The Adabas Data Designer is based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP). The tool can read the FDT data of an Adabas file and create new map files. Currently, an XSD, FDT or DDM file is needed to generate a map . The XSD definition automatically creates a new Adabas file based on the XSD definition.

The Adabas Data Designer is used to configure the Java API maps, as well as to browse the data in Adabas files. The combination of configuring maps and parallel browsing of the data helps to provide an overall view of the combination of metadata and data.

The Adabas Data Designer can be used to import DDM defined views into the Adabas Client for Java definitions. DDMs exported with the Natural Object Handler (SYSOBJH) can be imported in the Adabas Client for Java Map definition. All Adabas Client for Java configuration and Map definitions are stored in an Adabas file in the Adabas database