What is an object flow?

What is an object flow?

• A. An edge that transports control tokens, conveying sequencing constraints among a set of actions.
• B. An edge that transports object tokens, conveying that instances of matter, energy, or data flow through an activity from one node to another.
• C. A signal that is sent asynchronously to a target.
• D. A boundary between activities.

Answer: (B)

Object flow is the path that moves objects or data through an activity. In UML, actions produce and consume object tokens, and an object flow edge carries those tokens from one node to the next, showing that instances of matter, energy, or data flow through the activity. This is about the movement of the actual data or objects, not about sequencing or signaling—control flow handles sequencing, while object flow handles the transfer of objects between actions. For example, data produced by one action can pass to the next action along an object flow, signaling that the data is the payload moving through the process.

Object flow is the path that moves objects or data through an activity. In UML, actions produce and consume object tokens, and an object flow edge carries those tokens from one node to the next, showing that instances of matter, energy, or data flow through the activity. This is about the movement of the actual data or objects, not about sequencing or signaling—control flow handles sequencing, while object flow handles the transfer of objects between actions. For example, data produced by one action can pass to the next action along an object flow, signaling that the data is the payload moving through the process.