UML Weekend Crash Course™ - To Parent Directory

164
Saturday Afternoon
start
(merge point)
proceed or cancel
[cancel]
[proceed]
cancelled
Enter
Shipper_ID
Prompt to reenter
or cancel
[Shipper not found]
Find Shipper
Display
Shipper
Details
[Shipper found]
More products to receive
[no]
[P.O. not found]
[yes]
Display "invalid
P.O." error
message
Display "invalid
item" error
message
[no match]
(merge point)
Find the
Purchase Order
for the product
[P.O. found]
Match the product
to an item on the
Purchase Order
Check off the item
and quantity on
the Purchase Order
[match found]
Notify Accounts
Payable of the
updated
Purchase Order
Display the
"Accounts
Payable notified"
message
Update
inventory for
the Products
received
Display "inventory
updated
successfully"
message
Set the item
aside
(merge point)
Print the
receiving
confirmation
done
Figure 15-7 The complete Activity diagram
As you can see from the example, all the old flowchart elements are still there. UML has
added concurrency to keep pace with technology.
REVIEW
Often, text can be a bit too ambiguous for defining a complex process. The Activity diagram
offers a visual alternative that also supports common programming constructs. As such, it
bridges the gap nicely between user requirements and programming requirements.
To translate the user description into an Activity diagram, isolate each task as an
activity. Indicate the sequence of the tasks by drawing the transition arrow from
one activity to the next activity in the sequence.