Creating a New Guard or Block

In a selected sequence diagram view, you can group messages by creating multiple blocks and group those blocks in a guard.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:
  • Create a sequence diagram view and activate it. For more information, see Creating Sequence Diagrams.
    Tip: From the tree, double-click a sequence diagram view to activate it.
  • Insert an actor. For more information, see Inserting a New Actor.
  • Create at least one message between the two actors. For more information, see Creating a Message.

Create a New Guard

You can create a guard for a selected actor in an active sequence diagram view.

You can create the following types of guard:

  • Alt: alternative
  • Opt: option
  • Loop: loop
  • Par: parallel
  • Break: break

  1. From the active sequence diagram view, select one of the following elements:
    • One or multiple messages
      Tip: You can multiselect different message links by pressing Ctrl.
    • An activation
      Note: All messages associated to the selected activation will be used.
    • A guard
    • An interaction use
  2. From the Sequence Diagram section of the action bar, click Create New Guard .

    Tip: This command is also available from the context menu.

A guard composed of one block is created and displayed in the active sequence diagram view, around the selected message links.

Create a New Guard using the Tools Palette

You can create a guard for a selected actor in an active sequence diagram view.

  1. From the Sequence Diagram section of the action bar, click Create New Guard .
    The Tools Palette dialog box appears.
  2. From the active sequence diagram view, select at least one message link.

    Tip: You can multiselect different message links by pressing Ctrl.

    The name of the selected message link is displayed in the Tools Palette dialog box.
  3. Click Finish.

The dialog box closes and the new guard is created and displayed in the active sequence diagram view, around the selected message links.

Create a New Block

You can insert a block in a guard composed of several existing blocks.

Before you begin:
  • Create a message.
  • Insert a message in a guard.
  1. From the active sequence diagram view, select a guard.
    A + sign is displayed in the bottom left corner of the selected guard.
  2. Click the + sign.

A block is created under the selected guard, in the active sequence diagram view.

Tip: You can resize the block.