Port in sequence diagrams

[qwerty]

In V10 there is a leading slash at ports shown in sequence diagrams. This slash does not appear in 9.3. Is that intentional or a bug?

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[qwerty]

Nothing to say?

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[KP]

It's the rolename. See the section on StructuredClassifier in the UML specification.

[qwerty]

So I suppose this is rather a correction than a bug.

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[qwerty]

Neil, I have now looked into the specs. Indeed the role is displayed with a slash. But actually this is not the role, but the classifier. I have a class with a port and create an instance. Like the object is classified with the class, the port instance must be the instance of the class' port. So: not a slash, but a colon must be displayed here. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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[Eve]

You're wrong.

A port is a property, not a classifier. Therefore it can't be the classifier of another port. Any property when represented on an instance (which a lifeline generally is) is a Slot. This is a the value that corresponds to the variable specified by the property. The original property is the role that is being filled by the slot. You can name the value, and the name for the property and its type still exist. So, for a full display you some something like:

valueName / propertyName : typeName.

[qwerty]

Thanks. I'm not a reader of the UML Daily :-) So I appreciate your explanation. According to that my assumption seems to be true: the previous EA versions were wrong in displaying a port instance as they did not show the role with a leading slash.

Just for curiosity: If a port is a property, how can a port have a port (like this is done in SysML)?  SuperStructures states "A property represents a set of instances that are owned by a containing classifier instance." But a port is a property rather than a classifier instance. And thus can not contain ports. Am I wrong here?

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[Eve]

how can a port have a port

This makes sense when the type of a port has ports. In that case, what you are saying is that you have a structured type. You can then display that structure in the form of nested ports.

[qwerty]

Ah, I see. And you can do it with EA

Well one glitch: I had the typed port right of the class. Then I selected to show the structural elements. Namely the port of the type. This appeared on top of the port, so also on the border of the class. This looked very strange. Then I discovered that it was possible to move the embedded port. However, I'd say it should be moveable only on either the in- or outside of the class, not at that side of the embedding port which  stretches over the class' border.

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