Activity diagrams - sub diagram capability?

[Royski]

UML permits several activities, states, decsion blocks and objects to be connected up as a general work flow and to be bundled up as a sub-diagram, which can then be used as a single activity in other diagrams. Does EA permit this? I've looked in the help section but I can't see how; and I've tried experimenting but failed to find a way.

[CJ]

G'day Royski,

There may be other ways, but here is how I've setup sub-diagrams for activity diagrams.  If there is a standard UML way of doing it, I'd sure like to know...

1) Draw the "main" activity diagram in some package, using only the activity diagram objects;

2) Draw the "sub" activity diagram in some other package;

3) From the browser, copy the "sub" activity diagram (i.e. create a diagram link) into the "main" activity diagram.

4) Setup some kind of visual cue that a particular activity in your "main" activity diagram has sub-activities in the diagram link created in 3).

The visual cue I've setup, for an activity that has sub-activities, is to give the activity a stand-out colour, and to move the sub-activity diagram link right in the activity object.  (I've setup the link's properties so that it has not text).

If you want a sample, send me an e-mail.  I've got a couple diagrams saved to .gif

Best regards.

[Royski]

thanks Jason, still not sure though. I can drag the "sub" onto the "main" but I can only do this once, which defeats the object as I want to use it in several places in the "main". I think you are suggesting that I create an activity in the "main" and create an association link to the "sub"; am I right? This works but is not intuitive, and the reader would find it unwieldy to trace back to the "sub". Can you confirm if I'm interpreting you correctly? Thanks once again.

[PhilR]

UML 1.4 has a stereotype icon to indicate that an activity is decomposed into a sub-activity diagram.  The logical way for a tool vendor to implement this would be to "double click" on the master activity which woiuld launch the sub-activity diagram.  EA of course does not implement this.

It also makes sense to "double click" on a class and launch a State Chart which decsribes the class life-cycle.  Again EA does not implement this.

Generally the OO community rather shys away from this approach because it smacks of funcitonal decomposition a bit.

By the way Rose (and other tools) implement all sorts of fussy rules about what can decompose into what.  No thanks.
Phil.