Port dialog box

Ports

A port is a property of a classifier that specifies a distinct interaction point between the said classifier and its environment, or between the classifier and its internal parts.

A port can specify the services provided by a classifier to its environment, as well as the services that a classifier expects of its environment.

The "Port" dialog box contains four tabs - "Properties", "Notes", "Tagged values" and "Stereotypes". For information on these standard dialog box tabs, please see "Standard dialog box tabs".

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

The "Properties" tab of the "Port" dialog box is used to define port values.

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

Key:

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

· "Constant": If true, the port may not be modified after its instanciation. The default value is false.

· "Max": This is the maximum number of ports occurrences that can exist.

· "Min": This is the minimum number of ports occurrences that can exist.

· "Expression of value": This is the expression used to initialize the port.

· "Is service": If true, this indicates that this port is used to provide the published functionality of a classifier; if false, this port is used to implement the classifier but is not part of the essential externally-visible functionality of the classifier and can, therefore, be altered or deleted along with the internal implementation of the classifier and other properties that are considered part of its implementation. The default value for this attribute is true.

· "Is behavior": This specifies whether requests arriving at this port are sent to the classifier behavior of this classifier. Such ports are referred to as behavior port. Any invocation of a behavioral feature targeted at a behavior port will be handled by the instance of the owning classifier itself, rather than by any instances that this classifier may contain. The default value is false.

· "Instantiate": This is the type of the port. The type of a behavior port must be the class owning the port. The port type must also implement the port provided interfaces.

· "Destination": This is the port's destination element.