Eric Tarkington wrote:
> We had another thread on similar issues a couple of weeks ago, and
> nobody suggested the simplest solution: don't model time or trigger as
> an actor.
> You don't have to model everything.
> In this example, there will be a use case that wakes up "mysteriously"
> at the right time, whenever that may be. Use of a call to the operating
> system is an implementation detail that we don't need to model in a use
> case diagram -- it's a "how", and we're at the "what" level.
Somebody else also said something to the effect of "if it's not documented,
why are you building it?" I think there are two answers to this question of
"why build it?". One, is that it's a piece of functionality requested by a
user. This will be system behavior which is visible to the users, and
certainly better be documented in your use cases. But the other answer is
"because that's how we're going to deliver the user-requested
functionality", i.e. it's part of the architectural and design mechanisms
selected to support the user-level requirements. This is equally important,
and better be documented somewhere, but very likely *won't* be documented
in the use cases. It's system behavior which the user likely is never even
aware of.
A lot of the time-triggered, behind-the-scenes system behavior which has
been mentioned in this discussion seems to me to be of this second type.
So maybe if you *can't* find an actor who's getting direct value, maybe a
use case isn't the proper mode for documentation. Maybe it belongs in your
architecture specification.
Laurie Gerholz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
3M IT Corporate Database Systems
************************************************************************
* Rose Forum is a public venue for ideas and discussions.
* For technical support, visit http://www.rational.com/support
*
* Admin.Subscription Requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Archive of messages:
http://www.rational.com/products/rose/usergroups/rose_forum.jtmpl
* Other Requests: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*
* To unsubscribe from the list, please send email
*
* To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Subject:<BLANK>
* Body: unsubscribe rose_forum
*
*************************************************************************
