Symbols

PowerDesigner provides multiple tools and techniques for manipulating object symbols in your model diagrams.

• Selecting Symbols
  You can select symbols in a PowerDesigner diagram using standard gestures. Selected symbols display handles.
• Resizing Symbols
  You can resize diagram symbols:
• Bending and Straightening Link Symbols
  You can add and remove corners to and from link symbols.
• Dragging a Link Symbol from One Object to Another
  You can drag a link symbol from one object to another.
• Creating a Graphical Link Between Any Two Symbols
  You can create a graphical link between any two symbols in the diagram. This link is purely graphical and does not convey any semantics.
• Arranging Symbols Using the Symbol Menu
  The Symbol menu allows you to do many different things with your diagram symbols.
• Finding a Symbol in the Diagram from an Object List
  You can locate any object in a diagram from an object list using the PowerDesigner Find feature.
• Using Composite View to Display Sub-Objects within a Symbol
  Many objects (packages, processes, classes, activities, states, EAM objects, etc.) have the capability to display sub-objects within their symbols through one or more composite view modes. Depending on the type of object, the sub-objects can be displayed either as a static sub-diagram within the symbol or as dynamically editable symbols that you can create and arrange directly from the parent diagram.
• Symbol Format Properties
  You can change the size, line style, fill, shadow, font, alignment, shape and content of symbols in the Symbol Format dialog. Some items may not be available if your modeling methodology restricts the modification of symbol format or content.
• Browsing for Images
  The Select Image dialog lets you manage the images that you use in your model diagrams, and to insert them into your models as object symbols, diagram backgrounds, etc.
• Working with Decorative Symbols
  Decorative symbols have no technical meaning in your diagram, but help make it more readable. You can use them to surround parts of a model, for example, to distinguish domains of activity.
• Working with Textual Symbols
  Free text is text that is not associated with an object in the model. For example, a note that you type in a rectangle is free text, (while a column name is not). You can insert free text in your model independently of any shape, and can select and move it like any symbol.