Object Properties

All model objects created in PowerDesigner have property sheets, which organize object properties on tabs.

You can open an object property sheet in any of the following ways:

In the Browser, double-click the object symbol or its entry.
Right-click the object symbol or its Browser entry, and select Properties.
Select the object from an object list or in the property sheet of its parent object, and click the Properties tool.
Select an object symbol and press Alt+Enter.

Property sheets let you assign extensive and sophisticated properties to objects. Most PowerDesigner objects have the following tabs and properties, but many others, specific to the particular object type, may be available:

General – provides basic information about the object. Almost all objects have these properties:
- Name - clearly identifies the object. By default, names can have up to 254 characters, and can include uppercase, lowercase, and mixed-case strings. Names are controlled by naming conventions (see Naming Conventions) and must be unique within a namespace (see Object Namespaces). If the enterprise glossary is enabled in the model, then autocompletion and glossary compliance checking is available (see The Glossary).
- Code – is used in scripts generated from the model. Codes are controlled by naming conventions and must be unique within a namespace. By default, codes are synchronized with names, but you can decouple them by unselecting the equal sign button to the right of this field. You control this synchronization of codes with names with the Name to Code mirroring general option (see Dialog Box General Options) and can modify the transformations performed on codes with naming conventions.
- Comment – provides a more detailed description of the object.
- 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.
- Keywords - Provide a way of loosely grouping objects through tagging. Separate multiple keywords with commas. You can use keywords as criteria for finding objects (see Finding Objects), and in impact and lineage analysis (see Impact and Lineage Analysis).
Property sheets of link objects display a picture of the link together with its extremities. Additional information, such as the cardinality value and the role, may also appear.
Notes – lists additional information about the object. See Notes Tab.
Rules – lists the business rules with which the object must comply. A business rule may be a government-imposed law, a customer requirement, or an internal guideline. See Business Rules.
Version Info - provides details about the object owner, creation, and modification date and allows you to access help for the PowerDesigner metamodel metaclass on which the object is based. See Version Info Tab
Dependencies - lists all the objects that depend on the object. See Dependencies Tab
Traceability Links - lists all the objects on which the object depends. See Creating Traceability Links
Requirements – lists the project requirements that the object is intended to satisfy. By default, this tab does not appear. See Requirements Tab

Note: Use Ctrl+Page Down or Ctrl+Page Up to move to the next or to the previous tab and display the corresponding object type tab.

By default, property sheets open to the General tab. You can choose to open property sheets at the last accessed tab by selecting Tools > General Options > Dialog, and selecting Keep Last Tab in the Property Sheets groupbox.

You can customize, create, and hide properties and property sheet tabs using extension files (see Customizing and Extending PowerDesigner > Extension Files). Administrators can prepare customized property sheets through permission profiles (see Customizing the PowerDesigner Interface).

You can control the form of the symbols, the background color, and the text format with display preferences (see Display Preferences). For display preferences to be applied to the mini-diagrams in link object property sheets, click Set As Default in the Display Preferences dialog for each modification.

Customizing a Property Sheet
Since PowerDesigner can hold a rich variety of information about your model objects, property sheets can become overloaded.
Notes Tab
The Notes tab in an object property sheet contains the sub-tabs Descriptions and Annotations, intended to hold additional information about the object.
Preview Tab
Click the Preview tab in the property sheet of the model, packages, and various other model objects in order to view the code that will be generated for it.
Requirements Tab
You can attach one or more requirements to an object using the Requirements tab in the object property sheet. This tab is not displayed by default, and can only be used if one or more requirements models is open in the workspace.
Version Info Tab
PowerDesigner automatically manages version information about model objects on the read-only Version Info tab of the object's property sheet.
Dependencies Tab
The PowerDesigner metamodel provides the capability to link objects to other objects in a variety of semantic ways. For example, when you create an external shortcut, or when you attach a business rule to an object, a dependency link is created between models or objects. The Dependencies tab of the object's property sheet displays these links.
Naming Conventions
You can use naming conventions to specify a case, maximum length, and valid characters for object names and codes, and enforce compliance with an enterprise glossary. You can also invoke conversion scripts and conversion lists to generate appropriate object codes from names (or names from codes).
Object Namespaces
In PowerDesigner, each package can be a namespace. It is however possible to expand the namespace to the parent of a given package. You can cascade the expansion until you reach the level of the model itself.

Parent topic: Objects