About Data Structure Definitions

Data structure definitions are structured data elements that you can use to create generic model definitions that are instantiated in the run-time environment.

Data structured definitions can be defined as abstract or final. A data structure definition that is defined as abstract cannot be instantiated; it is only intended to be extended by other entities. For example, an abstract data structure definition called vehicle can be extended by non-abstract definitions called car and motorcycle.

A data structure definition defined as final cannot be extended by other data structure definitions. For example, if the data structure definition car is defined as final it cannot be extended by other data structures. If it is not defined as final, the car data structure can be extended, for example, by the coupe data structure and by the convertible data structure.

You create data structure definitions in Model projects. After you create a data structure definition, open the entity in the Data Structure Definition editor to define its attributes, details, behaviors, and so on. You can define a key for each data structure definition, which uniquely identifies each instance of the data structure definition. See "About OSM Data in Model Projects" for more information.