Protected

The protected property can be set from the shape menu as shown in the following figure. Refer to Defining Data Type for more information about the protected attribute meaning.

protected property

Protected can be set on Simple Data Type, Complex Data Type and Item Component.

elements with protected
When an item component is composed with a depicted structure item component, setting the protected attribute on the item component will set the protected on the Structured item component too, since they are the same. See the figure below.
item component structure protected