Communication Diagrams
|
|
| In the Unified Modeling Language (UML) 2.0, a communication diagram is a simplified version of the UML 1.x collaboration diagram. |
|
|
|
| A Communication diagram models the interactions between objects or parts in terms of sequenced messages. Communication diagrams represent a combination of information taken from Class, Sequence, and Use Case Diagrams describing both the static structure and dynamic behavior of a system. |
|
| However, communication diagrams use the free-form arrangement of objects and links as used in Object diagrams. In order to maintain the ordering of messages in such a free-form diagram, messages are labeled with a chronological number and placed near the link the message is sent over. Reading a communication diagram involves starting at message 1.0, and following the messages from object to object. |
|
| On communication diagrams, objects are shown with association connectors between them. Messages are added to the associations and show as short arrows pointing in the direction of the message flow. The sequence of messages is shown through a numbering scheme. |
|
| The following two diagrams show a communication diagram and the sequence diagram that shows the same information. Although it is possible to derive the sequencing of messages in the communication diagram from the numbering scheme, it isn’t immediately visible. What the communication diagram does show quite clearly though, is the full set of messages passed between adjacent objects. |
|
 |
|
 |