UML 2 Tutorial - Object Diagram

Object Diagrams

An object diagram may be considered a special case of a class diagram. Object diagrams use a subset of the elements of a class diagram in order to emphasize the relationship between instances of classes at some point in time. They are useful in understanding class diagrams. They don’t show anything architecturally different to class diagrams, but reflect multiplicity and roles.

Class and Object Elements

The following diagram shows the differences in appearance between a class element and an object element. Note that the class element consists of three parts, being divided into name, attribute and operation compartments; by default, object elements don’t have compartments. The display of names is also different: object names are underlined and may show the name of the classifier from which the object is instantiated.

Run Time State

A classifier element can have any number of attributes and operations. These aren’t shown in an object instance. It is possible, however, to define an object’s run time state, showing the set values of attributes in the particular instance.

Example Class and Object Diagrams

The following diagram shows an object diagram with its defining class diagram inset, and it illustrates the way in which an object diagram may be used to test the multiplicities of assignments in class diagrams. The car class has a 1-to-many multiplicity to the wheel class, but if a 1-to-4 multiplicity had been chosen instead, that wouldn’t have allowed for the three-wheeled car shown in the object diagram.