Selecting PowerBuilder Reverse Engineering Options

You define the following PowerBuilder reverse engineering options from the Reverse Engineer PowerBuilder dialog box:

Option

Result of selection

Ignore operation body

Reverses PowerBuilder objects without including the body of the code

Ignore comments

Reverses PowerBuilder objects without including code comments

Create symbols

Creates a symbol in the diagram for each object. Otherwise, reversed objects are visible only in the browser

Create inner classes symbols

Creates a symbol in the diagram for each inner class

Mark classifiers not to be generated

Reversed classifiers (classes and interfaces) will not be generated from the model. To generate the classifier, you must select the Generate check box in its property sheet

Create Associations

Creates associations between classes and/or interfaces

Libraries

Specifies a list of library models to be used as references during reverse engineering.

The reverse engineered model may contain shortcuts to objects defined in a library. If you specify the library here, the link between the shortcut and its target object (in the library) will be preserved and the library will be added to the list of target models in the reverse engineered model.

You can drag and drop the libraries in the list in order to specify a hierarchy among them. PowerDesigner will seek to resolve shortcuts found in the reverse engineered model against each of the specified libraries in turn. Thus, if library v1.1 is displayed in the list above library v1.0, PowerDesigner will first attempt to resolve shortcuts against library v1.1 and will only parse library v1.0 if unresolved shortcuts remain.

You should use the List of Target Models to manage libraries related to the reverse engineered model, for example, you can change the library version. See the "Working with the target models referenced by the model" section in the Shortcuts and Object Replications chapter of the Core Features Guide.

Reverse Engineering System Libraries

Some standard objects like windows or structures, inherit from parent classes defined in the system libraries. If these libraries are not loaded in the workspace, PowerDesigner no longer creates an unresolved class to represent the standard object parent in the model. The link between standard object and parent will be recreated after generation thanks to the standard object stereotype.