Instance

Instance

External Setter Accessible

This flag indicates if the set method should be made available in the generated code.

Null Valid

This flag indicates if NULL is considered to be a valid value. If this option is selected, then the property has to be created during initialization. Otherwise errors will be generated during the code generation.

Initial Value

This filed contains the initial value of the property. This field is ignored if the flag : created during initialization isn't set.

For numerical values, you must enter the number directly. Example : 42 or 22,22

For text values, you must enter the text held within " characters. Example : "my initial value"

Created During Initialization

This flag indicates if the property should be created when it is first created.

Changeable

Obsolete flag. It is safer to keep this flag synchronized with the External Setter Accessible flag.

By Reference

If this flag is checked, then the property will be used to reference instances held elsewhere in the data model. When unchecked, the property will hold the information by value, which means that when the setter is invoked, a new copy will be made and be held by this class.

This flag influences many methods. When objects are held by value, their content is used for the equals methods while the object reference unique ID is used for content by reference. The parent pointer held by objects is also set only on objects held by value.

Type Data

This is the reference to type of the instance.

External Getter Accessible

Obsolete flag. This flag should always be checked otherwise the property getter methods won't be accessible.

Cardinality

Indicates the cardinality of the property. It can be one of the following values:

  • Single
  • List
  • Map

Single cardinality is the default value, meaning a single value of the instance is held by the class.

List cardinality indicates that a list of values will be held by this instance. When this option is selected, the behavior of some flags change.

  • By Reference : now indicates if the objects held within the list are held by reference or not.
  • Type Data : now specifies the type of objects within the list.

It is suggested to always use the Created During initialization flag when creating lists.

Map cardinality is just like the list cardinality with the exception that the developper will have to specify the key of all the properties added to the map.