Collaboration & Sequence Diagrams

I was reading about UML Collaboration diagrams and what some of the tutorials mention is that a sophisticated UML modeling tool can easily convert a Collaboration diagram into a sequence diagram. For example,

UML Tutorial: Collaboration Diagrams
Robert C. Martin
http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/articles/umlCollaborationDiagrams.pdf

says,

Collaboration and sequence diagrams describe the same information, and can be transformed into one another without difficulty. The choice between the two depends upon what the designer wants to make visually apparent.

Can Visual Paradigm for UML do this?

(If it matters, I am running Mac OS X.)

Hi ericgorr,

Thank you for your post. Yes, you can synchronize between Communication and Sequence Diagram in VP-UML.

To synchronize from Communication Diagram to Sequence Diagram, right click on the background of diagram and select Synchronize to Sequence Diagram from the popup menu.

To synchronize from Sequence Diagram to Communication Diagram, right click on the background of diagram and select Synchronize to Communication Diagram from the popup menu.

By the way, Communication Diagram is not exactly identical to a Sequence Diagram. Although they both describe interaction, Communication Diagram emphasis the existence of relationship between objects (lifeline), while Sequence Diagram emphasis how lifelines interact with each other and the sequence of messages.

Hope this help.

Best regards,
Jick Yeung