Operation dialog box

Operations

Operations are the definition of services provided by a class and its children. Operations characterize the messages that their class instances can deal with.

The "Operation" dialog box contains three standard tabs - "Properties", "Tagged values" and "Stereotypes". For information on standard dialog box tabs, please see "Standard dialog box tabs".

The "Properties" tab of the "Operation" dialog box

The "Properties" tab of the "Operation" dialog box is used to define values for an operation.

The "Properties" tab in the "Operation" dialog box

Key:

· "Name": This is the name of the operation.

· "create": This indicates that the operation is a constructor.

· "destroy": This indicates that the operation is a destructor.

· "Visibility": This is the visibility of the member (none, public, protected or private).

· "Abstract": This determines abstract methods.

· "Cannot be specialized": This indicates that the operation may not be specialized, that is to say made more specific. It is a leaf operation.

· "Class": This defines a "class" operation, i.e. shared by all its instances.

· "Passing mode": This is the operation's passing mode (in or out). The default is "out". This mode indicates whether the object receiving the message is modified (out), or not (in) by the operation's execution.

The "Implementation" tab of the "Operation" dialog box

The "Implementation" tab of the "Operation" dialog box is used to add, modify or remove the operation's code.

The "Implementation" tab of the "Operation" dialog box

Key:

· "Implementation": This is text that represents the operation's content in the target language. Text can be added, modified or removed by clicking on the relevant button.