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Information Flow

informationflow

An Information Flow represents information items or classifiers flowing between two elements in any diagram. The connector is available from the Common page of the Toolbox and from every Quick Link menu.

You can have more than one Information Flow connector between the same two elements, identifying which items flow between the two under differing conditions.

Example of Use

  1. Open a diagram and add two elements (for example, Nodes on a Deployment diagram).
  2. Click on the Information Flow connector in the Common page of the Toolbox and drag between the two elements. The Information Items Conveyed dialog displays.
  3. Add the classifier or information item element(s) to the Information Flow. The diagram now resembles the following.
     
    Infoflow
     
  4. Add another connector between the same two elements (for example, a Communication Path connector).
  5. Right-click the connector and select the Advanced | Information Flows Realized context menu option. The Information Flows Realized dialog displays.
  6. Tick the checkbox against the required classifier element and click on the OK button. The combined connector now resembles the following:
     
    infolfow2

Notes:
  • Once the connectors are combined, you cannot access the Information Items Conveyed dialog directly. You add or delete information items on the connector using the Information Items Realized dialog. If you have more than one Information Flow connector between the elements, they form part of the same combined connector; you can again work on them separately through the Information Items Realized dialog.
  • If you have information flows in a diagram that you use as the source for a Pattern, the Information Items Conveyed and Information Flows Realized data is not copied into the Pattern.

Toolbox Icon

c_InformationFlow

OMG UML Specification

The OMG UML specification (UML Superstructure Specification, v2.1.1, p. 606) states:

An InformationFlow specifies that one or more information items circulates from its sources to its targets.

The OMG UML specification (UML Superstructure Specification, v2.1.1, p. 607) also states:

An information flow is an abstraction of the communication of an information item from its sources to its targets. It is used to abstract the communication of information between entities of a system. Sources or targets of an information flow designate sets of objects that can send or receive the conveyed information item.