Chapter 10 Managing Shortcuts
In PowerDesigner, you can define objects referenced among several models. When you modify the definition of a shared object, all its occurrences called shortcuts, are updated in the different models.
A Shortcut is an object that represents and references a target object in the same model or in a different model or package. You create and store target objects in a special model or package called target model. Usually, this model or package is not a working model but rather a library of reusable objects. You copy target objects from the target model, and paste them as shortcuts in a referencing model or package.
There are two types of shortcuts:
Some PowerDesigner objects are global to the model, for example organization unit, or business rules. Therefore you cannot create internal shortcuts for these objects, only external shortcuts are allowed.
When you copy an object to the Clipboard, you can paste it as a shortcut. Objects that do not support shortcuts in some way (external or internal) cannot be pasted as shortcuts. You should deselect them from your selection of objects to be copied before applying the Paste as Shortcut command.
For more information on the Paste as Shortcut feature, see the "Pasting an object as a shortcut" section.
Using shortcuts means you do not have to duplicate objects and ensures object synchronization. The shortcut uses the name, code, type and Id of the target object and is automatically updated when the definition of the target object is modified.
To address the update problem, you can copy the target object and paste it as a shortcut in the different models where it is needed:
To address the reusability problem, you create a target object and reuse it in different models. Local objects will inherit the properties of the target object via its shortcut:
You can create internal and external shortcuts on any of the object types that appear under a model diagram or package in the Browser tree view.
You can also create shortcuts of shortcuts.
The following objects do not support shortcuts at all or do not support external shortcuts only:
| Model | Shortcut not supported | External shortcut not supported |
|---|---|---|
| CDM | — | Data item |
| OOM | Start, end, decision, synchronization, junction point, transition, state, interaction fragment, interaction reference | Message |
| BPM | Start, end, decision, synchronization, resource flow, service provider, service interface, operation | Flow, correlation, variable |
| XSM | — | Import, include, redefine, annotation |
| ILM | — | — |
| RQM | Term, user, group, traceability link, user allocation | Traceability link, user allocation |
However, it is still possible to create shortcuts in a model of a different type for traceability purposes.
Caution
XSM model does not support internal shortcuts, as the concept of package is not available in that module.
Data item shortcuts
You can reuse data item shortcuts only if they are internal.
A duplicated data item shortcut has the same characteristics as the original data item shortcut.
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