How are abstract data types used in PowerDesigner?

Chapter 3 Building Physical Diagrams

How are abstract data types used in PowerDesigner?

Abstract data types can be used in the following ways in a Physical diagram:

Abstract data type is	Description
Created	You can create an abstract data type for each category supported by the current DBMS. If you create an abstract data type of type JAVA, you can link it to a Java class in an OOM to access the Java class properties
Reverse engineered	Declaration of an abstract data type is reverse engineered into a PDM

You create abstract data types in the List of Abstract Data Types. When you reverse engineer a database that contains abstract data types, the data type is automatically added to the List of Abstract Data Types.

An abstract data type must be listed in the List of Abstract Data Types before it is available as a data type for columns and domains in the physical diagram.

For more information on reverse engineering a database into a PDM, see chapter Reverse Engineering.

Linking Java classes
Java classes cannot be created in the PDM. You need to specify an abstract data type as type JAVA, and then link it to an existing Java class in the OOM. Once a Java class is linked, you can access its properties.

For information on linking Java classes, see section Linking an abstract data type to a Java class.

Linking to Java classes in the object-oriented model

You cannot create a Java class in a PDM. You need to specify the name and code of a Java class in the List of Abstract Data Types, then link it to a Java class in a PowerDesigner Object-Oriented Model. The OOM must be open in the current Workspace. Once an abstract data type is linked to a Java class, you can access the Java class property sheet.

Automatic linking of reversed Java classes

You can reverse engineer a database that contains Java classes into a PDM. To have access to the Java class properties, you must also reverse engineer the Java classes into an OOM. The columns or domains that use the Java classes as data types in the PDM are then automatically linked to the corresponding Java classes in the OOM.

For more information on creating and reverse engineering Java classes into a PowerDesigner Object-Oriented Model, see the Object-Oriented Model User's Guide .