Using extended attributes

Chapter 6 Managing Objects

Using extended attributes

Extended attributes are used to complement the definition of a metaclass in order to:

Control generation for a given generation target. In this case, extended attributes are defined in the target language or DBMS of the model. For example, in the Java object language, several metaclasses have extended attributes used for generating Javadoc comments.
Further define model objects in extended model definitions. For example, in the extended model definition for Sybase ASA Proxy tables, the extended attribute called GenerateAsProxyServer in the DataSource metaclass is used to define the data source as a proxy server.

Some extended attributes are defined by default in the resource files that ship with PowerDesigner. But you can also create additional extended attributes according to your needs. To do so, you have to use the profile feature available in the resource editor.

For more information on profiles in a resource files, see the "Managing Profiles" chapter in the Advanced User Documentation .

Extended attribute properties

Each extended attribute has the following properties:

Property	Description
Name	Name of extended attribute.
Data type	Extended attribute data type including boolean, color, date, file, float, font, etc or customized data types.
Value	Value of the extended attribute. This field displays the default value defined for the extended attribute data type.
R	Redefined value. This check box is selected if you modify the default value in the Value column, using either the down arrow or the ellipsis button.

How to define the value of an extended attribute?

You can define the value of an extended attribute in the Value column that is displayed in the Extended Attributes tab of an object property sheet. If extended attributes are defined in a user-defined tab, it is even easier to define their values, see Displaying extended attributes in specific tabs.

You can also display and modify extended attributes in object lists, but you need to modify the default display of the list using the Customize Columns and Filter tool in the list toolbar. In the following example, some javadoc extended attributes are displayed in the list of interfaces.

To define the values of the extended attributes of an object:

Open the property sheet of an object.

or

Select Model→Object to display a list of objects.

Click the Extended Attributes tab to display the corresponding tab.

or

Click a user-defined tab to display a user-define tab for extended attributes.

or

Click the Customize Columns and Filter tool, select extended attributes in the list of columns, and click OK.

Click the Value column of an extended attribute if you want to modify its value and select a value from the list.

or

Type values directly in the boxes of the user-defined extended attribute tab.

or

Type or select a value in the value cell in the list.

Click OK.