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All elements on the activity diagram pane have attributes that describe their behavior in the service. In the Attributes panel, you can see and change the attributes of a selected element.

If using the panel preset, the attributes panel is displayed in the lower left corner. To return to the panel preset, go to the user preferences and use button Reset Panels.

Refer to Customizing Editors and Panels for detailed information about panel management in general.

Click an element on the diagram pane to display its attributes in the Attributes panel.

All elements have the following standard attributes:

  • Name
  • Symbol Type

Some elements have additional attributes:

  • Description
  • Type
  • Direction
  • Array
  • Is static
  • Guard
  • Order
  • Stereotypes

If you click on the diagram pane itself, the Attributes panel displays the attributes of the related operation from the Implementation model.

Standard Attributes

In the attributes panel, all attributes of the selected element are displayed. Some standard attributes are present for all elements.

Attribute NameDescriptionPossible Values / ExampleAvailability
Name

Click here to insert or change the Name of the related element. Generated elements (like e.g. message) cannot be renamed.

Element names must follow certain naming rules. They

  • must not contain blanks
  • must not start with a number
  • must not contain special characters
serviceAvailable
  • All activity diagram elements.
Symbol Type

Attribute Symbol Type displays the graphical type of the current element symbol.

  • Activity Decision
  • Activity Parameter
  • Call Operation
  • Control Flow
  • Final Node
  • Initial Node
  • Local Variable
  • Object Flow
  • Operation Pin
  • Throw Exception
  • All activity diagram elements.

Specific Attributes

In the attributes panel, all attributes of the selected element are displayed. Some attributes are only available for specific elements (see column Availability below).

Attribute NameDescriptionPossible Values / ExampleAvailability
DescriptionEnter a description of the element. This is for informational purposes only.
  • Control Flows
  • Object Flows
  • Exception Signals
Type

Execution elements always have a Type. These can be basic types or user defined types. Users can define their own types in the Implementation folder or in a library.

For variables, you can change the type by clicking the link icon and selecting a class from the list of available types.

Base Types.String
  • Call Operation Actions
  • Local Variables (object nodes)
Direction
Call operation actions have pins that represent their parameters. The Direction specifies whether the pin reflects an input or output parameter.inInput pin.
  • Pins
outOutput pin.
ArrayUse the attribute Array to enable multiplicity.trueThe variable has a multiplicity of 0..*.
  • Local Variables (object nodes)
falseThe variable has a multiplicity of 0..1 (default).
Is static

Specify if the operation is static (default) or not.

  • Static operations can be called without creating an instance of the related class. They get all necessary data via their input parameters.
  • Wanting to call a non-static operation, you need to create a local instance of the related class, and call the operation on that object. This is called self context.
trueThe operation is static (default) and can be used outside the context of the related class.

falseThe operation is non-static and needs a self object as an input.
Guard

Control flows that are starting from a decision node need to have a guard expression. A guard expression is an expression that evaluates to true or false, and specifies which control flow branch to follow from the decision node on.

One of the guard expressions must be else to define the branch to follow when none of the guard expressions are true.


trueFollow this branch.
  • Control flows starting from decision node
falseDo not follow this branch.
Order

If a decision node branches the control flow into multiple branches, order defines the order in which the guard expressions (see Guard above) should be evaluated. This is necessary in case multiple guard expressions evaluate to true.

The else  expression does not need to have an order.


an integerOrder in which the guard expression on this control flow should be evaluated.
  • Control flows starting from decision node
emptyUndefined order of evaluation.
Stereotype

Via button Add Stereotype, you can add a stereotype to an action node.

By adding a stereotype, you can extend the attributes of an element with additional properties. For more information, refer to the related adapter pages.

  • Call Operation Actions

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