Data Architect

Professional database modeling

Chapter 4

Using the Data Architect Interface

About this chapter

This chapter describes the Data Architect interface and explains how to use the different elements.

Managing windows

The Data Architect main window is divided into different windows with independent behaviour.

Understanding the main window organization

When you open Data Architect, the following interface appears;

Data Architect may look slightly different than pictured above because of the platform you are using and/or any user interface look + feel you may be using but the fundementals are the same regardless. Most examples in this book are from the Linux platform with the Motif window manager and the CDE look + feel.

As usual a menu appears along the top of the window, a tool-bar below that and a status-bar along the bottom edge of the window. Dock-windows appear above the status-bar and along the left + right edges of the window. The remaining area is the work area - the area where the documents are edited.

Multiple Document Interface (MDI)

Data Architect uses the MDI paradigm to allow multiple documents to be viewd/edited concurrently. This is a highly successful paradigm in use by many applications because of the way it eases window management and desktop clutter. Document windows can be easily organized by selecting options from the Window menu. In this way the documents may be quickly cascaded, tiled, or brought into view.

Dock Windows

Dock windows a special type of child window used for interacting with the application. Dock windows provide one of the most valuable means of customizing the U.I. For example; a dock window may be aligned with the edge of the main window, floated, auto-arranged, or hidden based upon the User preference. The following dock-windows are availible;

Dock-window	Description
Tool-bar	In the example above - the tool-bar is found just below the menu. It consists of a number of dock-windows, each containing buttons for quick access to commonly used options.
Browser	In the example above - the Browser is found along the left-edge of the main window. The Browser contains the Workspace, and all of its objects, organized hierarchiely. This is great for browsing the objects.
Output	In the example above - the output window lies along the bottom of the main window. The output window contains a wide variety of messages produced by the application. The messages are categorized using tabs.
Slider-bar	In the example above - the Slider-bar is the top dock-window along the right edge of the main window. The slider-bar contains a sub-set of tool-bar options and is often a convenient alternative.
Property Editor	In the example above - the property editor is the middle dock-window along the right edge of the main window. The property editor contains a sub-set of the properties for the currently selected document object.
Panner	In the example above - the panner is the bottom dock-window along the right edge of the main window. The panner provides a complete view of the current diagram/model with a red box indicating the current area of the document visible. The red box can be dragged to scroll (pan) the document. The panner provides a great tool to orient the User and to quickly navigate large documents.

Docking Windows

Click the window title bar ( DockWindowCaption

) and keep the mouse button pressed. Drag the selected window to another location in the main window. If you drop the dock-window close to another element of the user interface the dock-window will try to dock along side that element. If you drop the dock-window away from another user interface element (in the work area or out side of the main window) the dock-window becomes undocked.

Hiding Dock Windows

Dock-windows can be hidden to reduce clutter. As you use the application you will get to know which dock-windows are important to have availible and which are not. Click the X on the right side of the dock-window title bar to hide dock-windows you do not use often.

Restoring Dock Windows

You can make a hidden dock-window visible again by use the Window menu option and the Docks submenu option. This will display a menu listing all of the dock-windows. The dock-windows which are visible are checked while those which are hidden are not checked.

Menu And Tool-bar Options

The following table list some of the most important menu and tool-bar options and indicate which document type(s) for which they are relevant;

