Previewing SQL Statements

Click the Preview tab in the property sheet of the model, packages, tables, and various other model objects in order to view the code that will be generated for it.

The text in the script preview is color coded as follows:

Text color	Represents
Blue	SQL reserved word
Black	Statement body
Red	Variable
Green	Comment

You can use the following tools and keyboard shortcuts from the Preview toolbar:

Tool	Description
	Editor Menu [Shift+F11] Provides access to various editor features, including the insertion of and navigation through bookmarks in the Preview tab: Toggle Bookmark [Ctrl+F2] Inserts or removes a bookmark (a blue box) at the cursor position. Next Bookmark [F2] Previous Bookmark [Shift+F2] Note that bookmarks are not printable and are lost if you refresh the tab, or use the Show Generation Options tool.
	Refresh [F5] - Refreshes the Preview tab. You can debug the GTL templates that generate the code shown in the Preview tab. To do so, open the target or extension resource file, select the Enable Trace Mode option, and click OK to return to your model. You may need to click the Refresh tool to display the templates.
	Select Generation Targets [Ctrl+F6] - Lets you select additional generation targets (defined in extensions), and adds a sub-tab for each selected target. For information about generation targets, see "Specifying Additional Generation Targets" in Chapter 1, Resource Files and the Public Metamodel in Customizing and Extending PowerDesigner .
	Show Generation Options [Ctrl+W] - Opens the Generation Options dialog, allowing you to modify the generation options and to see the impact on the code.
	Ignore Generation Options [Ctrl+D] - Ignores changes to the generation options made with the Show Generation Options tool.

Ignore Generation Options

If you click the Ignore Generation Options tool, the preview ignores generation options selected by using the Change generation options tool but uses a predefined set of options.

Selected tool	Effect on generation options	Effect on preview
Change generation options	You can select generation options	Visible in Preview if options are applicable
Ignore generation options	Generation options currently selected are overridden by predefined set of options	Only predefined options are visible in Preview
Change generation options + Ignore generation options	You can select generation options	Changes ignored in Preview

The predefined set of generation options selects these items:

Generation Option Tab	Selected items
Tables and Views	All items except drop options
Keys and Indexes	All items except options represented differently in some DBMS. For example, if a database is auto indexed, the index options corresponding to the keys are not selected
Database	All items except drop options
Options	All user-defined options are used