Physical options are DBMS-specific parameters that specify how an object is optimized or stored in a database, and are included at the end of the object's Create statement. Physical options are defined in the DBMS definition file, and may be available for tables, columns, indexes, tablespaces, and other objects. You can specify default physical options for all objects of a particular type and for individual objects (overriding the default, if one is specified).
There are two different interfaces for specifying physical options for individual objects, both of which are accessible through tabs on the object's property sheet. Changes made on either of these tabs will be reflected on the other:
Physical Options (Common) – this tab is displayed by default (along with the Partition tab, if applicable), and lists the most commonly-used physical options as a standard property sheet tab. Select or enter values for the appropriate options and click OK
Physical Options – this tab is hidden by default, and lists all the available physical options for the object in a tree format. To display this tab, click the Property Sheet Menu button and select . Follow the procedure in Defining Default Physical Options, to specify options and set values for them.
Physical options can vary widely by DBMS. For example, in Oracle, you specify the tablespace where the table is stored with the Tablespace keyword, while in SAP® Sybase® SQL Anywhere®, you use In. When you change DBMS, the physical options selected are preserved as far as possible. If a specific physical option was selected, the default value is preserved for the option in the new DBMS. Unselected physical options are reset with the new DBMS default values.
For detailed information about the syntax of physical options and how they are specified, see Customizing and Extending PowerDesigner > DBMS Definition Files > Physical Options.