Each object, relationship or role in a graph can also be
linked to other graphs via explosion structure (
Figure 1–6). The explosion
structure allows to select one element from the graph and explode that to a new
graph. An object (or relationship or role) can have a different set of
explosions in each graph where it is used. Explosion is often used between
different graph types.
Figure 1–6. Explosion structure.
As with
decomposition, explosion structures are also modeling language dependent. An
example of an explosion graph can be found from most object-oriented modeling
languages, in which an Object or Class in an Object Diagram can be further
described in a State Diagram by exploding it into a new
graph.