Tips for Modeling Complex States

The techniques in this section pertain to models of particularly complex composite states and substates.

Resizing the Main State

You can resize the main state. You can also create a substate by drawing a state diagram within another state diagram and indicating start, end, and history states as well as transitions.

Using Hyperlinks to Indicate Nested Substates

You can nest multiple levels of substates inside one state. For especially complex substate modeling, however, you may find it more convenient to create different diagrams, model each of the substate levels individually, and then hyperlink the diagrams sequentially. For more information, see Creating Hyperlinks.

Reusing Elements of Existing Diagrams

Using the Shortcut command on the diagram's context menu, you can reuse existing elements in other state diagrams. Right-click on the diagram and choose Shortcut, navigate within the Model Elements tab to the existing state diagram, and select its elements, states, histories, forks, and/or joins.