Communication Channel (direct connection)

Meaning

The Communication Channel (direct connection) is used to depict a communication of two agents over a channel. The R and the arrow indicate the direction of the communication. In this case, A sends his requests to B and B sends responses to A. If there is no Req./Resp.-Symbol the two agents communicate in arbitrary fashion.

Note: A direct connection shall be avoided whenever possible. To maintain a comprehensive layout one should always prefer horizontal or vertical connections.

Utilization

Context Menu

The context menu allows to toggle the Request/Response Symbol or hide it completely:

		Show Req./Res. Symbol - This will show or hide the Request/Response Symbol.
		Turn Req./Res. Symbol - Turns the Request/Response Symbol in one of the two directions.

Control Points

A )	moves the position of the explaining text appears only when text has been entered to enter text double click the shape or start typing while the shape is selected
B )	defines the distance of the request/response symbol from the channel
C )	defines the position of the circle along the axis

Hints

Arrows

To create a request channel from this shape you can simply add arrows to the line ends using Visio's standard tool "Line Ends" from the Format toolbar. For more details use the dialog Format -> Line and configure the settings under the category "Line Ends".

Misc

The line of the channel will always be twice as thick as the connection