12.10 Generating ER Diagrams

Tools - Entity Relationship The (ER) Diagram Generator

Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram Generator helps users achieve a better understanding of their database schema by displaying the structure in a graphical format. The ER Diagram Generator now uses the fully-featured Entity Relationship (ER) Modeler to create saveable and editable .xed diagrams that can be shared as part of a version control repository.

See the full documentation on the Entity Relationship Modeler here for more information.


To generate an ER Diagram from existing schema objects:

1. Launch the ER Diagram Generator dialog by:
   • Selecting Tools -> ER Modeler -> Generate from the Menu Bar OR
   • Selecting Tools -> ER Diagram Generator from the right-click pop-up menu on a database object in the Schema Browser
2. Select a Database and Schema (or All Schemas)
3. In the left panel, select one or more types of objects to be scripted (Tables, Views or Both).
   Click the green check button to select all and the red X button to deselect all.
4. All objects matching the selected schema & object types will appear in the right panel. Select one or more objects to be scripted.
   Click the green check button to select all and the red X button to deselect all.
5. Click Next to generate the diagram
6. Once the diagram is generated, the ER Modeler will open and display the new diagram.
7. To change the layout of the diagram, either manually reposition entities as desired, or select an entry from the Sheet -> Layout menu.
   Supported layouts include:
   
   • Simple
   • Hierarchical
   • Tree
   • Compact Tree
   • Radial Tree
   • Cirlce
   • Fast Organic
   • Self-Organizing Organic
8. The Display menu determines the amount of detail displayed for each entity in the diagram. Attribute Level, Primary Level or Entity Level are available. The Physical Schema Level, Comments and Relationship Names can be shown or hidden.
9. To save an image of the current diagram, choose file, Save As Image.
10. To print a hard-copy of the current diagram, click Print.
11. Click on an entity to display more column & constraint detail in the Object Property Details pane at the bottom of the screen OR right click on an entity and select Properties OR right click on an entity node in the Model Node Browser on the left and choose Properties OR expand the tree underneath the desired Entity in the Model Node Browser.

• General
  • Vastly enhanced ER Modeler launches when ER Diagram Generator menu option is selected.
  • Quickfilter added for searching objects in large lists.
  • Quickfilter shows the number displaying out of the total in the table list
  • Object Types  list and Object List are sortable by column.
  • Table Information can be copied to the clipboard through CTRL+ A and CTRL + C