Qualified Names

MDL uses dot-separated qualified names to reference elements within a Mendix project. This naming convention ensures elements are unambiguous across modules.

Simple Identifiers

Valid identifier characters:

Letters: A-Z, a-z
Digits: 0-9 (not as first character)
Underscore: _

MyEntity
my_attribute
Attribute123

Qualified Name Format

The general format is Module.Element or Module.Entity.Attribute:

MyModule.Customer           -- Entity in module
MyModule.OrderStatus        -- Enumeration in module
MyModule.Customer.Name      -- Attribute in entity

Two-Part Names

Most elements use a two-part name: Module.ElementName.

Sales.Customer              -- entity
Sales.OrderStatus           -- enumeration
Sales.ACT_CreateOrder       -- microflow
Sales.Customer_Edit         -- page
Sales.Order_Customer        -- association

Three-Part Names

Attribute references use three parts: Module.Entity.Attribute.

Sales.Customer.Name         -- attribute on entity
Sales.Order.TotalAmount     -- attribute on entity

Quoting Rules

When a name segment is a reserved keyword, wrap it in double quotes or backticks:

"ComboBox"."CategoryTreeVE"
`Order`.`Status`

Mixed quoting is allowed – you only need to quote the segments that conflict:

"ComboBox".CategoryTreeVE
Sales."Order"

Identifiers that contain only letters, digits, and underscores (and do not start with a digit) never need quoting.

Usage in Statements

Qualified names appear throughout MDL:

-- Entity creation
CREATE PERSISTENT ENTITY Sales.Customer ( ... );

-- Association referencing two entities
CREATE ASSOCIATION Sales.Order_Customer
  FROM Sales.Customer
  TO Sales.Order
  TYPE Reference;

-- Enumeration reference in an attribute type
Status: Enumeration(Sales.OrderStatus) DEFAULT 'Active'

-- Microflow call
$Result = CALL MICROFLOW Sales.ACT_ProcessOrder ($Order = $Order);

mxcli Documentation