Skip to content

Choice Patterns

Jump to bottom
Chris Day edited this page Feb 8, 2026 · 10 revisions

Choice Patterns – Detailed Specification

This document provides a full explanation of Choice semantics in uml2semantics, including exclusive and inclusive OR patterns, ISO 20022 lineage, OWL axioms, and Manchester syntax examples.

ChoiceOf and ChoiceSemantics allow UML-style “choice” constructs to be mapped deterministically into OWL 2 logical structures.

1. Background and Purpose

Many domain models—especially ISO 20022, financial messaging, and metadata-driven schemas—use the concept of a Choice: a node that represents alternative structures, only one of which may apply at a time.

uml2semantics models these Choice constructs faithfully using:

  • union classes
  • disjointness axioms
  • cardinality constraints
  • controlled semantics (exclusive / inclusive)

This ensures the resulting ontology reflects the intended business rules.

2. TSV Fields Controlling Choice Logic

Choice logic is sourced from Classes.tsv:

Column Meaning
ChoiceOf Pipe-separated list of alternative class tokens or attribute tokens
ChoiceSemantics exclusive, inclusive, or empty

Example:

Curie    Name              ParentNames    ChoiceOf                                   ChoiceSemantics
iso:PartyIdChoice  PartyIdChoice      Identification   LEIId|BICId|ProprietaryId      exclusive

3. Exclusive OR Choice (XOR)

Exclusive OR means:

  • Exactly one of the alternative structures is permitted at runtime.
  • The choice class is a subclass of the union of the members.
  • All members are pairwise disjoint with each other and with the choice class.

uml2semantics emits an owl:AllDisjointClasses set containing the choice class and all choice members.

3.1 OWL Semantics

Mathematically:

Choice ⊑ (A ⊔ B ⊔ C)
AllDisjointClasses( Choice A B C )

3.2 Manchester OWL Syntax

Class: PartyIdChoice
    SubClassOf: LEIId or BICId or ProprietaryId

DisjointClasses: PartyIdChoice, LEIId, BICId, ProprietaryId

This ensures:

  • A PartyIdChoice instance must be an instance of one of the alternatives.
  • A PartyIdChoice instance cannot simultaneously be an instance of the choice itself and a concrete member, preventing recursive or self-referential classification.

4. Inclusive OR Choice (non-exclusive OR)

When ChoiceSemantics is set to inclusive, the alternatives express: “A Choice may be realised by one or more of the members.”

uml2semantics interprets this as:

  • The choice class is a subclass of the union of alternatives.
  • No disjointness statements are generated.
  • The model permits overlapping membership.

4.1 OWL Semantics

Choice ⊑ (A ⊔ B ⊔ C)

No disjoint axioms.

4.2 Manchester OWL Syntax

Class: TransactionPartyChoice
    SubClassOf: Originator or Intermediary or Beneficiary

No DisjointClasses block.

5. Empty ChoiceSemantics

If ChoiceSemantics is empty:

  • The choice is treated as inclusive OR.
  • Only the union axiom is emitted.
  • No validation warnings are generated (this is a deliberate opt‑in model).

This behaviour matches UML association classes: absence of “XOR” implies “multiple allowed.”

6. Rationale for the Semantics

6.1 Why Exclusive OR?

Exclusive OR is used in:

  • financial message definitions (ISO 20022)
  • complex type choices
  • protocol-level structures where only one form is valid
  • patterns where overlapping members are explicitly prohibited

The exclusive semantics enforce a strong design-time guarantee.

6.2 Why Inclusive OR?

Inclusive choice is used when:

  • multiple alternatives may co-exist
  • the domain does not restrict overlapping structures
  • the “choice” functions as a grouping abstraction rather than a constraint

This is common in metadata groups or logical OR constructs.

7. Property-Level Implications

Attributes whose range is a Choice class inherit its semantics:

7.1 Exclusive

Class: Account
  Facts:
    partyIdChoice value <some PartyIdChoice member>

Instances cannot validly use two different choice members.

7.2 Inclusive

Multiple values are allowed, e.g. a metadata grouping field that may contain multiple forms of party description.

8. Detailed Mermaid Diagram of Choice Semantics

graph TD
  CH[Choice Class] --> A[Alternative A]
  CH --> B[Alternative B]
  CH --> C[Alternative C]
  A -. disjointWith .-> CH
  B -. disjointWith .-> CH
  C -. disjointWith .-> CH
Loading

This diagram applies when exclusive is selected.

For inclusive semantics:

graph TD
  CH[Choice Class] --> A[Alternative A]
  CH --> B[Alternative B]
  CH --> C[Alternative C]
Loading

9. Full Manchester OWL Example – ISO-Style Choice

Given:

ChoiceOf = LEIId|BICId
ChoiceSemantics = exclusive

Generated OWL:

Class: PartyIdentifierChoice
    SubClassOf:
        LEIId or BICId

DisjointClasses:
    PartyIdentifierChoice,
    LEIId,
    BICId

10. TSV Example for a Realistic ISO 20022 Pattern

Curie    Name                        ParentNames   Definition    ChoiceOf                   ChoiceSemantics
iso:PtyIdChoice   PartyIdentificationChoice   Party    Identification   LEIId|BICId|OthrId   exclusive

The generator will emit:

  • union axiom (as rdfs:subClassOf a union class)
  • owl:AllDisjointClasses for exclusive semantics
  • optional class annotations
  • standard prefix‑based IRIs

11. Attribute Tokens as Choice Members

ChoiceOf members can also refer to attribute tokens (attribute Name or CURIE) belonging to the choice class. In that case, the choice member is the attribute restriction generated for that attribute, and the union is a union of restriction nodes rather than only classes.

If a ChoiceOf member cannot be resolved to a class or an attribute on the choice class, the converter logs a warning and skips that member.

12. Best Practices

  • Always declare exclusive when mutually-exclusive business rules apply.
  • Leave ChoiceSemantics blank when inclusivity is intended.
  • Ensure all ChoiceOf members appear as class tokens or attribute tokens on the choice class.
  • Avoid deep nested choice constructs unless necessary.
  • Keep alternative class definitions disjoint when conceptually meaningful.

13. Navigation

Clone this wiki locally