Part Idiom

Intent

A Part is intended to implement a partial or complete sub-system to its clients, and is designed to share a thread/mailbox within a Service context. A Part depends upon its Service context to tell it when to begin(start) and end(stop) its operation.

This first diagram illustrates that a Part is always contained within some context. The existence of start() and stop() operations is indicative of a parts intended temporal usage. Parts which are intended to be active throughtout the life-cycle of the appliation are termed static and have no need for a stop() operation.

Part Context Diagram 1

This second diagram illustrates two types of contexts that may contain a Part. Two types of Parts are shown, with one Part containing another Part to illustrate that Parts can be nested within other Parts as well as within a Service.

Part Context Diagram 2

The following diagram shows the same components using a temporal diagram to illustrate the ITC aspects.

Part Temporal Diagram

A Part always provides at least one ITC interface as illustrated in the following class diagram.

Part Class Diagram

Context

ITC Patterns and Idioms Diagram