Chapter 5 Objects

Creating Objects

Model objects are the building blocks of your models. They are listed as items in the Browser and often also appear as symbols in your diagrams.

There are two main types of objects:

Ordinary Objects – such things as tables and entities, which are self-sufficient, and can be created in isolation from other objects
Link Objects – such things as associations or dependencies, which link two ordinary objects, and cannot be created in isolation

There is detailed information about each object in the relevant modeling guide. The following sections describe generic features available for all objects.

You can create objects:

Directly in your diagram, using a Palette tool (only for objects that have symbols)
From the Browser
From an object list

Creating an object from the palette

Ordinary objects, such as classes (in an OOM), or tables (in a PDM) can be created independently in any free space in the diagram:

To create an ordinary object from the Palette:

Click an object creation tool in the Palette and note how the pointer takes on the form of the selected object.

Click in a space in the diagram to create an object symbol there, and note that an entry for the object is displayed in the Browser.

Click elsewhere in the diagram to create another object symbol, or right-click anywhere to release the object creation tool and return to the pointer tool.

Renaming an object from its symbol in the diagram
You can rename an object from its symbol in the diagram by selecting it and then pressing F2. If the symbol carries additional editable properties, you can navigate to the next or previous one with tab and shift+tab. Note that you cannot modify read-only properties or properties that display in a list (such as table columns), in this way.

If you select the Edit in place after creation option in the General Option dialog box, the name of each object that you create will be immediately selected for editing.

For more information about palette tools, see The Palette.

Creating a link object from the palette

Link objects, such as messages (in an OOM), or references (in a PDM) are drawn between two ordinary objects in the diagram:

To create a link object from the Palette:

Click a link object creation tool in the Palette and note how the pointer takes on the form of the selected link object.

Click and hold inside an ordinary object, and then drag the pointer to inside a second object. The link object is created when you release the mouse button. Note that an entry for the link is displayed in the Browser.

Do the same again to link two other objects or right-click anywhere to release the object creation tool and return to the pointer tool.

Creating an object from the Browser

You can create any object in the Browser.

To create an object in the Browser:

Right-click the model, package or object category where you want to create the object, and select New→object_type to open a new default object property sheet (see Object Properties).

Type an object name and code in the General tab of the property sheet, and then add any other relevant properties in the remaining fields of this or the other tabs.

Click OK to confirm the creation of the object.

The object is created in the appropriate object category in the Browser, under the current model or package, and its symbol is added to the current diagram.

Creating an object from an object list

You can also create objects from the model object lists (see ) available by clicking Model→object_type.

To create an object in an object list:

Select Model→object type to open the appropriate object list.

Click the Add a Row tool or, if the list is ordered, the Insert a row tool.

A new item is added at the end, or before the selected row, of the list.

Enter an object name and code and, for link objects, a source and destination object.

Repeat as necessary to create additional objects of the same type, and then click OK.

For more information about object lists, see Object Lists.