The PowerDesigner Public Metamodel

A metamodel describes the elements of a model, and the syntax and semantics of their manipulation. Where a model is an abstraction of data, and can be described using metadata, the metamodel is an abstraction of that metadata.

The PowerDesigner public metamodel is an abstraction of the metadata for all the PowerDesigner models, which is represented in an object-oriented model. It is intended to help you understand the overall structure of the PowerDesigner modeling metadata when working with:

VB scripts
Generation Template Language (GTL) templates
PowerDesigner XML model files (see Model Files and the PowerDesigner Metamodel)

The public metamodel OOM is located at:

[PowerDesigner install dir]\Examples\MetaModel.oom

For documentation, select Help > Metamodel Objects Help

The metamodel is divided into the following main packages:

PdBPM - Business Process Model
PdCDM - Conceptual Data Model
PdCommon - contains all objects shared between two or more models, and the abstract classes of the model. For example, business rules, which are available in all models, and the BaseObject class, from which all model objects are derived, are defined in this package. Other model packages are linked to PdCommon by generalization links indicating that each model inherits common objects from the PdCommon package.
PdEAM - Enterprise Architecture Model
PdFRM - Free Model
PdILM - Data Movement Model (the DMM was previously named Information Liquidity Model or ILM, and the PdILM library name has been retained for backwards compatibility)
PdLDM - Logical Data Model
PdMTM - Merise Model (available in French only)
PdOOM - Object Oriented Model
PdPDM - Physical Data Model
PdPRJ - Project
PdRMG - Repository
PdRQM - Requirements Model
PdXSM - XML Model
PdWSP - Workspace

Each of these top-level packages contains the follow kinds of sub-objects, organized by diagram or, in the case of PdCommon, by sub-packages:

Features - All the features implemented by classes in the model. For example, Report (available in all models) belongs to PdCommon, and AbstractDataType belongs to PdPDM.
Objects - Design objects in the model
Symbols - Graphical representation of design objects

Metamodel Concepts
The PowerDesigner public metamodel uses standard UML concepts:
Navigating in the Metamodel
You can use the Browser to expand and collapse the packages in order to explore their contents. Double-click a diagram to display it in the canvas.
Accessing the Metamodel with VB Script
You can access and manipulate PowerDesigner internal objects using VB Script. The metamodel (and its online help, available by selecting Help > Metamodel Objects Help) provides useful information about objects:
Accessing the Metamodel with GTL
The Generation Template Language (GTL) uses templates to generate files. A template is a piece of code defined on a given PowerDesigner metaclass and the metaclasses that inherit from this class. It can be used in different contexts for text and code generation.
Model Files and the PowerDesigner Metamodel
PowerDesigner models are made up of objects, the properties and interactions of which are explained in the public metamodel. Models can be saved in either binary or XML file formats. Binary files are smaller and significantly quicker to open and save, but XML model files can be edited by hand or programatically (and DTDs are provided for each model type in the DTD folder in the installation directory).

Parent topic: PowerDesigner Resource Files