Displaying relation ships based on types

[paddler]

Hi

I am reverse engineering a system and need a pointer. At this point I'd like to just get a domain model done but there is a curve I have not encountered before.

This is essentially what I have

 Report  <---- Report has a "type" field
    ^
     |
    [has]
     |
  Report Component
      ^
       |
     [has]
       |
   COmponent Elemnts

Based on the report "type" the specific components and their elements will change. Thus, if type = 1 we may have 3 components each with several Component Elements...

 If type = 3, we may have DIFFERENT components with slightly different components. At a Domain Model level where I am trying to show relationships between high-level domain objects, should the fact that report "type" affects the mix of Report Components and Component Elements be shown? (I'd like to).. If so, how? Simply mark it up as a constraint or note?

 

[Geert Bellekens]

Paddler,

I think you'll either have to use constraints, or use subclasses to explicitely show the different types of reports.

In the first case you could use an object diagram to illustrate the different combinations of relations depending on the type of report.

Geert

[paddler]

Hey Geert

Eventually, I simply showed the attribute which causes all of this dependcy in the high-level domain model. No other domain objects on the diagram have attributes showing.

 With a little text on the diagram I linked the attribite to the dynamics of the pre-existing, detailed Object Model.

Cheers