Senderless create message goes to object lifeline rather than create an object

+1 vote
asked Nov 30, 2019 in Bug by Fuhrmanator (1,700 points)

Hello! Sorry if this is a duplicate (I couldn't find it, but I know I stumbled on this before and perhaps didn't report the bug). 

I want to start a sequence diagram with an object being created, but the create message is sent to the lifeline rather than showing a new object. The simplest example:

@startuml
create a
-> a : create
@enduml

Or a more complex one:

@startuml
participant a
participant b
participant c
create b
a -> b : create
create c
-> c : create
@enduml

2 Answers

0 votes
answered Dec 1, 2019 by albert (3,520 points)

Did you have a look at the section "Incoming and outgoing messages" in the sequence diagram documentation (http://plantuml.com/sequence-diagram).

This gives (http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/SoWkIImgAStDuKekIaqiILL8v8hMjLD8LB1IW0XmEQJcfG3b0G00):

@startuml
create a
[-> a : create
@enduml

and (http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/uml/SoWkIImgAStDuIe0qfd9cGM9UIKAYIYy91HUCbToKMfYIIfGE551rquXIS5A0I82bG2gY0QA9oF47LBpKe1M0000)

@startuml
participant a
participant b
participant c
create b
a -> b : create
create c
[-> c : create
@enduml
0 votes
answered Dec 1, 2019 by plantuml (294,960 points)
Yes, this is indeed a bug.

It's a case we did not think of :-)

Not sure it's easy to fix : we are going to investigate !
commented Dec 1, 2019 by Andrespo (120 points)
Maybe an "invisible" participant should be introduced? It could be named or not like this 'sendrerless'.
commented Dec 1, 2019 by albert (3,520 points)

I'm a bit amazed as the documentation (section "Incoming and outgoing messages" in the sequence diagram documentation http://plantuml.com/sequence-diagram) gives the example with the '[' and ']', is there a reason saying this is a bug and if so what is the difference between situation with and without the '[' / ']'?

It would indeed be easier and better to read without the '[' / ']'.

...