Menus (Profile)

Menus specify commands to appear in the standard PowerDesigner File, Tools, and Help menus or in contextual menus.

  1. Right-click a metaclass, stereotype, or criterion and select New > Menu.
  2. Enter the following properties as appropriate:

    Property

    Description

    Name

    Specifies the internal name of the menu. This name will not appear in the menu

    Comment

    Provides a description of the menu.

    Location
    [model and diagram only] Specifies where the menu will be displayed. You can choose between:

    • File > Export menu

    • Help menu

    • Object Contextual Menu

    • Tools menu

    Menus created on other metaclasses are only available on the contextual menu, and do not display a Location field.
  3. Use the tools on the Menu sub-tab to create the items in your menu:

    Tool

    Function

    Add Command - Opens a selection dialog listing methods (see Methods (Profile)) and transformations (see Transformations (Profile)) defined in the current metaclass and its parents to add to the menu as commands. Select one or more and click OK.

    The items are added to your menu in the format: 
    MenuEntry (Method/TransformationName)

    You can modify the MenuEntry (and define a shortcut key by adding an ampersand before the shortkey letter) but you must not edit the Method/TransformationName.

    Note: If you modify the name of a method or transformation, you must update any commands using the method or transformation by hand, because the name is not automatically synchronized. You can use the Replace in Items tool to locate and update these commands.

    Add Separator -Creates a menu separator under the selected item.

    Add Submenu - Creates a submenu under the selected item.

    Delete - Deletes the selected item.

    You can reorder items in the menu tree by dragging and dropping them. To place an item inside a submenu item, drop it onto the submenu.



  4. [optional] Click the XML sub-tab to review the XML generated from the Menu sub-tab.
  5. Click Apply to save your changes.
Parent topic: Extension Files