A state represents a situation during the life of a classifier that is usually specified by conditions. It can also be defined as the situation of a classifier waiting for events. Stability and duration are two characteristics of a state.
A state can be created in the following diagrams:
A state can be atomic or decomposed:
For more information on decomposed states, see Decomposed States and Sub-states.
Several states in a statechart diagram correspond to several situations during the life of the classifier.
Events and condition guards on output transitions define the stability of a state. Some actions can be associated with a state, especially when the object enters or exit the state. Some actions can also be performed when events occur inside the state; those actions are called internal transitions, they do not cause a change of state.
You cannot decompose shortcuts of states.
Drag a Class, Use Case or Component in a Statechart Diagram
The statechart diagram describes the behavior of a classifier. To highlight the relationship between a classifier and a state, you can define the context classifier of a state using the Classifier list in the state property sheet. This links the state to a use case, a component or a class.
You can also move, copy and paste, or drag a class, use case or component and drop it into a statechart diagram to automatically create a state associated with the element that has been moved.