Moving Objects from Package to Package

Chapter 5 Objects

Moving Objects from Package to Package

You can move an object from package to package using drag and drop feature.

Moving objects is different from cutting and pasting items, since you do not duplicate objects.

For entities containing data items, the following situations can occur when you move the entity:

Data items	Namespace	Move result
Only used by selected entity	Move within the same namespace	The data items are moved with the entity
Reused among different entities	Move within the same namespace	Shortcuts of data items are created for reused data items
Used only by one entity or reused among different entities	Change namespace	Data items are copied in the other namespace

For more information about shortcut and copy rules see section see "Shortcuts"in the Shortcuts and Object Replications chapter.

Moving objects is restricted as follows:

Models must be compatible (same resource file)
Global objects (business rule, domain, storage etc.) cannot be moved into a sub-package

When you move an object from a package to another, linking objects that you move keep their links in the target package and a shortcut is usually created in the source package. The general rule being that conceptual modeling must be preserved.

Shortcuts creation rules in PowerDesigner also apply to moving objects between packages.

For more information about shortcuts creation, see "Shortcuts"in the Shortcuts and Object Replications.

Moving an object with a non-oriented link

Source package	Moving result
	In the source package, a shortcut of the moved entity is created: In the target package, the moved entity is displayed:

Moving an object with an oriented link

Source package	Moving result
	Example 1: Move TABLE_2 In the source package, a shortcut of the parent table (TABLE_2) is created: In the target package, the parent table (TABLE_2) is displayed: Example 2: Move TABLE_1 In the source package, only the parent table (TABLE_2) is displayed: In the target package, the child table (TABLE_1) is displayed with the reference link and a shortcut is created for the parent table (TABLE_2):

Source package

Moving result

Example 1: Move TABLE_2

In the source package, a shortcut of the parent table (TABLE_2) is created:

In the target package, the parent table (TABLE_2) is displayed:

Example 2: Move TABLE_1

In the source package, only the parent table (TABLE_2) is displayed:

In the target package, the child table (TABLE_1) is displayed with the reference link and a shortcut is created for the parent table (TABLE_2):

To move an object from a package to another:

Select an object.

Press shift while dragging the object to the target package.

The object is moved to the new destination and a shortcut is created either in the source package or in the destination package depending on the link type.