2.6.3.StructuringSDs.ppt

2.6.3. Structuring SDs Normally a use case scenario is too long and complex to fit on a single (A4?) SD. We need to hierarchically structure SDs and decompose them into sub-SDs called by SD references. * A reference is a pointer to another SD. References may not be circular or recursive. * Let us give a typical example. A simple data exchange between two systems can be divided into 3 phases: set-up communication/initialize exchange data close-down communication We can specify the use case “successful data exchange” as follows. * B A Initialize Exchange Shutdown SD Successful_ Data_Exchange ref ref ref * The symbol denotes a sub-SD called name. Thus every SD has a symbolic name also. The keyword ref stand for reference. Then for the above example, we might have: name ref * B A A B “ready_to_send” “ready_to_receive” “finished” “shutdown” SD Initialize SD Shutdown Notice these are “handshakes” between A and B. We will specify the SD “Exchange” later. * Note that a sub-SD does not synchronize timelines. i.e. either of A or B is free to leave sub-SD Exchange without the other leaving simultaneously. Here’s another example to clarify the point. * B A A B “hello” SD Unsynchronised_Ref SD Sub-1 “goodbye” Sub-1 “what?” ref * Possible executions are either: hello what goodbye (A leaves Sub-1 late) or hello goodbye (A leaves Sub-1 early) what? * User System “username” “password?” SD normal_log_in “my_password” Precondition: Power is on, operating system is active, log-in menu is visible. Postcondition: Power is on, operating system is active, user is logged in under own profile, user’s desktop is visible, log-in menu is not visible. * We introduce SD interaction operators alt : alternative choice of sections par : parallel execution of several sections loop : iterative execution of a section opt : optional section that could be omitted (exc : exception section to handle errors.) * Interaction Operator alt An operator (possibly with a Boolea