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I am currently trying to pickup on PowerDesigner and there are two things I wish to ask:

  1. Is there any difference between generating Physical Data Model(PDM) from Conceptual Data Model and directly creating the PDM?
  2. Is there any way to generate database from PowerDesigner to MySQL. I tried but cannot create ODBC for MySQL as there are no option available when trying to create data source?
Mogsdad
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Jamie
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  • Try to check this http://superchan.co.cc/programming/connect-mysql-with-powerdesigner/ to generate database from PowerDesigner to MySQL Written in Bahasa, but maybe google translate could help you :D – Chandra S Oct 14 '12 at 16:06

2 Answers2

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  1. PowerDesigner tries to keep track of the links between CDM and PDM objects. If you change (denormalize, or rename) something in the PDM, change something in CDM, and generate again, it will use this linking information to update your PDM properly, rather than just generating a default PDM from the CDM.

  2. Which version of PowerDesigner are you using? You should be able to create a PDM targetting a MySQL DBMS; outside PowerDesigner create an ODBC data source after installing Connector/ODBC; connect to your data source with Database > Connect; and generate your model inside your database with Database > Generate Database.

  3. Don't know...

pascal
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  • Currently I'm using PowerDesigner 15. But I couldn't find any option to create ODBC for MySQL. Thank you for explaining about CDM and PDM. So it would be best to generate PDM from CDM rather created CDM and PDM separately. – Jamie Jun 07 '12 at 00:56
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Ad 1: Yes, there is: it is more work and you are creating legacy code, instead of portable and durable database-independent designs. If your conceptual model actually looks the same as your database model, something is wrong.

The normal steps are: CDM to LDM to PDM. I usually do the CDM outside PowerDesigner because PowerDesigner really doesn't get it and made some atrocious choices in their modeling support. The LDM is then the first model you create. This is a database independent item where you can model the appropriate constraints for the database, including super- and subtyping. If you do not use that, you probably don't model all of the constraints and you likely end up with tables with a lot of optional fields and a "type" field.

If you start with a PDM, then you lose some options and you tie it to a database. While you can change this rather easily, starting with an Oracle PDM does limit your options rather more than starting with, say, SQL Server. It also tends to support modeling choices that are very much tied into the application needs instead of the business needs, and thus when the application gets replaced, you end up having to remodel.

Ad 2: See the other answer.

Ronald Kunenborg
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