Displaying Information on Reference Symbols

You can display the cardinality, referential integrity, join, table roles and other properties on the source and destination ends and in the center of a reference. To set display preferences for references, select Tools > Display Preferences, and select the Reference sub-category in the left-hand Category pane.

The notation for referential integrity and constraints on reference symbols is as follows:

Referential integrity	Constraint Types
`upd(constraint)` - Update `del(constraint)` - Delete `cpa` - Change Parent Allowed	`( )` - None `(R)` - Restrict `(C)` - Cascade `(N)` - Set null `(D)` - Set default

The Cardinality attribute displays the minimum and maximum number of instances in a child table that can appear for each corresponding instance in the parent table as follows:

min..max

In this example, the source of the reference symbol shows a cardinality of 1..n (one or more children is acceptable), and the child table role (Does) and the destination of the reference shows the parent table role (Is Done By). The center of the symbol shows the two primary keys that form the join, as well as the referential integrity (updates and deletions are restricted and change parent is allowed:

For information about changing the notation of references, see Setting PDM Model Options. For detailed information about working with display preferences, see Core Features Guide > Modeling with PowerDesigner > Diagrams, Matrices, and Symbols > Display Preferences.