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How can I indicate that a method will return a collection of objects in UML? Is there a better way to explain the relationship than to have a collection class as a return type?
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In UML models, objects are model elements that represent instances of a class or of classes. You can add objects to your model to represent concrete and prototypical instances. A concrete instance represents an actual person or thing in the real world.
A UML method is the implementation of an operation; if constraints are defined, the method must satisfy them. A method may be illustrated several ways, including: in interaction diagrams, by the details and sequence of messages. in class diagrams, with a UML note symbol stereotyped with «method»
What is an object diagram in UML? A UML object diagram represents a specific instance of a class diagram at a certain moment in time. When represented visually, you'll see many similarities to the class diagram. An object diagram focuses on the attributes of a set of objects and how those objects relate to each other.
In UML, object diagrams provide a snapshot of the instances in a system and the relationships between the instances. By instantiating the model elements in a class diagram, you can explore the behavior of a system at a point in time.
I am coming to this a little late, since I was looking for an answer to a similar question. I am writing this incase somebody else is looking for a similar answer.
Do you want to indicate that a method returns a collection of a specific type? If so, for a method you should be able to set the type of the return parameter and the multiplicity of the return parameter to 0..* or 1..*. This would indicate that the method returns the specified type and that it has whatever multiplicity you state.
E.g. using the Library <>--- Book example, suppose there is a method on Library called GetBooks that takes a string parameter, author name, and returns a collection of Book instances. The UML would look something like this:
Library +GetBooks(authorName: string) : Book[0..*]
Your UML diagramming tool should support this; I am using Magic Draw. This UML states that GetBooks returns 0 or many Book instances. It is now up to programmer to decide how to implement the return parameter in the implementation language (as stated above by Simon).
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