Promoting a Stereotype to Metaclass Status

You can promote a stereotype to metaclass status by selecting Use as Metaclass in the stereotype property page. Stereotypes promoted in this way have their own Browser folders and entries in the Model menu and New contextual menu.

You can use such stereotypes to:

Create new kinds of objects that share much of the behavior of an existing object type, such as business transactions and binary collaborations in a BPM for ebXML.
Have objects with identical names but different stereotypes in the same namespace (a metaclass stereotype creates a sub-namespace in the current metaclass).

Note: Stereotypes defined on sub-objects (such as table columns or entity attributes), cannot be turned into metaclass stereotypes.

In the Stereotype property page, select Use as metaclass.
The new metaclass stereotype behaves like a standard PowerDesigner metaclass, and has:
- A separate list in the Model menu - the parent metaclass list will not display objects with the metaclass stereotype. These objects will be displayed in a separate list, under the parent metaclass list. Objects created in the new list bear the new metaclass stereotype by default. If you change the stereotype, the object will be removed from the list the next time it is opened.
- Its own Browser folder and command under New, when you right-click the model or a package.
- Property sheet titles based on the metaclass stereotype.
[optional] Specify an icon and tool to create instances of the metaclass stereotype (see Specifying an Icon and Custom Tool for a Stereotype).
Click Apply to save the changes.