CODEWITHSUNDEEP
databasepowerdesigner
petitLU
petitLU

Reputation: 13

How to modify table dependency in PowerDesigner?

I don't know how to do something in PowerDesigner and I can't find the information in the documentation.

Context: The mpd already exists and there is only one physical diagram with all the tables. Other mpd's have several diagrams. And a table can be in several diagrams without being duplicated. I need to do the same thing in the mpd I'm working on. Specifically, to put a table in several diagrams.

What I found: When I looked at other mpd's, I found that a table that is in several diagrams has in its properties in the dependency tab all the diagrams in which the table is. The conclusion is that I need to add a diagram to the table's dependency tab. But I can't figure out how to do it.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 25

Answers (1)

pascal
pascal

Reputation: 3365

Yes, a design object (PDM Table, CDM Entity, BPM Process) can have several symbols in several diagrams. Or no symbol at all if it was created in the (Object) Browser with no diagram opened at this moment.

To create new symbols for existing objects in a new diagram:

  • create the new Diagram, or open it
  • select the menu Symbol > Show / Hide Symbols...
  • select the objects you want to show in the current diagram.

You can use the Filter buttons to restrict the objects you want the list to show (by part of the name, by Table Owner...) to ease the object selection.

Show/Hide Symbols list

Or you can show the two diagrams side-by-side with Windows > Tile Vertically, and mouse-drag some Tables from one diagram to the other to create new symbols.

You can also create several symbols for the same object in the same diagram, to ease the reorganization, and avoid links crossing the diagram in all directions. The keyword to look for is Graphical Synonym.

Graphical Synonym example

To go further, you can also organize the model by creating Packages, which contains and isolate (for example) Tables. As long as the Package Property Use parent namespace is checked, all Tables will still be in the same namespace, guaranteeing the tables name uniqueness.

In that case, you need to create Shortcut objects to refer to objects from another package (or even another model). For a short example, open one Package diagram, select some Tables, Edit > Copy, open a Model diagram, Edit > Paste As Shortcut.

Upvotes: 0

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