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1 Activity Diagram Notations Explanation

1. An activity diagram uses various notations to represent different elements of a process flow including initial states, activities, control flows, decisions, forks, joins, and final states. 2. Initial states are depicted with filled circles, activities with rounded rectangles, and control flows with arrows. Decision nodes show points where the flow can split based on conditions. 3. Other elements include forks for concurrent activities, joins for converging activities, and swimlanes for grouping related activities. Time events and final states are also represented through standard notations.

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192 views

1 Activity Diagram Notations Explanation

1. An activity diagram uses various notations to represent different elements of a process flow including initial states, activities, control flows, decisions, forks, joins, and final states. 2. Initial states are depicted with filled circles, activities with rounded rectangles, and control flows with arrows. Decision nodes show points where the flow can split based on conditions. 3. Other elements include forks for concurrent activities, joins for converging activities, and swimlanes for grouping related activities. Time events and final states are also represented through standard notations.

Uploaded by

shiraz ali
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Activity Diagram Notations –

1. Initial State – The starting state before an activity takes place is depicted using
the initial state.

Figure – notation for initial state or start state


A process can have only one initial state unless we are depicting nested
activities. We use a black filled circle to depict the initial state of a system. For
objects, this is the state when they are instantiated. The Initial State from the
UML Activity Diagram marks the entry point and the initial Activity State.
For example – Here the initial state is the state of the system before the
application is opened.

Figure – initial state symbol being used


2. Action or Activity State – An activity represents execution of an action on
objects or by objects. We represent an activity using a rectangle with rounded
corners. Basically any action or event that takes place is represented using an
activity.

Figure – notation for an activity state


For example – Consider the previous example of opening an application
opening the application is an activity state in the activity diagram.

Figure – activity state symbol being used


3. Action Flow or Control flows – Action flows or Control flows are also referred
to as paths and edges. They are used to show the transition from one activity
state to another.

Figure – notation for control Flow


An activity state can have multiple incoming and outgoing action flows. We use
a line with an arrow head to depict a Control Flow. If there is a constraint to be
adhered to while making the transition it is mentioned on the arrow.

Consider the example – Here both the states transit into one final state using
action flow symbols i.e. arrows.

Figure – using action flows for transitions


4. Decision node and Branching – When we need to make a decision before
deciding the flow of control, we use the decision node.

Figure – notation for decision node


The outgoing arrows from the decision node can be labelled with conditions or
guard expressions.It always includes two or more output arrows.

Figure – an activity diagram using decision node


5. Guards – A Guard refers to a statement written next to a decision node on an
arrow sometimes within square brackets.

Figure – guards being used next to a decision node


The statement must be true for the control to shift along a particular direction.
Guards help us know the constraints and conditions which determine the flow of
a process.
6. Fork – Fork nodes are used to support concurrent activities.

Figure – fork notation


When we use a fork node when both the activities get executed concurrently i.e.
no decision is made before splitting the activity into two parts. Both parts need
to be executed in case of a fork statement.
We use a rounded solid rectangular bar to represent a Fork notation with
incoming arrow from the parent activity state and outgoing arrows towards the
newly created activities.
For example: In the example below, the activity of making coffee can be split
into two concurrent activities and hence we use the fork notation.
Figure – a diagram using fork
7. Join – Join nodes are used to support concurrent activities converging into one.
For join notations we have two or more incoming edges and one outgoing edge.

Figure – join notation

For example – When both activities i.e. steaming the milk and adding coffee get
completed, we converge them into one final activity.
Figure – a diagram using join notation
8. Merge or Merge Event – Scenarios arise when activities which are not being
executed concurrently have to be merged. We use the merge notation for such
scenarios. We can merge two or more activities into one if the control proceeds
onto the next activity irrespective of the path chosen.

Figure – merge notation


For example – In the diagram below: we can’t have both sides executing
concurrently, but they finally merge into one. A number can’t be both odd and
even at the same time.
Figure – an activity diagram using merge notation
9. Swimlanes – We use swimlanes for grouping related activities in one column.
Swimlanes group related activities into one column or one row. Swimlanes can
be vertical and horizontal. Swimlanes are used to add modularity to the activity
diagram. It is not mandatory to use swimlanes. They usually give more clarity to
the activity diagram. It’s similar to creating a function in a program. It’s not
mandatory to do so, but, it is a recommended practice.
Figure – swimlanes notation
We use a rectangular column to represent a swimlane as shown in the figure
above.
For example – Here different set of activities are executed based on if the
number is odd or even. These activities are grouped into a swimlane.
Figure – an activity diagram making use of swimlanes
10. Time Event –

Figure – time event notation


We can have a scenario where an event takes some time to complete. We use
an hourglass to represent a time event.
For example – Let us assume that the processing of an image takes takes a lot
of time. Then it can be represented as shown below.
Figure – an activity diagram using time event
11. Final State or End State – The state which the system reaches when a
particular process or activity ends is known as a Final State or End State. We
use a filled circle within a circle notation to represent the final state in a state
machine diagram. A system or a process can have multiple final states.

Figure – notation for final state

How to Draw an activity diagram –

1. Identify the initial state and the final states.


2. Identify the intermediate activities needed to reach the final state from he initial
state.
3. Identify the conditions or constraints which cause the system to change control
flow.
4. Draw the diagram with appropriate notations.
Figure – an activity diagram
The above diagram prints the number if it is odd otherwise it subtracts one from the
number and displays it.

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