What is Navigability in UML diagrams?

by

This shows navigability. A can see (means it has an attribute referencing) B. In contrast B has no idea about/reference to A. As @JimL commented, your arrow is wrong and only used for stereotype definition. I’m referring to the unfilled arrow which indicates navigability of associations from which I assume you actually meant that.

UML 2.5 spec p. 18:

  • Arrow notation is used to denote association end navigability. By definition, all class-owned association ends are navigable. By convention, all association-owned ends in the metamodel are not navigable.

  • An association with neither end marked by navigability arrows means that the association is navigable in both directions.

And even more relevant p. 200:

enter image description here

Navigability notation was often used in the past according to an informal convention, whereby non-navigable ends were assumed to be owned by the Association whereas navigable ends were assumed to be owned by the Classifier at the opposite end. This convention is now deprecated. Aggregation type, navigability, and end ownership are separate concepts, each with their own explicit notation. Association ends owned by classes are always navigable, while those owned by associations may be navigable or not.

So you should use the dot notation instead:

More Related Contents:

  1. How to describe a contained map in UML class diagram?
  2. How to model a covariant association-class in UML?
  3. In UML class diagrams, what are Boundary Classes, Control Classes, and Entity Classes?
  4. What’s is the difference between include and extend in use case diagram?
  5. PHP UML Generator [closed]
  6. UML aggregation vs association
  7. Generate UML Class Diagram from Java Project [closed]
  8. Difference between association and dependency?
  9. What’s the best UML diagramming tool? [closed]
  10. How to show “if” condition on a sequence diagram?
  11. How to use doxygen to create UML class diagrams from C++ source
  12. UML diagram for dependency between systems
  13. C# code for association, aggregation, composition
  14. Is it necessary to include the login for every usecase?
  15. Questions about UML class diagrams?
  16. Is it possible to visualize a bunch of functions in UML
  17. What is the difference between a domain class diagram and a design class diagram?
  18. Graphviz + Doxygen to generate UML class diagrams
  19. How to generate UML diagrams (especially sequence diagrams) from Java code?
  20. Design Patterns: Abstract Factory vs Factory Method
  21. Aggregation versus Composition [closed]
  22. Explanation of the UML arrows
  23. What is the difference between aggregation, composition and dependency? [duplicate]
  24. What’s the best way to generate a UML diagram from Python source code? [closed]
  25. Understanding Diagrams [closed]
  26. association owned by classifier and association owned by relationship in UML
  27. UML Class Diagram and Generics
  28. free UML sequence diagram reverse engineering eclipse plugin working out of the box – does such a thing exist? [closed]
  29. Draggable rectangles in Java 2D [duplicate]
  30. Association vs. Aggregation [duplicate]

Leave a Comment