Reverse Engineering Target Models Tab

External shortcuts depend on their corresponding target objects located in different models. When you need several models to design a single database, you can use shortcuts to share objects between models.

During reverse engineering, PowerDesigner allows you to create external shortcuts from target objects in target models. In the Database Reverse Engineering Options dialog box, the Target Models tab displays the list of detected target models containing target objects for shortcuts in the current model to reverse.

This tab is always visible in the Database Reverse Engineering Options dialog box, even if the model does not contain shortcuts.

This tab is empty when you reverse engineer into a new model. This is to let you add target models and create shortcuts instead of duplicating objects.

You can use the Target Models tab in the Database Reverse Engineering Options dialog box to manage target models using the following tools:

Tool	Tooltip	Description
	Change Target Model	Displays a standard Open dialog box to let you select another file as target model
	Open Model	Opens selected target model in current workspace
	Add Models	Opens a selection list with the models opened in the current workspace. This tool is particularly useful when you reverse engineer into a new model where the target models are not defined
	Delete	Deletes the target model and the shortcuts in the current model that reference the deleted target model

When you reverse engineer a model, any target models should be open in your workspace. If not, the following confirmation dialog box is displayed to let you open the target models:

Reverse Engineering from Script

All the create statements in the script create objects, provided the script contains a full definition of the object.

When the script only uses an object and does not define it, this object is sought among the target objects in the target models and an external shortcut is created in the reversed model.

Reverse Engineering from Data Source

When you reverse engineer from a live database connection, external shortcuts are created for all selected objects already existing in another target model. These existing objects are deselected by default in the Selection tab of the Reverse Engineering dialog box, except the target objects corresponding to shortcuts already existing in the reversed model.