UML Diagrams Zicomi Systems publishes some UML example diagrams online from the world famous UML dictionary. more...
Version 2.5 Released Zicomi Systems is delighted to announce that version 2.5 of Zicomi Mentor is released. With support for UML 2.0 and all thirteen UML diagrams more...
Zicomi Systems' Director speaks about the UML at Objects by Design - an informative interview more...
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OMG Member Zicom Systems is made a member of the OMG!
General Ordering
A general ordering is a named element that relates two event occurrences (message ends) specifying that the event occurrence at the tail end must occur before the event occurrence at the arrowhead end of the message.
Explanation
A general ordering has the appearance of a message however it is not itself a message, but a device to specify sequence (ordering) in an interaction. An event occurrence is the point at which a message end targets a lifeline, and the general ordering is used to specify that the event occurrence at the tail end occurs before the event occurrence at the arrowhead end. A general ordering can be distinguished from a message by the arrow that is positioned centrally on the dotted line. Messages have different arrowheads but they are always positioned at the end of the line.
