Parameters

In UML models, parameters are specific arguments that pass information between behavioral features, such as operations. A parameter has a type and it can have a default value.

A parameter specifies the type of an argument and the value it takes in the call to an operation. You can add parameters to the operations in your model to define the information that passes to and from the operation when calls to the operation are made. An operation can have any number of parameters or none at all.

Each parameter has a name, a type-expression, and a parameter direction type. The name of the parameter must be unique in an operation’s parameter list. The type-expression is a reference to a data type, which might be a class, a primitive data type, a user-defined data type, or an interface. You can also specify a direction type and a default value for a parameter. The direction type (in, out, inout, or return) shows in which direction the parameter passes to, or from, the operation. A parameter’s default value is the value it takes if you do not explicitly define a value when you call the operation. The syntax of a parameter is as follows:

[direction] name : type-expression = default-value

For example, in an e-commerce application a Customer class has a getBalance operation with the parameter [in] day : Date = 01/01/2005 parameter. The parameter syntax describes the following information:

Part of Syntax Example Description
[direction] [in] The date is passed into the operation; it is neither changed nor passed out.
name day The name of the parameter (day) describes the nature of the data that passes into the operation.
type-expression Date The type of value is an instance of the Date class.
default-value 01/01/2005 The default value is 01 January 2004.

You can show or hide parameters in operations. The diagram editor displays parameters in classifier shapes in several diagrams types including class diagrams, component diagrams, and use case diagrams. An operation’s parentheses enclose a comma-separated list of input and output parameters. The diagram editor displays return and throw parameters after the parentheses, and shows only their types. The Model Explorer view displays the name of the parameter under its associated operation.

The following table shows the notation for parameters in operations in the Model Explorer view and the diagram editor.

Parameter in the Model Explorer view Parameter in the diagram editor
Image shows a portion of the Model Explorer hierarchy that depicts an operation called getBalance. The operation’s parent node has a single parameter, called day as a child node. Image shows a rectangle divided into three compartments that depicts a class.  The top compartment contains the class’s name, Customer.  The middle compartment, which is empty, is the attribute compartment.  The lower comparment contains a single operation called getBalance.  The operation has one parameter of type day, whose value is 01 January, 2005.  The return type of the operation is MoneyType.

Example

A Customer class has a getBalance operation that returns the balance of a customer's account on a specific day. You can add a day parameter to the operation to indicate that the caller of the function must provide a date. You can add a money parameter to indicate that the operation should return an instance of the MoneyType class that specifies the amount of money in the account. To indicate that the money parameter is a return type, set its direction property to return.

Parent topic: Class diagrams

Related tasks
Adding parameters to operations
Showing or hiding parameters
Deleting parameters from operations

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