UML Class Diagram. Design Elements

UML Class Diagram is a type of Structure Diagrams that shows the classes of a system, attributes, operations, and the relationships between them.

Class Diagram is one of important types of UML Diagrams. UML Class Diagrams are used for static modeling of the system, for data modeling, for conceptual modeling of the application, and for modeling of the system dictionary.

On the Class Diagram, Classes are represented as boxes that consist of three parts: name, attributes of the class, and operations or methods.

Use the following notations to set the visibility of a class member: Public (+), Private (-),
Protected (#), Derived (/), Static (_), Package (~). Notation must be placed before the name of class member.

There are a few types of associations between objects and classes on the Class Diagrams.

Bi-directional associations are represented by a line between two classes, it is default connection between classes.

Uni-directional associations are represented as the unbroken lines with an open arrowhead.

Aggregation is an association with the relation between the whole and its parts, and is represented as empty diamond on the Class Diagram.

Composition is a strong variant of aggregation, represents on as filled diamond.

Generalization or inheritance is when a child object or class assumes all properties of his parent object or class, is represented as empty triangle.

There are four notations: 0..1, 1, 0..*, 1..*, that indicate the multiplicity of associations.

The Rapid UML Solution for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM contains 13 vector stencils libraries with 393 interactive shapes that you can use to design your UML diagrams.

To design your own Class Diagram use the UML Class Diagram library.

UML Class Diagram library contains 39 shapes: