missing internal transitions in state machines

[AndreasEmmerling]

Hello,

maybe I just don't get it how I can do it, but as far as I can evaluate it it is not possible to draw internal transitions in state machine diagrams (i.e. as described here for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UML_state_machine#Internal_transitions).

As far as I can see there is a transition option named "kind" which I can set to "external", "internal" or "local" as defined in UML2. However drawing a self transition for example and then set the "kind" to "internal" doesn't make a change: transition is still drawn like an external transition and thus the diagram is still wrong/looks wrong.

Note that I recently asked the support about this, and the suggestion was that the internal transition is like an enter action (so I should add an operation, etc.). But this is not true as a transition is triggered by an event (signal, change, timeout, ...) which I cannot set if I add an operation. Or at least I cannot see how.

I'd appreciate any help.

By,
Andreas Emmerling

[qwerty]

You can add an operation and set the trigger in the Action.

q.

[AndreasEmmerling]

okay I have to clean my glasses I think. Thanks for reply.

Anyway, it seems that I do not really alter a transition, thus I cannot reference a real signal etc ("link" it from the model, not just reference it by name). Is that correct, or is there a way to achieve this?

Thanks for the help.

[qwerty]

I'm not very firm in states etc. An idea is to use composite states (State Machine) instead of simple states. Depends on who detailed you want to model the machine.

q.

[Paul Lotz]

I just submitted a feature request as well.

On a state in a state machine diagram, we should be able to indicate internal transitions in a third compartment at the bottom of the state.  (Currently it is possible to create a self-transition and set the kind property to internal, but this is not as good as a separate compartment since there is no visual indication on the diagram of the transition type.  There is also the problem that one can select "internal" for the type of a transition between two states, which is incorrect.  An internal transition is not identical with a self-transition in that the latter would invoke the exit and entry activities on the state whereas the former does not.)

Paul

[Paul Lotz]

For the record, it is not practicable now to handle internal triggers in the operations compartment, since the "Action" type for the operation must be entry, exit, or do ("event" is not an option), nor is there any meaningful way to specify the event.
It seems to me to more correct anyway to have an internal transitions compartment, since a transition is not an operation.