Diagram Elements
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Diagram elements are elements in an activity diagram. They are basically used to control the behavior of compound blocks and are manipulated in the network editor.
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Activity Diagrams
The following example demonstrates the major components of an activity diagram.
The diagram models a test of an e-mail transmission. First of all the step "Create Unique ID" creates a so-called UUID which is used later, to check whether the correct e-mail has arrived. The UUID is delivered to the step "Send E-Mail [SMTP]", which sends an e-mail via SMTP using the UUID as subject. Next, the "Time [Delay]" step waits for 5 seconds. Finally, a web scenario checks whether the e-mail has arrived by using the UUID. If there is no such e-mail the test will fail.
Please note that the definition of activity diagrams in expecco corresponds largely with the UML notation. Due to graphical accentuation of important points the view slightly differs from the UML notation.
Step (7)
A step is block which is placed in an activity diagram. These blocks can be either elementary blocks (such as "Create Unique ID") which are defined by a piece of source code or compound blocks (such as "Check Incoming Mail") which are defined by their own activity diagram. To the network where a block is placed, there is no difference in the behavior. All are triggered by the availability of input data, perform an operation, and generate results on their outputs.
Autostart (1)
A step with autostart option will be triggered automatically, whenever the containing activity diagram network is executed. Without the autostart option, steps are only started when input data arrives at the step's input pins. Autostart is required for steps which have no input and are not triggered by a control flow connection.
Pin (3,9)
Pins are used to exchange data and trigger information between steps. These pins can be output pins (3) to send data or input pins (9) to receive data. Other pins are used for special tasks like exception handling. Typically, control-flow pins (trigger and status) are vertical pins, whereas data-flow pins are oriented horizontally.
Connection (4,8)
Connections are used to interconnect steps to pass data or control information from an output pin to one or more input pins.
Data Flow Connection (4)
These connections deliver data from a step's output pin to another step's input pin. In the example, the first step sends the generated UUID to two other steps.
Control Flow Connection (8)
These connections are used to control the execution order in an activity diagram. In the example the steps on the right are executed sequential.
Freeze Value (6)
The data which is used by a pin can be frozen to a static value. In the example the message text, the e-mail address, the waiting time and also the failure message are frozen.
Environment Freeze Value (5)
The data used by a pin can also read from a variable defined in the environment of the compound block or the testsuite. In the example, the user name and the server are fetched from such variables.
Annotation (2)
In order to comment a diagram, or to place additional notes for developers and testers, annotations can be used. Annotations can be either text fields or imported graphics (gif, jpg or png images).
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