Chapter 6 Working with PDMs

PDM check options

When you check a PDM, you can define levels of severity for problems that Check model finds and have certain problems automatically corrected.

Levels of problem severity

You can set a level of problem severity for each object parameter verified by Check model. This severity level depends on the degree of normalization that you want to achieve in your model.

When you check a PDM, you can display an invalid parameter with one of two types of messages, depending on the degree of problem severity you assigned to that parameter:

Automatic correction

You can choose to have certain problems corrected automatically by PowerDesigner. However, before using automatic correction, make sure you understand how it will affect your model.

For example, if a column code length is longer than the length specified in the MaxColumnLen field in the DBMS, then PowerDesigner can automatically truncate the code length to be within the specified length.

However, truncating such a column code can make its name a duplicate of an existing one. If automatic correction is active for column code uniqueness, PowerDesigner renames the duplicated column code. If you do not want this to occur, you must deselect automatic correction for column code uniqueness.

For more information on automatic correction, see Object Parameters Verified During Check Model.

Automatic correction is not available for all object parameters.

All problems that can not be corrected automatically are corrected manually. For example, PowerDesigner will not create a column for an existing index. You need to create the appropriate column from an object property sheet.

Setting problem severity and automatic correction

You can use the following tools from the Check Model Parameters dialog box to set either an error or warning level of problem severity, and also if you want PowerDesigner to automatically correct an error:

Tool	Indicates	Description
	Error	Indicates a major problem that prevents database generation
	Warning	Indicates a minor problem or recommendation
	Automatic correction	Allows automatic error correction

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