[State Diagram] History pseudo-states

Question

Hello,

Is it already possible to draw pseudo-states like Deep and Shallow history on State Diagrams?

This would be a nice feature to get closer to the UML specification.

Thanks,

Edoardo

Comments

I later found that this is strictly related to question http://forum.plantuml.net/1665/history-pseudostate. It hasn't been answered though.

Answer 1

You can use [H], but this state is not accessible from the outside of a state.

state example {

[H] --> Some

}

Other --> [H] 'Would be another state'

Comments

Thank you, this is something but it doesn't solve my problem since as you said you can't target the History pseudo-state from outside. This is a common state pattern named "Transition to History".

---

I know, but what you want to do is not possible with plantuml

Answer 2

This is not be a perfect solution...

@startuml

hide empty description
skinparam shadowing false

skinparam state<<history>> {
    backgroundColor transparent
    borderColor transparent
    fontSize 30
}

title History Demo
[*] --> Closed
Open --> Closed

state Open {
    [*] -r-> Red
    Red -r-> Green
    Green --> Yellow
    Yellow --> Red
    state "Ⓗ" as H<<history>>
    Closed --> H
}

@enduml

As you can see below, a residual problem is that the arrow to the history state stops short of reaching to it!

 

Answer 3

You can mix the <<entrypoint>> stereotype (referring to the intended composite state) and the [H] syntax (supporting the history pseudo state shape) in order to implement the "transition to history state" pattern.

Example:

@startuml
state comp {
    state en1 <<entrypoint>>
    [*] --> a
    a --> b
    b --> c
    c --> [*]
    en1 --> [H]
}

[*] --> en1
@enduml

Answer 4

At my point of view, all you need is implemented:

@startuml
[*] -> State1
State1 --> State2 : Succeeded
State1 --> [*] : Aborted
State2 --> State3 : Succeeded
State2 --> [*] : Aborted
state State3 {
  state "Accumulate Enough Data" as long1
  long1 : Just a test
  [*] --> long1
  long1 --> long1 : New Data
  long1 --> ProcessData : Enough Data
  State2 --> [H]: Resume
}
State3 --> State2 : Pause
State2 --> State3[H*]: DeepResume
State3 --> State3 : Failed
State3 --> [*] : Succeeded / Save Result
State3 --> [*] : Aborted
@enduml

http://www.plantuml.com/plantuml/png/PP11IyD048Nl-oiUFHQADDvoa1Qg50zIpB7qC6w6AcmIoSpeGVplkbcM9knfb_VcctcydIYDQbrmv_K5cmSqIifRbnviibAXHcFUCxVSpjs8rTY_3QDcexfXzoLMeSGa6fduSK0ILdllhRCG_u_zODTt74Xf1HA4eRzk7TAB6iyc2eAog4DS7yyifoObpx_mzxHiOPx6mRD8r57FJpfW7lvugV7AOXsxNvTYBwiwaGcNRPoFwt_omFoPw8ADVJtHH-0sMxciMO-uGqDVF2K8cWVBLdVSjzQ5Fm00