Chapter 4 Extending your Models with Profiles

Metaclasses (Profile)

Metaclasses are classes drawn from the PowerDesigner metamodel (see the Resource Files and the Public Metamodel chapter), and appear at the top level of the Profile category.

Concrete metaclasses are defined for specific object types that can be created in a model, while abstract metaclasses are never instantiated but are instead used to define common extensions. For example BasePackage is an ancestor to both model and package.

To add a metaclass to a profile:

1. Right-click the Profile category and select Add Metaclasses from the contextual menu to open the Metaclass Selection dialog box:
   
2. Select one or several metaclasses to add to the profile. You can use the sub-tabs to switch between metaclasses belonging to the present module (for example, the OOM), and standard metaclasses belonging to the PdCommon module. You can also use the Modify Metaclass Filter tool to display all metaclasses, or only concrete or abstract conceptual metaclasses in the list.
3. Click OK to add the selected metaclasses to your profile:
   

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