2
2012
The Complete Guide to UML Diagram Types with Examples
UML stands for Unified Modeling Language which is used in object oriented software engineering. Although typically used in software engineering it is a rich language that can be used to model an application structures, behavior and even business processes. There are 14 UML diagram types to help you model these behavior. They can be divided into two main categories structure diagrams and behavioral diagrams. All 14 UML diagram types are listed below with examples, brief introduction to them and also how they are used when modeling applications.
You can draw UML diagrams online using our software, or check out some UML diagram examples at our diagramming community.
List of UML Diagram Types
Types of UML diagrams with structure diagrams coming first and behavioral diagrams starting from position 8. Click on any diagram type to visit that specific diagram types description.
- Class Diagram
- Component Diagram
- Deployment Diagram
- Object Diagram
- Package Diagram
- Profile Diagram
- Composite Structure Diagram
- Use Case Diagram
- Activity Diagram
- State Machine Diagram
- Sequence Diagram
- Communication Diagram
- Interaction Overview Diagram
- Timing Diagram
UML Diagram Types
Structure diagrams show the things in a system being modeled. In a more technical term they show different objects in a system. Behavioral diagrams shows what should happen in a system. They describe how the objects interact with each other to create a functioning system.
Class Diagram
UML Class Diagram with Relationships
Component Diagram
A component diagram displays the structural relationship of components of a software system. These are mostly used when working with complex systems that has many components. Components communicate with each other using interfaces. The interfaces are linked using connectors. Below images shows a component diagram.
Simple Component Diagram with Interfaces
Deployment Diagram
A deployment diagrams shows the hardware of your system and the software in those hardware. Deployment diagrams are useful when your software solution is deployed across multiple machines with each having a unique configuration. Below is an example deployment diagram.
UML Deployment Diagram ( Click on the image to use it as a template )
Object Diagram
Object Diagrams, sometimes referred as Instance diagrams are very similar to class diagrams. As class diagrams they also show the relationship between objects but they use real world examples. They are used to show how a system will look like at a given time. Because there is data available in the objects they are often used to explain complex relationships between objects.
UML Object Diagram Example
Package Diagram
As the name suggests a package diagrams shows the dependencies between different packages in a system. Check out this wiki article to learn more about the dependencies and elements found in package diagrams.
Package Diagram in UML
Profile Diagram
Profile diagram is a new diagram type introduced in UML 2. This is a diagram type that is very rarely used in any specification. For more detailed technical information about this diagram type check this link.
Basic UML Profile Diagram structure
Composite Structure Diagram
Composite structure diagrams are used to show the internal structure of a class. For a detailed explanation of composite structure diagrams click here.
A simple Composite Structure Diagram
Use Case Diagram
Most known diagram type of the behavioral UML diagrams, Use case diagrams gives a graphic overview of the actors involved in a system, different functions needed by those actors and how these different functions are interacted. It’s a great starting point for any project discussion because you can easily identify the main actors involved and the main processes of the system. Click through to read more about use case diagram elements and templates.
Use Case diagram showing Actors and main processes
Activity Diagram
Activity diagrams represent workflows in an graphical way. They can be used to describe business workflow or the operational workflow of any component in a system. Sometimes activity diagrams are used as an alternative to State machine diagrams. Check out this wiki article to learn about symbols and usage of activity diagrams.
Activity Diagrams with start, end, processes and decision points
State Machine Diagram
State machine diagrams are similar to activity diagrams although notations and usage changes a bit. They are sometime known as state diagrams or start chart diagrams as well. These are very useful to describe the behavior of objects that act different according to the state they are at the moment. Below State machine diagram show the basic states and actions.
State Machine diagram in UML, sometime referred to as State or State chart diagram
Sequence Diagram
Sequence diagrams in UML shows how object interact with each other and the order those interactions occur. It’s important to note that they show the interactions for a particular scenario. The processes are represented vertically and interactions are show as arrows. This article explains the purpose and the basics of Sequence diagrams.
Sequence Diagrams in UML shows the interaction between two processes
Communication Diagram
Communication diagram was called collaboration diagram in UML 1. It is similar to sequence diagrams but the focus is on messages passed between objects. The same information can be represented using a sequence diagram and different objects. Click here to understand the differences using an example.
