Interaction Overview Diagram is one of the fourteen types of diagram

Diagram

A diagram is a two-dimensional geometric symbolic representation of information according to some visualization technique. Sometimes, the technique uses a three-dimensional visualization which is then projected onto the two-dimensional surface...

s of the Unified Modeling Language

Unified Modeling Language

Unified Modeling Language is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. The standard is managed, and was created, by the Object Management Group...

 (UML), which can picture a control flow with nodes that can contain interaction diagrams.

The interaction overview diagram is similar to the activity diagram

Activity diagram

Activity diagrams are graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. In the Unified Modeling Language, activity diagrams can be used to describe the business and operational step-by-step workflows of components in a system...

 both visualizing a sequence of activities. The difference is that the individual activity in the interaction overview diagram is pictured as a frames, which can contain interaction - or sequence diagram

Sequence diagram

A sequence diagram in Unified Modeling Language is a kind of interaction diagram that shows how processes operate with one another and in what order. It is a construct of a Message Sequence Chart....

s. These interaction/sequence diagrams are constructed with building blocks like: sequence

Sequence diagram

A sequence diagram in Unified Modeling Language is a kind of interaction diagram that shows how processes operate with one another and in what order. It is a construct of a Message Sequence Chart....

, communication

Communication diagram

A communication diagram in the Unified Modeling Language 2.0, is a simplified version of the UML 1.x collaboration diagram.UML has four types of interaction diagrams:* Sequence diagram* Communication diagram* Interaction overview diagram...

, interaction overview and timing diagram. The nodes in the diagram connect these sequence diagrams, which can be place in a specific order. With these elements the interaction overview diagram can be used to "deconstruct a complex scenario that would otherwise require multiple if-then-else paths to be illustrated as a single sequence diagram".

Except for the activity nodes the other notation elements for interaction overview diagrams are the same as for activity diagrams, such as initial, final, decision, merge, fork and join nodes. The two new elements in the interaction overview diagrams are the "interaction occurrences" and "interaction elements".

External links

• UML 2 Interaction Overview Diagrams at agilemodeling.com
• UModel Interaction Overview Diagrams