Attribute as reference and multiplicity

[Rogier van Stapele]

If an attribute of a class is defined as "By Reference" and it has a multiplicity, how should it be implemented?

Is it an array of pointers or is it a pointer to an array?

[thomaskilian]

Just from my stomach I'd say pointer to array as it is one association to a multiplicity. Else you would need to draw multiple assocs for the array of pointers. YMMV

[Eve]

My preference would be that the "By Reference" applies to each element of the collection (where an array is a collection type) rather than to the collection itself.

[Rogier van Stapele]

Personally I agree with Simon that it means a collection of pointers. The datatype is basically a pointer, with multiplicity as an additional specification.

But how would I specify a reference to an array in EA?

[sl@sh]

A bit late to respond, but I only just joined this forum, and would be interested in an answer myself.

My first idea would be to assign a multiplicity of 0..1 to the source end of the relation, but I'm not sure this would always work - the reference might be mandatory after all...

[Paolo F Cantoni]

Personally I agree with Simon that it means a collection of pointers. The datatype is basically a pointer, with multiplicity as an additional specification.

I agree

But how would I specify a reference to an array in EA?

Create a code snippet and reverse engineer it...

That's a good indication...

HTH,
Paolo