Icon	Description	SQL Editor	Diagram	Logical Model	Physical Model
	create a new file
	open an existing file
	save any changes in current editor
	print from current editor
	application preferences or object properties
	undo last change
	redo last change
	cut selection from current editor
	copy selection from current editor
	paste into current editor
	delete selection from current editor
	indent text in current editor
	unindent text in current editor
	move selected diagram objects to front
	move selected diagram objects to back
	insert an SQL file comment
	insert an SQL statement comment
	zoom in current editor (make objects look larger)
	zoom out current editor (see more of the diagram)
	select all in current editor
	unselect everything in current editor
	align text to bottom
	align text to horizontal center
	align text to left
	align text to right
	align text to top
	align text to vertical center
	align object bottom
	align object horizontal center
	align object left
	align object right
	align object top
	align object vertical center
	manipulate diagram objects in the current editor
	add a new Text object to the current editor
	add a new Line object to the current editor
	add a new Arc object to the current editor
	add a new Rectangle object to the current editor
	add a new Ellipse object to the current editor
	add a new Image object to the current editor
	add a new Table object to the current editor
	add a new Derived Table object to the current editor
	add a new View object to the current editor
	add a new Reference object to the current editor
	add a new Inheritance object to the current editor
	add a new Business Rule
	add a new Domain
	add a new Sequence
	add a new stored Procedure
	add a new Entity
	add a new Relationship
	add a new Association entity
	add a new Association Link
	add a new Inheritance Link
	add a new Business Rule
	add a new Domain
	add a new Data Item
	edit model properties
	show object dependencies
	validate model
	create a Physical Model from current document
	create a Logical Model from current document
	create an SQL script, from the current model, to be used to create database objects
	reverse engineer an existing database using the capabilities found in the current model
	submits the entire SQL script to the, connected, data source for processing
	submits the selected SQL to the, connected, data source for processing
	returns a list of schema from the, connected, data source
	returns a list of tables from the, connected, data source
	returns a list of views from the, connected, data source
	returns a list of columns for the table or view name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of indexs for the table name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of primary key columns for the table name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of foreign key columns for the table name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of columns which uniquely identify a row for the table name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of procedures from the, connected, data source
	returns a list of columns (input and output) for the procedure name selected in the current editor
	returns a list of data types supported
	invokes any installed ODBC Administrator tool

An option may be disabled even when a relevant document is current. This can happen because a more specific state must occur. For example; Cut/Copy may be disabled until something is selected and Physical Model objects may be disabled because the target database does not support the specific feature. Many SQL file options are disabled unless the SQL file document exists under a Project and the Project is connected to a database.

Property Dialogs

Property dialogs are popup windows which allow an objects properties to be viewed/edited. All objects listed in the Browser have properties - including the Workspace itself. Each property dialog has a number of tabs and each tab contains specific properties logicaly grouped. The first tab generally contains the objects; Object ID (OID), Name, Code, and Comment but may contain more depending upon the object type.

Displaying A Property Dialog

The common way to display an objects property dialog is to find the object in the Browser dock-window and <right-click> it to popup its context menu. Select the Properties menu option to invoke the property dialog.

Another way to display an objects property dialog is to find the object in the document (if it is a diagram based document) and <double-click> it. In fact you can <double-click> an empty area of a diagram/model and the diagram/model property dialog will be displayed. The following is a property dialog for an Entity on a Logical Model;

Property dialogs can be resized. If the dialog is too small to show all of the tabs a set of scroll buttons will appear to allow the hidden tabs to be scrolled into view. The size of the dialog will be saved when the dialog is closed and will be used as the default size the next time the dialog is displayed.

Using Lists

Some of the property tabs will be a list of something. For example; an Entity can have many Attributes. In this case the Entity has a tab named Attributes. The following shows the Attributes tab;

The list is displayed in a grid with a tool-bar above it. Each tool-bar button is explained below;

Button	Name	Description
	New	Create a new object (if no "New Plus") or reference to an object (if "New Plus" exists).
	Edit	Edit the object represented on the currently selected row.
	Delete	Delete the object represented on the currently selected row.
	Up	Move the row up.
	Down	Move the row down.
	New Plus	Create a new object and reference to the object.

Adding Notes

Most model objects (Physical and Logical Models) may have notes attached to them. A note is a Description and/or Annotation. These are important additions to Name and Comment, which are also found for all model objects, because notes are in "Rich Text File" (RTF) format. This means that additional text formatting options are availible. The following shows the Notes tab;