Component diagram on classified

[Brecht Hoflack]

Hi,

i would like to select a composite diagram for a component with a classifier.  When i select New child diagram > Select composite diagram the diagram doesn't show when the component has a classifier.  It works fine for a component without a classifier.  How can i fix this?

Brecht

[qwerty]

It looks like you have discovered a bug

Bug report this page bottom right....

To overcome this: remove the classifier, make it composite, re-attach the classifier

Interestingly the above works only once. Then you have to save the diagram before you can do it again.

q.

[Brecht Hoflack]

How can i remove the classifier?

[qwerty]

Ctrl-L
<none>

q.

[Eve]

EA has never allowed composite diagrams on instances. (And that's what your component is after setting a classifier)

[Geert Bellekens]

EA has never allowed composite diagrams on instances. (And that's what your component is after setting a classifier)

That doesn't seem to be consistent.
I tested this by dragging a class on a diagram, and choosing instance, but EA still allows me to create a composite diagram.

I did notice however that I can't add composite diagrams to an Action, which isn't an instance either.

Do you know what the reasoning behind this is? I don't really see a good reason why EA should allow me to create composite diagrams for any element I want to.

Geert

[Eve]

I didn't say that instances were the only reason composite diagrams weren't allowed.

In terms of why, I it pre-dates me being in the company. I believe it's due to what was considered decomposable. ie. UML explicitly specifies that Actions are not. I don't know what it says about Instance Specifications, but at least in some sense it makes sense to decompose the classifier rather than the instance.

[Geert Bellekens]

I think I get it.
Way back in the beginning you just made an element composite, and as a result it would create a new nested diagram and make it the target of the "click-through".
Making something "composite" actually had some kind of meaning in the UML model.
Nowadays I feel that the feature has gone more to the "click-through" aspect, so it makes less sense to prohibit some types of elements from having  "click-through" diagram.

It might be an idea to only allow "select composite diagram" and not "create composite diagram" for those types of elements that are not allowed to own diagrams (such as actions or instances). What do you think?

Geert

[Eve]

Sounds like your understanding now aligns with mine. Even better, our conclusions from the data also match. I've never had the chance to sit through the implications of that kind of change, which would be the main reason I never tried to get it changed.