СУБД Oracle / Литература / PowerDesigner 9 / GeneralFeatures

C H A P T E R 7

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Objects are modeling items that can be identified by their properties.

Objects can be of very heterogeneous types: tables, data items, generalizations or packages are PowerDesigner objects.

Some PowerDesigner objects have a graphical representation called V\PERO. Objects appear as nodes in the Browser tree view and their symbols can be displayed in the diagram window.

Some PowerDesigner objects are JOREDO to the model, for example organization units or resources. Therefore you cannot create internal shortcuts for these objects, only external shortcuts are allowed.

For more information on internal and external shortcuts, see chapter Managing Shortcuts.

You define an object with properties that appear in a property sheet. Most

PowerDesigner objects have the following default properties:

♦Name

♦Code

♦Comment

By putting significant information in the property fields, you make it possible to identify objects and their role in the model.

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Names are like titles, during the design process, they clearly identify objects.

By default object names have 254 characters maximum and can include uppercase, lowercase, and mixed case strings.

You define the names of objects on property sheets and lists.

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Codes are references for objects. The code appears in scripts that result from the design process and feed the physical structure of a database.

By default, all codes have 254 characters maximum and can include uppercase, lowercase, and mixed case strings.

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Objects appear in the Browser tree view. What you can see in the diagram windows are instances of objects called V\PEROV.

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1Double-click the object symbol in the diagram window.

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Right-click the object symbol in the diagram window.

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Right-click the object node in the Browser tree view.

2Select Properties from the contextual menu. The object property sheet appears.

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In PowerDesigner, objects have identifying properties. Identifying properties are used to control object uniqueness in the model or package namespace.

The namespace defines an area in which the name and the code of an object of a given type must be unique.

For more information on the management of namespace, see section Managing the namespace in models in chapter Managing Models.

In PowerDesigner, each package is by default a namespace. It is however possible to expand the namespace to the parent of a given package. You can cascade the expansion until you reach the level of the model itself.

Objects that appear in the Browser tree view, obey to the general rules that follow:

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6 Click OK.

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You can create link objects from the diagram window using the tools available in the Palette. When you create link objects from the diagram window, you drag the link object from its source object to its destination object.

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1 Click a link object creation tool in the Palette.

2 Click inside the source object and while continuing to hold down the mouse button, drag the cursor to the destination objects. Release the mouse button.

A link object symbol appears between the two source and destination objects.

3Double-click the new link object symbol in the diagram to display the link object property sheet. It displays the definition of the selected link object.

4Type a link object name and code.

5Click OK.

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You can create objects from the Browser tree view. Link objects can be created from the Browser only if you have previously defined source and destination objects in your diagram.

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1Right-click a model, package or an object category in the Browser tree view.

2Select New→REMHFW W\SH from the contextual menu. The object property sheet appears.

3Type an object name and an object code.

4(For link objects only), select a source and a destination object.

5Click OK.

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The Notes tab is composed of the Description page and the Annotation page.

Both open in an RTF editor, which retains full original format.

From the Notes tab of the object property sheet, you can:

♦Attach a description or an annotation to an object

♦Define font, paragraph and tab spacing format for notes

♦Edit notes with an external editor

♦Insert the content of a text or RTF file in the RTF editor to use it as a standard

You can use the following tools and accelerators from the RTF editor toolbar:

The annotation is a free-text field that can be several lines long.

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You can attach a description or an annotation to an object from the Notes tab in the object property sheet.

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1Double-click an object in the diagram to display the object property sheet.

2Click the Notes tab.

3Click the tab (Description or Annotation) that contains the text you want to edit.

The corresponding page appears.

4Click the Format tool.

The Text Format dialog box opens to the Font page.

5Select font format options.

6 Click OK.

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The following paragraph formatting is available:

♦Indentation (left, right, first line)

♦Spacing (before, after, line spacing)

♦Justification (alignment)

♦Bullet