Understanding named paths

Chapter 5 Using the PowerDesigner Interface

Understanding named paths

When you perform the following operations:

Add a document or a model to the working environment or to the repository via consolidation
Use a shared DBMS for a PDM, a shared object language for an OOM a shared process language for a BPM, a shared XML language for an XSM, or a shared extended model definition in a model
Create an external shortcut
Create a file object in a model
Use a report language
Use a library in a model

PowerDesigner saves the paths to these external documents or files in the working environment or in model files. These paths are used to recreate the connections to the external files and documents of the current model when a user opens it. In a team environment, people need to exchange model and files. However, each personal workstation has its own directory structure and the links within model files may be broken when a user opens the file of another user.

To solve this potential problem, you can define named paths in PowerDesigner. The name of a named path is used as a constant. It is shared among team members. The path should be adapted to the local directory structure of each workstation. The team leader could define a list of names corresponding to shared resource folders and files and also specify the shared folder structure. Then each team member will have to create the named paths on his/her workstation in order to be able to exchange files with other members of the team.

Predefined named paths

Some predefined named paths exist in the product. They are available for all users (defined in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE). Predefined named paths are preceded by an "_".

Name	Path
_DBMS	Path to the folder where DBMS definition files are stored
_EXAMPLES	Path to the folder where the demo examples are stored
_HOME	Path to the PowerDesigner installation folder
_LIBRARY	Path to the folder where object libraries are stored
_OBJLANG	Path to the folder where object language definition files are stored
_PRCSLANG	Path to the folder where process language definition files are stored
_RTPLANG	Path to the folder where report language definition files are stored
_XEM	Path to the folder where extended model definition files are stored
_XMLLANG	Path to the folder where XML language definition files are stored

_HOME predefined named path

_HOME is a very useful named path that facilitates the installation of your add-ins without having to modify your XEM or your XML or ActiveX add-ins commands.

For example: %_HOME%\add-ins\SpellChecker\SpellCheckAddIn.dll

By default, the path of a predefined named path corresponds to the installation path you have selected. If you use files proceeding from another directory, the path of the predefined named paths is not automatically modified. You have to carry out this change manually.

You should not modify the name of a predefined named path. If you do so, the predefined named path is preserved in the list and a new named path is created with the name and path of the modified predefined named path.

If you modify the path of a predefined named path and want to cancel the change, you have to select the predefined named path in the list, delete it and click OK in the General Options dialog box. The next time you open the Named Path page in the General Options dialog box, the deleted predefined named path appears in the list with the default installation path.