Activations wrt async returns

[nate]

Hi folks,

I'm can't for the life of me figure out how to do the following:  I need an async message with a return where the receiver's activation is continuous, but the sender's is broken up.  I can make EA show the other three permutations (activations on both, neither, or sender only), but this one eludes me.  Also, I can't change either message type, because that's how the customer wants it to look.

My situation looks like this:



Also, what is the correct way to add frames to sequence diagrams?  I've been doing it through Project -> AddElement, Type: DiagramFrame, but my gut tells me that that's not the "proper" way to do it.

Any help is appreciated!

[RoyC]

I can't help with your main query, but we might be able to clarify your closing question about Diagram Frames. However, can you let us know what release of EA you are using?

I think your gut is correct - you are not creating (or using) Diagram Frames as designed. A Diagram Frame is a special kind of Combined Fragment that provides a picture (or just the name) and - more importantly - a hyperlink to another diagram. You create them by dragging the referred-to diagram onto your current diagram, and selecting the appropriate option (a frame with picture, a frame with name, or just the name). What are you using them to represent?

You might be able to use a Combined Fragment (which it looks like you might already be doing for the opt state section of your diagram) or a System Boundary (which is a conceptual frame around any part of the diagram you want to enclose).

I can't - at the moment - see anything wrong with your use of the Diagram Frame, but I'm playing around with it to see if anything suddenly complains.

[nate]

Thank you for your response!  I didn't realize that's what Diagram Frames were for... that's what I get for getting my terminology ad-hoc.  I WAS looking for boundaries - but specifically ones with the pentagon label in the top left.  After reading your post, I tried adding one to Boundary I added with the Boundary button, but couldn't find out how to label it. How do I get those, e.g., to label my Sequence Diagrams?

I am still in the dark about my main query... if anyone has any insight, I would be most thankful!