Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

Inherited and Redefined Ports

A Port is a redefinable and re-useable property of a composite classifier such as a Component. A Component can inherit Ports from its parent; if a Component's parent owns Ports, when you open the Structural Elements dialog for the Component and select the Show Owned/Inherited checkbox the inherited Ports and their named owners are listed.

If you want to show an inherited Port on a Component, the Structural Elements dialog provides two options:

·Expose an inherited Port - tick the checkbox next to the Port's name, to create a read-only copy of the Port; this is convenient for modeling Port interactions in child elements where the Ports are defined in the parent elements
·Redefine an inherited Port - select the row for the Port and click on the Redefine button, to create an editable copy of the Port; this is useful where a child element places additional restrictions or behavior on the Port

 

The above is also true for Components that inherit Ports from realized Interfaces, and for Component instances that inherit Ports from their classifying Component.

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