Hi tigershark,
Sorry, my fault! You're right, this documentation refers to state internal actions not internal transitions.
Hmm, UML 2.2 spec states about transition kind (15.3.15):
Semantics
• kind=internal implies that the transition, if triggered, occurs without exiting or entering the source state. Thus, it does not
cause a state change. This means that the entry or exit condition of the source state will not be invoked. An internal
transition can be taken even if the state machine is in one or more regions nested within this state.
• kind=local implies that the transition, if triggered, will not exit the composite (source) state, but it will apply to any state
within the composite state, and these will be exited and entered.
• kind=external implies that the transition, if triggered, will exit the composite (source) state.
Notation
• Transitions of kind local will be on the inside of the frame of the composite state, leaving the border of the composite state
and end at a vertex inside the composite state. Alternatively a transition of kind local can be shown as a transition leaving
a state symbol containing the text “*.” The transition is then considered to belong to the enclosing composite state.
• Transitions of kind external will leave the border of the composite state and end at either a vertex outside the composite
state or the composite state itself.
There seems to be no special notational clue, that a transition having the same state on both ends is of kind 'internal'. Only indirectly, if I understood the spec right, because the transition of kind 'external' must source from somewhere inside a composite state, and then ends up at the composite state's border.
So you can distinguish the transition kinds just visually and from where they start and end.
HTH
Günther
