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What's a good workflow (usage procedure) for creating a UML Sequence diagram in Dia?

Steffen Macke
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feuGene
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1 Answers1

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From the UML Sheet of Special Objects (left toolbar, center palette, use drop-down to select "UML"), select the UML Object object, alt text, and then place an object in your diagram.

Next, from the same UML Sheet, select the lifeline object, alt text, and place it in your diagram. Then connect the lifeline's uppermost line handle to the UML Object placed in the last step.

Use the UML Message object, alt text, to connect one lifeline to another.

Right-click on the lifeline to adjust the lifetime of the object, or to add or remove connection points.

feuGene
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    Hi, is there a way to add more than only one focus of control to a UML life line? Unfortunately, it seems that there is only the possibility to add/remove connection points for a single life line, but not to add/split/remove focus-of-control-bars. – Sandro Giessl Jun 20 '12 at 10:01
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    How about just using multiple lifeline objects stacked vertically? I just tried, it seems to work okay. In my topmost lifeline, I dragged the bottom dashed line up so much that it disappeared, and then for my bottom lifeline I connected its upper dashed line to the bottom of the focus-of-control bar on the lifeline above it. – feuGene Jun 21 '12 at 14:26
  • @feuGene - thanks for the above. Quick related question: is there a way to draw a self-referencing call in Dia? I can't figure it out. I posted a question here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11786539/how-to-draw-a-self-call-in-dia – JDelage Aug 07 '12 at 20:11
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    @JDelage: answered your question. The gist is: change the UML Message object's properties to have Message Type: Recursive. – feuGene Aug 08 '12 at 14:59
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    you just made my day! i try to download bunch of alternatives just because i dident know how to extend life line :( thank you again! – Abdelouahab Jun 10 '13 at 22:59
  • Wow. Just, whoa... Ok, trying to switch to Dia (coming from Visual Studio) and the amount of manual work to create the sequence diagrams is just... I loved Dia up until this. Gotta find an alternative now. – eduncan911 Sep 29 '15 at 18:29
  • @aduncan911: Yes, there is a good amount of manual work here. But it's pretty close to being a one-time thing, because once you get something you like you can just copy/paste it. – feuGene Oct 01 '15 at 13:51
  • Did you find a way to properly draw conditional/loop blocks? – tobias_k Jul 12 '16 at 08:13