Package Relationships
3.1 Package Merge Relationship
This relationship is used to represent that the contents of a package can be merged with the contents of another package. This implies that the source and the target package has some elements common in them, so that they can be merged together.
Example:
The above diagram depicts that the packages are of different type of payments, but all of them are a some kind of payment mechanism, so they can all be merged to be called as payment.
3.2 Package Dependency Relationship
A package can be dependant on other different packages, signifying that the source package is somehow dependent on the target package.
Example:
The above diagram depicts that the online payment package is dependent on the Internet package and uses “need” dependency.
3.3 Package Import Relationship
This relationship is used to represent that a package is importing another package to use. It signifies that the importing package can access the public contents of the imported package.
Example:
The above package diagram shows the import relationship between the main package Shapes and it’s various other sub packages Square, Rectangle etc. They all are importing the real Shapes package so that the public contents of the Shapes package can be used by them.
3.4 Package Access Relationship
This type of relationship signifies that there is a access relationship between two or more packages, meaning that one package can access the contents of another package without importing it.
Example:
The above diagram depicts the Access relationship between the Front End and Back End services. It is much needed that a front end service can easily access the important Back End services to carry out any operation.
Package Diagram | Introduction, Elements, Use Cases and Benefits
A package diagram is a type of Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagram mainly used to represent the organization and the structure of a system in the form of packages.
A package is used as a container to organize the elements present in the system into a more manageable unit. It is very useful to represent the system’s architecture and design as a cohesive unit and a concise manner.
Important Topics for Package Diagram
- Basic Elements of Package Diagrams
- Package Structure and Notation
- Package Relationships
- Use Cases of Package Diagrams
- Package Diagram Best Practices
- Benefits of Package Diagram
- Challenges of Package Diagrams
- Pitfalls of Package Diagrams
- Package Diagrams in Software Development
- Tools and Software for Creating Package Diagrams