Metaclass Properties

You specify the properties for a metaclass by selecting its entry in the resource editor.

Property

Description

Name

[read-only] Specifies the name of the metaclass. Click the button to the right of this field to open the Metamodel Objects Help for the metaclass.

Parent

[read-only] Specifies the parent of the metaclass. Click the button to the right of this field to open the parent metaclass properties. If the parent metaclass is not present in the profile, a message invites you to add it automatically.

Code naming convention

[concrete metaclasses in target files only] Specifies the default format to initialize the name to code conversion script for instances of the metaclass. The following formats are available:
  • firstLowerWord - First word in lowercase, then other first letters of other words in uppercase

  • FirstUpperChar - First character of all words in uppercase

  • lower_case - All words in lowercase and separated by an underscore

  • UPPER_CASE - All words in uppercase and separated by an underscore

For more information on conversion scripts and naming conventions, see Core Features Guide > The PowerDesigner Interface > Objects > Object Properties > Naming Conventions.

Illegal characters

[concrete metaclasses only] Specifies a list of illegal characters that may not be used in code generation for the metaclass. The list must be placed between double quotes, for example:

"/!=<>""'()"

When working with an OOM, this object-specific list overrides any values specified in the IllegalChar parameter for the object language (see Settings Category: Object Language).

Enable selection in file generation

Specifies that the corresponding metaclass instances will appear in the Selection tab of the extended generation dialog box. If a parent metaclass is selected for file generation, children metaclasses also appear in the Selection tab.

Exclude from model

[concrete metaclasses only] Prevents the creation of instances of the metaclass in the model and removes all references to the metaclass from the menus, Toolbox, property sheets and so on, to simplify the interface. For example, if you do not use business rules, you can select this check box in the business rule metaclass page to hide them.

When several resource files are attached to a model, the metaclass is excluded if at least one file excludes it and the others do not explicitly enable it. For models that already have instances of this metaclass, the objects will be preserved but it will not be possible to create new ones.

Comment

Specifies a descriptive comment for the metaclass.