Chapter 4 Building Structural Diagrams

Operation properties

You can modify an object's properties from its property sheet. To open an operation property sheet, double-click its Browser entry in the Operations folder. The following sections detail the property sheet tabs that contain the properties most commonly entered for operations.

The General tab contains the following properties:

Property Description
Parent To which the operation belongs
Name Specifies the name of the item, which should be clear and meaningful, and should convey the item's purpose to non-technical users.
Code Specifies the technical name of the object, which is used for generating code or scripts.
Comment Descriptive comment for the object.
Stereotype Extends the semantics of the object beyond the core UML definition. The following common stereotypes are available by default:

  • <<constructor>> - Operation called during the instantiation of an objet that creates an instance of a class
  • <<create>> - Operation used by a class when instantiating an object
  • <<destroy>> - Operation used by a class that destroys an instance of a class
  • <<storedProcedure>> - Operation will become a stored procedure in the generated PDM
  • <<storedFunction>> - Operation will become a stored function in the generated PDM
  • <<EJBCreateMethod>> - EJB specific CreateMethod
  • <<EJBFinderMethod>> - EJB specific FinderMethod
  • <<EJBSelectMethod>> - EJB specific SelectMethod


For more information on EJB specific methods, see section Defining EJBs, in chapter Working with Java.
Return Type A list of values returned by a call of the operation. If none are returned, the return type value is null
Visibility Visibility of the operation, whose value denotes how it is seen outside its enclosing name space. Exists only in classes:

  • Private - Only to the class to which it belongs
  • Protected - Only to the class and its derived objects
  • Package - To all objects contained within the same package
  • Public - To all objects
Language event When classes represent elements of interfaces, this box allows you to show an operation as triggered by a significant occurrence of an event
Static The operation is associated with the class, as a consequence, static operations are shared by all instances of the class and have always the same value among instances
Array Flag defining the return type of the operation. It is true if the value returned is a table
Abstract The operation cannot be instantiated and thus has no direct instances
Final The operation cannot be redefined
Read-only Operation whose execution does not change the class instance
Web service method If displayed and selected, implies that the operation is used as a web service method
Influent object Operation that influences the current operation. The most common influence links are "overrides" or "implements" as explained below
Overrides Indicates which parent operation the current operation is overriding through a generalization link
Implements Name of the interface operation the current operation is implementing though a realization link
Generic Specifies that the operation is a generic method. For more information on generic methods, see the Generic types and methods section.

 

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