View Properties

To view or edit a view's properties, double-click its diagram symbol or Browser or list entry. The property sheet tabs and fields listed here are those available by default, before any customization of the interface by you or an administrator.

The General tab contains the following properties:

Property	Description
Name/Code/Comment	Identify the object. The name should clearly convey the object's purpose to non-technical users, while the code, which is used for generating code or scripts, may be abbreviated, and should not normally include spaces. You can optionally add a comment to provide more detailed information about the object. By default the code is generated from the name by applying the naming conventions specified in the model options. To decouple name-code synchronization, click to release the = button to the right of the Code field.
Stereotype	Extends the semantics of the object. You can enter a stereotype directly in this field, or add stereotypes to the list by specifying them in an extension file.
Owner	Specifies the name of view owner. You choose an owner from a list of users. A view can only have one owner at a time. This is normally the view creator.
Usage	Specifies the use of the view: Query only defines a view for consultation only, view cannot update tables; Updatable defines a view for consultation and update, view can update tables; and With Check options implements controls on view insertions.
Dimensional type	Specifies the type of the view for purposes of creating star or snowflake schemas containing fact tables and dimensions. PowerDesigner's support for BusinessObjects universes (see Generating a BusinessObjects Universe), will use this information if it is available. You can choose between: Fact - see Facts (PDM) Dimension - see Dimensions (PDM) Exclude - PowerDesigner will not consider the view when identifying or generating multidimensional objects. Alternatively, PowerDesigner can identify the type of multidimensional object for all or some of your tables and views (see Identifying Fact and Dimension Tables) and generate facts and dimensions (with mappings to their source objects in a multidimensional diagram (see Generating Cubes).
Type	Specifies the type of the view, where supported by your DBMS. For information about DB2 and SQL Anywhere materialized views, see Materialized Views. For information about XML views, see Creating an XML Table or View.
Generate	Includes view generation as part of database generation script.
User-defined	When selected, makes sure the view query is not parsed by PowerDesigner internal parser. This protects the view query from any update using model objects and keeps its syntax as defined by user. Otherwise, the view query is parsed and modified according to model values.
Keywords	Provide a way of loosely grouping objects through tagging. To enter multiple keywords, separate them with commas.

The following tabs are also available:

Columns - lists the columns in the view based on the SELECT orders from the queries. You can modify column properties in this list but to add or remove columns, you must modify the appropriate view query. View column properties are initialized from the properties of their source columns. The read-only Expression column specifies the qualified name of the view column.
SQL Query - Displays the SQL code for all the queries associated with the view. You can edit this code directly in this tab or access the property sheets of individual queries (see View Queries).
Triggers - [if your DBMS supports triggers on views] Lists the triggers associated with the view. You can define a trigger to fire when one or more attributes of a table view column are modified. For information about working with triggers, see Triggers and Procedures).
Preview - Displays the SQL code to be generated for the view (see Previewing SQL Statements).