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Tips and tricks sequence diagram example

The following sequence diagram example is coming from a customer who was blocked while modeling because manually moving up and down his messages.
The received message by our support team was "What I see happen is that as I move a message up then, yes, all messages below get pushed down. Some are pushed out of the frame. If I then extend the lifeline of the entity the focus of control blocks also become longer. the then the diagram keeps growing down. Additional messages are moved outside the frame. If I extend the frame again I cannot move those additional messages which no longer have end points attached to lifelines.
We provided him the tricks example below which helped him to redraw and repair the full diagram."
Our support team answer was: " The message is attached to the activation bar. If a new messages is added on the top of existing messages then all messages are pushed down in order to includes the new activation bar+message needed space. "

The sequence diagram example is composed by:
  1. The initial diagram having layout problem
  2. The recommended solution to fix the layout
  3. The final diagram after using tips and tricks

1. The initial diagram having layout problem

The following picture is the initial diagram which was sent to our support team.
You can upload and try to remodel this diagram

     

2. The recommended solution to fix the layout

Have a look at the tips_tricks_example png picture below.
Each trick on the picture has a number which is explained below:
  1. You can add a name to your main frame: See more
  2. Have a strait line message between two lifeline : See more
  3. Have a smaller activation bar. The activation bar should at least have the size of the target activation bar. You can therefore minimize the target activation bar using the mouse and then the other one. Don't forget that the message will be create at the mouse position click. See where will be created your message and more
  4. Use the mouse to enlarge the main frame manually. Click on the frame, select the black point in the middle and drag it down then drop it in order to get a bigger frame.
  5. Click on the diagram background > LifeLine Layout in order to have messages the same size and going down to the button of the main frame. See more
  6. Click on the message or use the Sequence Diagram contextual menu > Select > All Connectors then use the Font and Colors View to change the colors of your message. See more
  7. Click on the PayrollAdministrator Actor and use the mouse to get a larger width in order to have visible name.
  8. Move each instance on the right or on the left (e.g. ManageEmployeeForm, HourlyEmployee etc....) with the mouse in order to have more readable message name



3.The final diagram after using tips and tricks

The following picture is the final diagram which was fixed by our support team.
The below diagram is only using contextual menus which are already available in the sequence diagram as features related to the tips and tricks documentation chapter.
You can upload and try to remodel this diagram:



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