Object-oriented modeling

Sequence diagrams

Karolina Muszyńska

Based on: S. Wrycza, B. Marcinkowski, K. Wyrzykowski „Język UML 2.0 w modelowaniu SI”
 Object Modeling

 Dynamic view – sequence diagrams

◦ role and types of sequence diagrams
◦ basic concepts
◦ advanced concepts
◦ examples

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 Sequence Diagram –role
 Sequence diagram is a kind of interaction diagram,
describing interactions among system classifiers in
the form of sequence of messages interchanged
between them during a certain period of time.
 Sequence diagrams are closely related to use case
scenarios as they document their functionality.
 Interaction is shown on the sequence diagram in two
dimensions:
o Horizontal - static dimension where the system classifiers
taking part in the interaction are placed
o Vertical – dynamic dimension, with the time line showing
chronically arranged messages

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 Sequence Diagrams –types
Depending on the degree of abstraction three types of
sequence diagrams can be specified:
 Conceptual sequence diagram – using only basic
concepts, for quick and general overview of the
system interactions
 Generic sequence diagram – is the basis for software
specification and uses all available concepts; this
type of diagram includes the main and all alternative
scenarios of a use case and it can be used for
automatic generation of program code
 Instance sequence diagram – a diagram describing
one particular scenario of a use case; there may be
several instance diagrams for one generic diagram

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Sequence Diagrams –basic concepts
 Classifier – abstract category of system modeling in UML
(e.g. actor, object, interface, component, package, etc.)
 Message – describes a control flow in the system; it
determines the sequence and place of execution of
operations; messages are arranged according to the
sequence of their appearance – the later they occur the lower
they appear on the diagram
 Each classifier has a lifeline that represents its life time; the
“X” mark at the end of the lifeline indicates the point at which
the object ceases to exist in the system
 The execution specification shows time period during which
the classifier performs an operation (processing, calculating,
communicating with other classifiers or executing complex
algorithms); the execution specification is initiated with an
activation and ended with deactivation.

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Sequence Diagrams –basic concepts

Classifier
(actor, object,
interface,
package)

Lifeline

Message
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 Sequence Diagrams –basic concepts

Activation

Deactivation
Execution
specification 7
Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

 Types of messages

 Creating and destroying objects

 Guard conditions

 Combined fragments with interaction

operators
 Interaction occurrences

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
Message types:
 synchronous message – passes control from the
sender classifier to the receiver classifier
 asynchronous message – does not pass control, does
not wait for an answer from the receiver, may
continue processing
 return message – indicates control return to the
sender classifier after synchronous message and may
also initiate a certain operation
 self message – message sent by the classifier to itself
resulting in calling its own operation; self message is
a certain kind of iteration, which creates a nested
execution specification

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

Synchronous Asynchronous
message message

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

Return
Self message
message

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
Other message types:
 lost message – message sent from a known
sender to an unknown receiver (temporary
message)
 found message – message whose sender is
unknown (may be an external signal, stimulus)
 balking message – message which will not be
handled by the receiver classifier if it cannot be
handled immediately
 timeout message – similar to balking message
although sender classifier is willing to wait for
handling the operation for a specified period of
time
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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
Creating and destroying objects:
 „create” stereotype message – results in creation
of an object, which is situated below the primary
existing classifiers, corresponding with the time
of its creation
 „destroy” stereotype message – results in
destruction of an object

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

<<Create>> <<Destroy>>
message message

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
 Guard condition – a criterion connected with the
message, on fulfillment of which depends the
execution of a specified operation.
 If a condition referring to a certain message is not
met the operation indicated by the message is not
executed.
 Conditions are placed in square brackets before the
message name
 Realization of a message can be conditioned by
more than one condition

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

Guarding
condition
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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

 Combined fragment – is a logically consistent area

of interaction, a part of a sequence diagram
characterized by specific properties defined by the
interaction operator
 Interaction operator – specifies the functionality
realized by the combined fragment
 Interaction operators:
alt – alternative critical – critical region
opt – option assert – formula
break – interruption consider – significance
loop – iteration ignore – insignificance
neg – improper functionality stricte – strict order
par - concurrency seq – weak order
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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
Selected, most common operators:
 alternative (alt) – means a possibility to choose only one

of all presented interaction operands within the

combined fragment, depending on the condition
assigned to the operand
 option (opt ) – means that the operand within the

combined fragment will occur or will be omitted,

depending on the condition
 interruption (break) – is a abbreviated form of alt with

only one defined operand and when the combined

fragment is executed other interactions are ignored
 iteration (loop) – means repeating the operand a

specified number of times

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts
 Interaction occurrence – is a reference to a linked
interaction diagram, placed within the base
diagram
 Interaction occurrences are especially useful in
case of extensive sequence diagrams, which refer
to other diagrams defined earlier
 Interaction occurrence can be invoked either by a
message or by time factor

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Sequence Diagrams – advanced concepts

Interaction
occurrence

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 Building a sequence diagram
 Analysis of a selected use case and its scenarios
 Identification of classifiers taking part in the
interaction
 Development of conceptual sequence diagram
including (identified classifiers, messages and
execution specifications)
 Development of a generic sequence diagram on
the basis of the conceptual diagram by adding
advanced concepts like: different message types,
conditions, combined fragments, interaction
occurrences
 Optional development of instance sequence
diagrams for a selected generic diagram
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Additional information and examples
 UML Sequence Diagrams: Guidelines https://
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409389.as
px

 UML Sequence Diagrams: Reference

 https://
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409377.as
px

 Sequence Diagrams http://

www.uml-diagrams.org/sequence-diagrams.htm
l
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