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

Composite Elements

Enterprise Architect supports Composite elements for Classes, Objects, Use Cases and such. A Composite element is a pointer to a child diagram.

Create a Composite Element

To set Composite elements from the element context menu, follow the steps below:

  1. Create the element to set as a Composite element.
  2. Right-click on the element in the diagram and select the Advanced | Make Composite context menu option.

Note:

If the Make Composite option is not listed in the context menu, the option is not available for the type of element you have selected.

The element displays as follows:
 
CompositeObject
 

Note the small icon in the bottom right hand corner indicating that this is now a Composite element.

  1. Double-click on the Composite element to access the child diagram that it points to.

The Composite element and its child diagram are represented in the Project Browser as follows:

CompositeObject-ProjectBrowser

Note that ClassX, ClassY and ClassZ are elements in the child diagram.

Alternative Notation

Composite elements can show their contents instead of their usual notation. To enable this, right-click on the element to open the context menu, then select the Advanced | Show Composite Diagram option.

The Automation Interface

Automation support is available for Composite elements. Element has an Elements collection and a Diagrams collection.