In PowerDesigner 16.0, the Description property may appear empty in a list of objects, even though the Description exists. This will be obvious to you if you include both ‘Description’ and ‘Description Text’ in the same list. This appears to affect descriptions imported from Excel. The Description property will appear in the list (and in future lists) if you edit it, either via the property sheet or the object list.
“Object Lists” (Core Features Guide)
“Customizing Object List Columns and Filtering Lists” (Core Features Guide)
“Defining a Filter Expression” (Core Features Guide)
“Customizing Columns in Lists Containing Multiple Types of Objects” (Core Features Guide)
Moving, Copying and Deleting Objects
In PowerDesigner, you can drag and drop objects to copy, move, create a shortcut, or create a replica. You can also use menu options and the standard Windows keyboard shortcuts.
You can drag and drop objects
· from the
o Browser
o Diagram
o Result list (showing the results of a search or model check)
· to the
o Browser
o Diagram window
o But NOT to the Result list.
The default behavior when dragging with the left mouse button is to move the selected object or sub-object. You can modify this behavior by pressing one or more of the following keys while dragging with the left mouse button:
[no key] Move (in the Browser) or paste as shortcut (between diagrams)
Shift Move
Ctrl Copy
Shift+Ctrl Shortcut creation
Shift+Alt Replica creation
If you drag with the right mouse button, when you release the mouse button a contextual menu opens, listing all the available options.
To modify the default Browser drag and drop behavior, select Tools|General Options and select the appropriate radio button.
We examine some of these options in more detail in Chapter 12.
“Dragging and Dropping Objects” (Core Features Guide)
When you copy an object, you copy not only its properties but also the properties of its related objects to the clipboard. For example, if you copy an entity between Logical Data Models, you also copy the attributes and business rules attached to that entity. You will also copy any domains or other objects attached to the attributes.
‘Paste as Shortcut’ is available on the Edit menu. Right-click on the drawing Canvas in the position where you’d like the symbol to appear, select ‘Edit’, and then ‘Paste as Shortcut’’. If the object is already on the diagram, the symbol will be created, but the name will be suffixed with a number. If, for example, the object name is suffixed with ‘: 5’, the object has at least four other symbols on the diagram. PowerDesigner refers to these duplicate symbols as ‘Graphical Synonyms’. We will investigate these further later in this chapter and in Chapter 13. |
YOUR TURN TO PLAY
1. In the ‘Project Management LDM’, select the ‘Activity’ entity in the Browser window, and drag it onto the model name. Now press the <Ctrl> key, and you’ll see the ‘+’ symbol appear on the cursor, indicating that a new object will be created. Release the mouse button, and a new entity will be created, called ‘Activity2’.
2. Select the ‘Activity2’ entity, and press <Ctrl+C>. Now select the ‘Entities’ heading above the list of entity names, and press <Ctrl+V>. Another copy will be created, this time called ‘Activity3’. Note that the copy entities are not absolutely identical to the original – they don’t participate in any relationships.
“Moving, Copying, and Deleting Objects” (Core Features Guide)
Undoing Things
PowerDesigner keeps track of changes you make, and allows you to rollback your edits, using the ‘undo’ facility. Even after you save a model, you can rollback changes you made before the model was saved. Once you close a model, that’s it, no more undo.