Chapter 5 Using the PowerDesigner Interface

Setting PowerDesigner General Options

You can control the look and behavior of the PowerDesigner interface through the general options. These options are saved in the registry of your local machine.

To set general options, select Tools→General Options. The following options are available under the General category:

Option	Description
Delete: Confirm object deletion	Display a confirmation dialog box when you delete an object.
Model Explorer : Auto-reload last project	Opens the last-edited project when you launch PowerDesigner. If this option is unchecked, PowerDesigner will open with an empty project.
Model Explorer drag and drop: Default action	Allows you to specify the default result of dragging and dropping an object (without any modifier key) in the Model Explorer. You can choose from the following: Move (Shift) – The object is displaced to the new location (parent object, package, model, etc) Copy (Ctrl) – A copy of the object is created in the new location Create Shortcut (Ctrl + shift) – A shortcut to the object is created in the new location Create replica (Alt + shift) – A replica of the object is created in the new location The modifier keys given after the option are valid no matter what the default behavior.
Output log: Log path	Specifies the path to the log file where PowerDesigner records all of its outputs.
Graphical tool behavior: Edit in place after creation	Allows you to directly modify the name of an object from the object symbol in the diagram without opening its property sheet whenever you create an object with the palette
Sort: Natural Sort	Treats numbers numerically when sorting objects in the Model Explorer. For example, a naturally sorted list of tables would have the order: Table_1, Table_3, Table_12, Table_20.