Showing and hiding diagram symbols

Chapter 6 Diagrams and Symbols

Showing and hiding diagram symbols

Not all PowerDesigner model objects have symbols. For those that do, the symbol is, by default, displayed in the diagram when you create the object. You can subsequently choose to show or hide the symbol.

Hiding symbols

Hiding certain symbols can improve the readability of your diagram. When you hide a symbol you do not delete it or the object.

To hide a symbol from the Symbol menu:

Select one or several symbols in the diagram.

Select Symbol→Hide Symbols from the contextual menu.

The symbols are hidden in the diagram.

Hidden link objects
When you hide an object with link objects connected to it, the link objects are also hidden. For example, if you hide a table symbol that has a reference to another table, the selected table will be hidden with the reference.

To hide a symbol from the Show Symbols dialog box:

Select Symbol→Show Symbols (or right-click the diagram background and select Diagram→Show Symbols from the diagram contextual menu) to open the Show Symbols dialog box.

Deselect the check box beside the visible symbol.

Click OK to return to the model diagram.

Displaying hidden symbols

You can redisplay a hidden symbol.

To display a hidden symbol:

Select Symbol→Show Symbols (or right-click the diagram background and select Diagram→Show Symbols from the diagram contextual menu) to open the Show Symbols dialog box.

Select the appropriate object type sub-tab and select the check box beside the appropriate symbol.

Click OK to return to the model diagram.