Software Design Center

HOW TO DRAW ROOM DIAGRAMS (cont'd)

Structural Diagram Notations

Actor

Dynamic Actor

Actor
An actor is an active architectural component of a software system. Actors interact with their environment via ports. A dynamic actor is created and destroyed by the containing actor.
Learn how to edit text on actor symbols.

Ports

Ports
Ports provide an interface between actors using protocols that define how information should be accessed and changed.

Relay port - Shares the interface between a contained class and the container class.
Conjugated port - Handles both the outgoing and incoming messages of its protocol. Conjugated ports are usually white colored.
External end port - Communicates with the actor's state machine or behavior.
Internal end port - Connects a component actor to the container actor's behavior. It is illustrated using the same notation as an external end port, but the port is placed inside the container border rather than on it.