How to show “if” condition on a sequence diagram?

Question

I was wondering, how can one represent "if" statement on a sequence diagram?

if (somethingShouldBeDone) {
       // Do it
} else {
       // Do something else
}

Can it be represented at all? The thing is ... in my code, fair amount of conditions are checked to determine a variety of actions. If i am going to show the actions, I'd like to explicitly state that actions are caused by particular events.

If possible create an image representation of a solution.

Answer 1

If else condition, also called alternatives in UML terms can indeed be represented in sequence diagrams. Here is a link where you can find some nice resources on the subject http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/3101.html

Answer 2

If you paste

A.do() {
  if (condition1) {
   X.doSomething
  } else if (condition2) {
   Y.doSomethingElse
  } else {
   donotDoAnything
  }
}

onto https://www.zenuml.com. It will generate a diagram for you.

Answer 3

In Visual Studio UML sequence this can also be described as fragments which is nicely documented here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465153.aspx