You can add or draw different types of actions.
Actions are the building blocks of activities. You can call actions
can that invoke other activities that can be decomposed into other
actions.
About this task
Actions represent function invocations with
a single exit flow when the function completes. The default settings
are used when you add an Action and type a name on the diagram. That
name becomes the action text, not the name of the action.
Before
adding actions, you must set the properties for the diagram.
Procedure
- To set the activity diagram properties,
highlight the activity diagram and from the main menu, click .
- Select View All,
and open the Action category. Change the showName and ShowAction properties
to use these values:
Activity_diagram::Action::showName = Name
Activity_diagram :: Action :: ShowAction = Description
With this second property, you can
display informal text on the diagram, while the actual action is described
formally using an executable language. Click OK.
- To add an action, click on the opened activity
diagram on the diagram view, and click from main menu.

The following are
the five basic action types that you can use:
- Action represents the atomic level of activity
behavior.
- Send Action graphically shows an event sent
to interact with another block.
- Accept Event Action handles processing of
events during the execution of a behavior.
- Accept Time Event handles processing of
events during the execution of a behavior.
- Call Behavior invokes a behavior
when
it runs. This action has a set of pins that match the type and number
of the parameters of the invoked behavior.
- Call Operation invokes methods through an
operation on a target element.
- Click the Action tool
on the activity diagram
for the action to be added to the diagram. Name each new
action carefully to describe its function.
- To edit the name, description, properties
and tags, right-click on the action, and select Features.
The Features window opens.
- In the Features window, in the:
- General tab: add the activity
name, and the description of the activity. To set the stereotype,
right-click on the activity and select the stereotype.

- Properties tab:
- To stop all actions, add an Activity Final by
clicking . Place this ActivityFinal button
indicator
at the local or global termination point in the activity diagram.
The final activity signifies the termination of the execution of the
activity. 
- To set up the model activities, right-click on the model
and select Features. The Properties window
opens.

The referenced activity
cannot own a time out event or except event. If not, an error appears
in Checks view.
- To show animation of the activity diagram, in the Properties
window select the property
value of Always or WhileStepping.

If you select one the values, the animated activity
diagram opens.

What to do next
To terminate a sequence of actions within an activity
without terminating the activity, use the Flow Final node.
See Adding flows for more
information.