UML Designer User's Guide
When you transform a responsibility into a message specification, the types
of the generated parameters and return values must be specified as
protocols. Depending upon your selections, UML Designer can use several
different methods of choosing which protocol to use for a parameter or return
value.
If a responsibility specifies a participating thing, UML Designer uses the
implementing protocol of the thing as the type for the corresponding message
parameter.
However, participants are optional for responsibilities using the
Value or Identifier idioms, even though some of the
generated messages take parameters. If you do not specify a
participant, UML Designer chooses a default parameter type as follows:
- If you have specified English link labeling in the system settings, UML
Designer looks for a noun in the responsibility implementation name.
For example:
- name in customerName
- date in dateOfBirth
- indicator in ownerIndicator
If you have not specified English link labeling, UML Designer uses the
entire implementation name. (For more information about the system
settings, see System settings.
- Using the noun or implementation name, UML Designer then looks for a Thing
whose name matches. If it finds one, and the thing has an implementing
protocol, it uses that protocol. For example:
- name matches Name, a Thing element in the Kernel
model; its implementing protocol is<String>.
- indicator matches Indicator, a Thing element in the
Kernel model; its implementing protocol is
<Boolean>.
- If no Thing element matches, UML Designer then looks for a protocol whose
name matches the noun or implementation name. If it finds one, it uses
that protocol.
For example, Date matches the protocol
<Date>.
- If Relationships Browser cannot find a matching thing or protocol, it uses
<Object>.
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