PowerDesigner Model File Format

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).

Warning!  You can modify an XML model file using a text or XML editor, but you should take care, as even a minor syntax error may render the file unusable. If you create an object in an XML file by copy and paste, make sure that you remove the duplicated OID. PowerDesigner will automatically assign an OID to the new object when next you open the model.
The following elements are used in PowerDesigner XML files:

PowerDesigner XML model files have an <o:model> element at their root, which contains collections defined in the PowerDesigner metamodel. The model object and all the other object elements that it contains define their attributes and collections in sub-elements. The definition of an object implies the definition of its attributes and its collections. PowerDesigner checks each object and drills down the collections of this object to define each new object and collection in these collections, and so on, until the process finds terminal objects that do not need further analysis.

You can search for an object in the metamodel using its object name in the XML file in order to better understand its definition. Once you have found an object in the metamodel you can read the following information: