A Message Flow is used to show the flow of messages between two elements (activities, events, or pools) that are prepared to send and receive them. Message Flows thus synchronize the flow of separate processes.

 

 

Message Flow is similar to the information flow element in the default template of QPR Modeling Client but the usage in BPMN is more strictly defined.

 

A Message Flow also supports showing the message on the flow:

 

 

Creating and Modifying Message Flows

Tool Palette of the BPMN template contains a tool for creating message flows with the flow type specified. When you have selected the tool in the Tool Palette, create a new message flow by clicking first the starting point and then the ending point for the flow. A new dialog for selecting an information item is then displayed. Select an information item from the list or create a new information item to be used as the message (see table in section "Message Flow Attributes" below).

 

You can edit the properties of sequence flows by right-clicking on the element in the diagram view and selecting Set Flow Properties... For further information on this dialog, see topic "Flow Dialog" in QPR Modeling Client - User's Guide. Using the pop-up context menu, you can also change directly some of the flow properties, such as the flow type.

 

 

Message Flow Attributes

The attributes of Message Flows are described in the following table.