Communication Diagram in UML
Interaction Overview Diagram
Interaction overview diagrams are very similar to activity diagrams. While activity diagrams shows a sequence of processes Interaction overview diagrams shows a sequence of interaction diagrams. In simple term they can be called a collection of interaction diagrams and the order they happen. As mentioned before there are seven types of interaction diagrams, so any one of them can be a node in an interaction overview diagram. ( img – http://www.sa-depot.com/?page_id=645 )
Interaction overview diagram in UML
Timing Diagram
Timing diagrams are very similar to sequence diagrams. They represent the behavior of objects in a given time frame. If its only one object the diagram is straight forward but if more then one objects are involved they can be used to show interactions of objects during that time frame as well. ( img – http://blog.tangcs.com/2008/01/10/uml-2-diagrams/ )
Timing Diagram in UML
Mentioned above are all the UML diagram types. The links given in each section explains the diagrams in more detail and covers the usage, symbols etc. UML offers many diagram types and sometimes two diagram can explain the same thing using different notations.Check this blog post to learn which UML diagram best suits you.If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment.
About the Author: Nishadha Silva
Software engineer turned tech evangelist. I handle marketing stuff here at Creately including writing blog posts and handling social media accounts. In my spare time I love to read and travel. I write about marketing stuff in my digital marketing blog. Since you are here make sure to follow @Creately for awesome online diagramming tips.
46 Comments + Add Comment
Leave a comment
About Creately
Creately is an easy to use Online Diagramming software - purpose built for team collaboration. Powerful features and an intuitive interface make Creately ideal for teams working together on everything from Business Diagrams, Strategy Maps, Flowcharts, Web Mockups to UML designs.
Here we share our experiences and lessons learnt building a web-company.
Very Helpful Thanks……
[...] particular system using the conventions set by the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Out of all the UML diagram types it is one of the most used ones. System designers use class diagrams as a way of simplifying how [...]
its very helpful n easy 2 understand,thanx a lot…………
very helpful…………could have been better for beginners if each symbols were explained first….
very helpful to me, thankzzzzzzzz
its really helping us to provide a lot of info we are gaining from it….
[...] The Completed Guide with UML Diagrams and examples by Creately (flowcharts, wireframes, UML, mindmaps, and more) [...]
This is a very helpful overview with manyuseful links. Thanks alot for your effort.
very helpful n eseasy to underatand
It’s easy to understand… Thanks a lot…
very helpful …
Looking for such documents for a long. Will also help me to conduct the training programs as well.
Thanks a lot.
simple and helpfull………Thanks a lot.
its very helpful to me……….
Thankz its usefull 4 my studies.. thankz u….
it’s easy to understand
it’s simple and understandable
awesome
very well explained
Thank you for the clear diagrams and explanations.
like the way u in
very good explained
thankzzzz…vry informative and quick to learn!!!!
it is good to see
super,its easy to understand for student
super and easy to understand
Good morning, Nishadha. I like the presentation of this information since it provides brief explanations and examples and links to greater detail.
I did notice that a few of your shortcut links up top are broken. Near the very beginning of your UML diagram types page you provide a numbered list of diagram types. Each link is supposed to take me to the brief explanation and example, but numbers 7, 10, and 14 don’t work. Number 13 actually takes me to the location for number 14.
Overall, this is a convenient presentation. Thanks.
Good morning, Clark. I apologize for the mistakes. Thanks for taking the time to point them out. I have corrected them now. Enjoy the article and hope you got some value from it.
its really helpful … thanks
nice one…really useful
Hello Nishadha,
Thank you for the very nice article.
I have a question, is it possible in any way that we can develop logic using UML for example we can develop a logic using MATLAB.
Thanks.
Hi Varun,
I haven’t used MATLAB so not sure what exactly you mean by develop logic using UML. Can you explains it a bit further ?
hi nishadha,
its very useful and very easy for understanding..
Thanks
Hello Nishadha,
Thank you for the very nice article.
Cheers!!
PP
Thank you so much….
thanks
very helpful
really helpful… thank yu so much
:)
thank u lots…its v helpful to understand:-)
its very helpful uml diagram
Its very helpful site
thank u very much 4 ur article… its very helpful
Great explanation! My compliments. Simple and expressive.
Hi,
what would you suggest if you want to build a diagram in which would be displyed a student grades; minimum grades to to pass a exam; final result pass or fail
superb.this page is eye catching.kudos quality stuff
Simple and easy to understand
many types of UML diagrams
information contained highly detailed easy to understand