DEV475 Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UML ...

DEV475 Mastering Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UMLPackage Relationships: DependencyPackage Relationships: Dependency• Packages can be related to one another using adependency relationship.Client PackageDependency relationshipSupplierPackage• Dependency Implications• Changes to the Supplier package may affect theClient package.• The Client package cannot be reused independentlybecause it depends on the Supplier package.Mastering Object Oriented Analysis and Design with UMLCopyright © 2003 Rational Software, all rights reserved 8Elements in one package can import elements from another package. In the UML,this is represented as a dependency relationship.The relationships of the packages reflect the allowable relationships between thecontained classes. A dependency relationship between packages indicates that thecontents of the supplier packages may be referenced by the client. In the aboveexample, if a dependency relationship exists between the Client package and theSupplier package, then classes in the Client package may access classes in theSupplier package.Some of the implications of package dependency are:• Whenever a change is made to the Supplier package, the Client package must,potentially, be recompiled and re-tested.• The Client package cannot be reused independently because it depends on theSupplier package.The grouping of classes into logical sets and the modeling of their relationships canoccur anywhere in the process when a set of cohesive classes is identified.5 - 8