PowerDesigner provides full support for round trip generation and reverse-engineering between a PDM and a database.
Writing SQL Code in PowerDesigner
The objects that you create in your model display the SQL code that will be generated for them on the Preview tab of their property sheets. Certain objects provide editors on other tabs to allow you to modify the SQL statements.
Previewing SQL Statements
Click the Preview tab in the property sheet of the model, packages, tables, and various other model objects in order to view the code that will be generated for it.
Connecting to a Database
PowerDesigner provides various methods for connecting to your database.
Generating a Database from a PDM
PowerDesigner can generate sophisticated SQL scripts as files or for direct execution via a live database connection.
Generating a BusinessObjects Universe
PowerDesigner can generate a SAP® BusinessObjects™ universe from your PDM for editing in the BusinessObjects Universe Design or Information Design tools, or for direct consumption by the Web Intelligence rich client. Generating a universe from your PDM gives you access to table, view, and column names and comments and more reliable cardinality information than if you create a universe directly from your database.
Generating Test Data to a Database
PowerDesigner can generate sample data to your database tables to verify performance or to help in estimating the amount of memory that the database will require. You can generate test data for some or all of the tables in your PDM to an empty or existing database.
Estimating Database Size
You can estimate the size of a database for all or some of the tables and other objects in your model. You can estimate the initial size of the database or project its growth over a number of years.
Modifying a Database
You can modify an existing database schema by to reflect changes in your model. The PDM (source model) and the existing database schema (target model) are merged using a database synchronization window, which allows you to choose which objects are added, deleted, or updated in the target.
Displaying Data from a Database
You can connect to a database and display the data that corresponds to a PDM table, view, or reference.
Reverse Engineering a Database into a PDM
Reverse engineering is the process of generating a PDM (or certain PDM objects) from an existing database schema. You can reverse engineer into a new PDM or an existing PDM from one or more script files or from a live database. The database user that PowerDesigner uses to connect must have public access to the database.
Archive PDMs
Archive PDMs provide a snapshot of the structure of your database at a point in time to allow you to determine model changes since that time when updating your database. When comparing your model directly with a database or script (and not with an archive PDM), some differences (particularly around renamed objects) can be lost, leading to more drop/creates in place of alter statements.