is the structured activity node useful?

[spelger]

i'd like to use the structured activity node to model a simple loop. unfortunately it seems that this node cannot be sized to be useful. it appears that the three sections of the node must be the same size. i've seen this questioned a number of times with no response either from anyone who knows how to do it properly or from any rep from EA.

i feel like a kid on the wrong side of the candy store window.

scott

[qwerty]

No. Just drag the dashed lines to which size you need them.

q.

[spelger]

oh if only it were that simple. when i do that the sections do change size but when i need to increase the size of the lowest section by sizing the entire node all the sections change size the activities in the middle section end up in the lower section. this has the effect of making the entire node really large and from that point it is a struggle to make it smaller.

the version i am using is 12.0.1214. should have mentioned that in my original post.

[qwerty]

Yeah, that might be an issue. I don't think that the dashed lines do "know" anything about what they actually separate. In SDs the messages have a relation and moving them can make groups shift. But here... or in SD fragments... 

q.

[Helmut Ortmann]

Hi,

In my opinion:  You can dump a lot of time to make complicated and difficult to read activity diagrams with structured activities. A simple loop can make a diagram almost unreadable.

There are other means to make it easy like:
- A simple activity with a name like "For each Customer" and an action inside with "Add salary"
- A composite activity (nested) with a name like "For each Customer" and some actions/activities in the nested activity diagram
With a little script know how you can easily automate it.

We had done such things for a Functional Safety project where we had to specify design by activity diagrams formally. We were able to make high-quality activity diagrams which were reviewed by experienced and correctly working reviewers.

The time we spend was about thinking of design, reviewing and correcting diagrams due to intense reviewing - not because of complicated and sometimes unreadable activity diagrams.

Reflect on a simple loop and try to model it. It fast gives you a mess which isn't maintainable. If you invest some time thinking about how to model and think outside the box of UML standard lecture, you can get easy to understand and maintainable diagrams without losing precision.

Kind regards,

Helmut

[qwerty]

I'm absolutely with Helmut. Graphics is nice up to a certain level. They are excellent for an overview. But not for bits and pieces. So KISS!

q.