Business analysts can use them to model how a business currently works – by mapping out the interactions between personnel completing a task – to understand how orders are processed, or to clarify the steps involved in creating a product. Sequence diagrams have traditionally been used to model interactions between computer systems, but they are increasingly used to document interactions between business objects. Make your own UML sequence diagram with Gleek. Messages can go back and forth from left and right, with the sequence moving from top to bottom as the time period progresses. During this period it is said to have focus of control. An activation bar is a thin rectangular box that is shown on an object’s lifeline when it is active and processing a task. Horizontal arrows show the messages exchanged between the objects. This lifeline represents the object’s existence in the time period being captured. The diagram shows how objects in the system exchange messages and which objects are active at any particular time.Įach object is shown at the top of the diagram and each has a lifeline that descends vertically from its center.
Sequence diagrams can also be called event diagrams or event scenarios. UML diagrams are generally used when designing software and databases to make sure that the system will work as required and to reveal potential problems before building the final product.Ī sequence diagram models the interactions between objects in a system in sequential order over time. Sequence diagrams are one of the 14 diagram types that can be created using the Unified Modeling Language (UML). You use the self message shape in Microsoft Visio when there is one method or action that needs to be performed by the same object the message came from.What are sequence diagrams and what are they used for? When do you use the Self Message shape in Microsoft Visio? The stencil includes two rows of Conditions where the exchange between actors and objects are to be placed. Explaining the process of how a customer can be confirmed by using a specific payment method could be an example of when an Alternative Fragment stencil should be used. The last step is optional, however, if let’s say, there is a condition between the actor and the object then the use of an alternative block would be efficient. On the other hand, the arrows will determine whether the messages sent or received are return messages, self-messages, or asynchronous messages. The details within the interaction will depend on the purpose that the diagram fulfills to insert texts, double-click the arrows and type the message that both subjects convey. Using arrows, input the exchange of messages between the actor and the object. Both the actor and object represent the variables that the concept of the diagram includes. The same action is to be done for the object or set of objects relevant to the completion of the sequence diagram. Next, draw the Actor Lifeline by clicking the stencil on the left-hand side and dragging it on the page. Step 2: Draw Actor and Object Lifelines.Choose a type of UML Sequence then click Create. Using a template is advisable for beginners since shapes and stencils are already suggested unlike when creating with a blank page. Go to File and search for the UML Sequence template. The following steps will help you make your own sequence diagram: May it be for recording real-time events or creating an instructional visual material for a company, a sequence diagram is the versatile tool to go for.
How to Create Sequence Diagram Using Microsoft Visio