site authentication service is utilized in all these use cases.

The Checkout use case involves Payment use case that can be done either by the credit card and
external credit payment services or with PayPal.
Important tips for drawing a Use Case diagram

Following are some important tips that are to be kept in mind while drawing a use case diagram:

1. A simple and complete use case diagram should be articulated.

2. A use case diagram should represent the most significant interaction among the multiple
interactions.
3. At least one module of a system should be represented by the use case diagram.
4. If the use case diagram is large and more complex, then it should be drawn more
generalized.

Draw use case diagram for online course registration process:

 Activity Diagram

In UML, the activity diagram is used to demonstrate the flow of control within the system rather
than the implementation. It models the concurrent and sequential activities.

The activity diagram helps in envisioning the workflow from one activity to another. It put
emphasis on the condition of flow and the order in which it occurs. The flow can be sequential,
branched, or concurrent, and to deal with such kinds of flows, the activity diagram has come up
with a fork, join, etc.

It is also termed as an object-oriented flowchart. It encompasses activities composed of a set of

actions or operations that are applied to model the behavioral diagram.

Components of an Activity Diagram

Following are the component of an activity diagram:

Activities

The categorization of behavior into one or more actions is termed as an activity. In other words,
it can be said that an activity is a network of nodes that are connected by edges. The edges depict
the flow of execution. It may contain action nodes, control nodes, or object nodes.

The control flow of activity is represented by control nodes and object nodes that illustrates the
objects used within an activity. The activities are initiated at the initial node and are terminated at
the final node.

Activity partition /swimlane

The swimlane is used to cluster all the related activities in one column or one row. It can be
either vertical or horizontal. It used to add modularity to the activity diagram. It is not necessary
to incorporate swimlane in the activity diagram. But it is used to add more transparency to the
activity diagram.
Forks

Forks and join nodes generate the concurrent flow inside the activity. A fork node consists of one
inward edge and several outward edges. It is the same as that of various decision parameters.
Whenever a data is received at an inward edge, it gets copied and split crossways various
outward edges. It split a single inward flow into multiple parallel flows.

Join Nodes

Join nodes are the opposite of fork nodes. A Logical AND operation is performed on all of the
inward edges as it synchronizes the flow of input across one single output (outward) edge.
Pins

It is a small rectangle, which is attached to the action rectangle. It clears out all the messy and
complicated thing to manage the execution flow of activities. It is an object node that precisely
represents one input to or output from the action.

Notation of an Activity diagram

Activity diagram constitutes following notations:

Initial State: It depicts the initial stage or beginning of the set of actions.

Final State: It is the stage where all the control flows and object flows end.

Decision Box: It makes sure that the control flow or object flow will follow only one path.

Action Box: It represents the set of actions that are to be performed.

Why use Activity Diagram?

An event is created as an activity diagram encompassing a group of nodes associated with edges.
To model the behavior of activities, they can be attached to any modeling element. It can model
use cases, classes, interfaces, components, and collaborations.

It mainly models processes and workflows. It envisions the dynamic behavior of the system as
well as constructs a runnable system that incorporates forward and reverse engineering. It does
not include the message part, which means message flow is not represented in an activity
diagram.
It is the same as that of a flowchart but not exactly a flowchart itself. It is used to depict the flow
between several activities.

How to draw an Activity Diagram?

An activity diagram is a flowchart of activities, as it represents the workflow among various

activities. They are identical to the flowcharts, but they themself are not exactly the flowchart. In
other words, it can be said that an activity diagram is an enhancement of the flowchart, which
encompasses several unique skills.

Since it incorporates swimlanes, branching, parallel flows, join nodes, control nodes, and forks,
it supports exception handling. A system must be explored as a whole before drawing an activity
diagram to provide a clearer view of the user. All of the activities are explored after they are
properly analyzed for finding out the constraints applied to the activities. Each and every
activity, condition, and association must be recognized.

After gathering all the essential information, an abstract or a prototype is built, which is then
transformed into the actual diagram.

Following are the rules that are to be followed for drawing an activity diagram:

1. A meaningful name should be given to each and every activity.

2. Identify all of the constraints.
3. Acknowledge the activity associations.

Example of an Activity Diagram

An example of an activity diagram showing the business flow activity of order processing is
given below.

Here the input parameter is the Requested order, and once the order is accepted, all of the
required information is then filled, payment is also accepted, and then the order is shipped. It
permits order shipment before an invoice is sent or payment is completed.
Activity diagram for online passport seva system