An abstract data type (ADT) is a user-defined data type which can encapsulate a range of data values and functions. The functions can be both defined on, and operate on the set of values.
Abstract data types can be used in the following ways in a Physical diagram:
Abstract data type is |
Description |
---|---|
Created |
You can create an abstract data type of any kind supported by your DBMS. If you create an abstract data type of type JAVA, you can link it to a Java class in an OOM to access the Java class properties (see Linking an abstract data type to a Java class). |
Reverse engineered |
An abstract data type in a database can be reverse engineered into a PDM. If you also reverse engineer the JAVA classes into an OOM, then the abstract data types of the type JAVA in the PDM are automatically linked to the Java classes in the OOM (see Reverse-engineering a PDM linked to an OOM) |
For more information on reverse engineering a database into a PDM, see Reverse Engineering a Database into a PDM.
For more information on creating and reverse engineering Java classes into a PowerDesigner Object-Oriented Model, see Object-Oriented Modeling.
Depending on the current DBMS, the following kinds of abstract data types can be created in PowerDesigner:
Type |
Description |
Example |
---|---|---|
Array |
Fixed length collection of elements |
VARRAY (Oracle 8 and higher) |
List |
Unfixed length collection of objects |
TABLE (Oracle 8 and higher) |
Java |
Java class |
JAVA (Adaptive Server Anywhere, and Adaptive Server Enterprise) |
Object |
Contains a list of attributes and a list of procedures |
OBJECT (Oracle 8 and higher) |
SQLJ Object |
Contains a list of attributes and a list of procedures |
SQLJ OBJECT (Oracle 9i and higher) |
Structured |
Contains a list of attributes |
NAMED ROW TYPE (Informix 9.x, and IBM DB2 5.2) |