State Transition Diagram

State Chart Diagram

State Machine Diagram
 Introduction
• Two interaction diagrams with objects of the same
class receiving the same messages may respond
differently

• This is because an object’s behavior is affected by

the values of its attributes

• UML State Machine Diagram records these

dependencies
 State Transition Diagram
• A state transition diagram is a technique to depict:
1. The states of an entity
2. The transitions of states of the entity
3. The trigger or the event that caused the transition of
state of the entity
• The entity may be a physical device such as a light
switch or a vending machine; it may be a software
system or component such as a word processor or an
operating system; it may be a biological system such as
a cell or a human; or - - - -

This modeling technique came from a more formal area called automata theory.
State transition diagram depicted a Finite State Machine.
 Software Program View

• The end product of a software is a program which

executes. In depicting the program (or an object) we can
consider:
– Variables which take on different values
– Control structure and assignment statements (events) in
the program that change the values of the variables

1. Combination of values of the data (variables & constants) at any

point of the program represent the program state at that point.

2. The change made to the values of the variables through assignment

statements represent a transition of state
 A very simple example
light switch
From To
State Event State
Alt
(light) (switch) (light)
switch light
[l_st=on] on turnOff off
TurnOff ( )

[l_st=off] off turnOn on

TurnOn ( )

2. “State transition table”

1. “Sequence diagram”
for light with switch events
(alternative fragment)
turnOff
for switch and light light light
interaction on off

turnOn

3. “State transition diagram”

for light with switch events
A little “more” on the light switch

turnOff
turnOff turnOff

on off
on off

turnOn turnOn turnOn

What happens if we turn on state can “transition” to its

a light that is already on? current state
 Using State Transition Diagram

• Model the entity at the “abstraction” level

where the number of states is “manageable.”

1. List (design) the states (should not be large)

2. List events that will trigger the state transition (should not be big)
3. There must be a starting state
4. There must be a terminating state or states
5. Design the transition rules (the bulk of your design work is
thinking through the transition rules)

1.The above is not necessarily performed in sequence; iterate through these.

2. Even with a modest number of states and events, the state transition
diagram, which really depicts the transition rules, can be enormous.
 State Diagrams
• State diagrams are used to show possible states a
single object can get into
– shows states of an object

• How object changes state in response to events

– shows transitions between states
 Elements of State Diagram
• Start marker
• Stop marker
• States – box with rounded corners
• Transitions – shown as arrows between states
• Events – that cause transition between states
• Action – an object’s reaction to an event
• Guard
 Naming Conventions for a state

• Each unique state has a unique name

• State Names are verb phrases
• A noun to name a state – incorrect
 State Diagrams: States
• States are represented as rounded boxes which contain:
– the state name
– and the following optional fields
• entry and exit actions: entry and exit actions are executed
whenever the state is entered or exited, respectively
• Internal transitions: A response to an event that causes the
execution of an action but does not cause a change of state or
execution of exit or entry actions.
• External transition: A response to an event that causes a change
of state or a self-transition, together with a specified action.
• Activities: Typically, once the system enters a state it sits idle
until an event triggers a transition. Activities help you to model
situations where while in a state, the object does some work that
will continue until it is interrupted by an event
 State Diagrams: States

Tracking
entry action
entry / setMode(on Track)
exit action exit / setMode(off Track)
internal transition Tracking / tracker.Acquire()
newTarget/tracker.ChangeTrack()
external transition
do / followTarget
activity

Note that, “entry”, “exit”, “do” are keywords

 State Diagrams: Transitions
• Transitions
– source state and target state: shown by the arrow representing the
transition
– trigger event: the event that makes the transition fire
– guard condition: a Boolean expression that is evaluated when the
trigger event occurs, the transition can fire only if the guard
condition evaluates to true
– action: an executable atomic computation that can directly act on
the object that owns the state machine or indirectly on other
objects that are visible to the object
– initial and final states: shown as filled black circle and a filled
black circle surrounded by an unfilled circle, respectively
source state target state
trigger-event[guard-condition]/action
 State Diagrams
shows the initial (default) state

getFirstItem

getNextItem Checking
[not all items checked]
do / checkItem

cancelled

shows the final state

 State Diagram Example: States of an Order
object
getFirstItem

getNextItem Checking [all items checked and Dispatching

[not all items checked] all items available]
do/checkItem do/initiate
Delivery
ItemReceived
and all items available
[all items checked and
some items not in stock]
cancelled

itemsReceived
[some items not in stock]
cancelled
Waiting Delivered

cancelled
Cancelled
 Types of State Machine Diagram

• Protocol State Machines: These are used to express

a usage protocol or a lifecycle of some classifier. It shows
which operations of the classifier may be called in each
state of the classifier, under which specific conditions, and
satisfying some optional postconditions after the classifier
transitions to a target state.
• Behavioral State Machines: These are specialization of
behavior and is used to specify discrete behavior of a part
of designed system through finite state transitions.
 Example of Protocol State Machines

Soda Vending Machine

 Example of Behavioral State Machines

Anti-Aircraft (AA)
Gun
 Advanced State Machine Modeling

• Nested states
• Concurrent states
Nested State Machine- Telephone
 Nested State Machine- Printer

• Example: When the printer is in On state, it may

also be in Idle or Working
• To show these two states, draw lower level state
diagrams within On state
• When the printer is on, it begins at Idle state, so
printer is in both On and Idle state
• When print message is received, it moves to
working state and also remains in On state
Nested State Machine- Printer
 Concurrent states

• A Printer object cycles between two separate

paths. The two independent paths are;
➢Representing states of the work cycle.
➢Representing states of the input paper tray
Concurrent State Machine- Printer
 State Diagrams Important

• Use them to show the behavior of a single object

not many objects
– for many objects use interaction diagrams

• Do not try to draw state diagrams for every class

in the system, use them to show interesting
behavior and increase understanding
CRC for Copy & Book
 State Machine Diagram for class Book
.
 State Machine Diagram for class Copy

State Machine Diagram for class Copy with actions

 State Machine Diagram for class Copy with entry
actions

State Machine Diagram for class Copy with exit

actions
 Librarians categorize the library books into loanable and non-
loanable books. The non-loanable books are the reference
books. However, the loanable books are the non-reference
books. After cataloguing the books, the books are available for
loan. Students who borrow the library books should return
them back before the due date. Books that are 12 months over
the due date would be considered as a lost state. However, if
those books are found in the future, they must be returned back
to the library. When the books are found not required in the
library or have been damaged, the book would be disposed.
 Difference between Activity and State Chart
Diagram
State diagram shows the object undergoing a process. It gives a clear
picture of the changes in the object's state in this process.
e.g: ATM withdraw
Card object state: Checking, Approving, Rejecting

Activity diagram is a fancy flow chart which shows the flow of activity of
a process.

e.g: ATM withdraw

Withdraw activity: Insert Card, Enter PIN, Check balance, with draw
money, get card

State chart shows the dynamic behavior of an object.

Activity diagram shows the workflow behavior of an operation as set of
actions
 Online Shopping System

max 3 times

on success desired item found

logging in selecting item category requesting item getting item info placing the order

logged
on failure

logged out submitting the shipping address selecting mode of payment

Music Player System
Library Management System
 Problem # 1
• A simple digital watch has a display and two buttons to set
it, the A button and the B button. The watch has two
modes of operation, display time and set time.
• In the display time mode, the watch displays hours and
minutes, separated by a flashing colon.
• The set time mode has two submodes, set hours and set
minutes. The A button selects modes. Each time it is
pressed, the mode advances in the sequence: display, set
hours, set minutes, display, etc.
• Within the submodes, the B button advances the hours or
minutes once each time it is pressed. Buttons must be
released before they can generate another event.
• Prepare a state diagram of the watch.
 Solution of Problem # 1

DigitalWatch

A
Set hours
do / show hours A
A
Display time Set minutes
B / advance hour
do / show hours and do / show minutes
minutes

B / advance minute
 Problem # 2
• A separate appliance control determines when the motor should be on and
continuously asserts on as an input to the motor control when the motor
should be running.
• When on is asserted, the motor control should start and run the motor.
• The motor starts by applying power to both the start and the run windings.
A sensor, called a starting relay, determines when the motor has started, at
which point the start winding is turned off, leaving only the run winding
powered. Both winding are shut off when on is not asserted.
• Appliance motors could be damaged by overheating if they are overloaded
or fail to start. To protect against thermal damage, the motor control often
includes an over-temperature sensor. If the motor becomes too hot, the
motor control removes power from both windings and ignores any on
assertion until a reset button is pressed and the motor has cooled off.
• Add the following to the diagram.
– Activities: apply power to run winding, apply power to start winding.
– Events: motor is overheated, on is asserted, on is no longer asserted, motor is running, reset.
– Condition: motor is not overheated.
MotorControl

Off Starting Running

Too hot