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This page is for application designers who want define the data that will back the application. It explains how to draw an ERD and setup its properties.

Overview

??Remember Script

Use an ERD to define the structure of the data that backs your application. For an introduction to ERD concepts and why ERDs are important, see Understanding ERDs.

Starting Points

  • You do not have any data for your application or it has not been loaded yet:
    1. create tables, attributes and relationships
    2. Add records How>>
    3. Loading data into tables created in an erd
  • You have already loaded data:
    1. Add existing tables
    2. set UID and display name 
    3. add relationships

As you draw the diagram, PhixFlow creates tables, attribute items in the repository. You can find:

  • tables in the repository Data → Tables category.
  • attributes listed in the table's properties.

PhixFlow sets the properties for a relationship item automatically. Relationships are not listed in the repository. To see relationship properties, in the ERD, click the relationship arrow.


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Create a New ERD

  1. From the home menu, select Data.
  2. PhixFlow displays the list of ERDs. Select Create New from the left hand side.
  3. In the pop-up, enter a name for your ERD, and a description then click confirm ??icon.
  4. PhixFlow opens a new ERD canvas on the left with a toolbar at the top. Hover your mouse pointer over toolbar icons to display a tooltip.

Open an Existing ERD

  1. From the home menu, select Data and click on an ERD in the list.
  2. In the repository, open your application and find Data → ERD.
    • either right-click on an ERD name and select Display.
    • or double-click the ERD name to open the properties. In the properties toolbar, click the
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       icon.


Tip

When you make any changes to the ERD, remember to 

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 them. PhixFlow autosaves any new tables, attributes and relationships check??


Create a New Table

  1. Drag the 
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     icon from the toolbar into the diagram.
  2. In the pop-up, enter a name, for example "Customer" and click
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    .
  3. PhixFlow adds the table to the canvas and opens its properties tab on the right. 
    • Name - displays the name entered in step 2.  is set as the display attribute for the table. We might want to make reference to how this is used?
    • UID - the unique identifier and primary key.
  4. To add attributes to the table:
    1. In the table, click 
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      . PhixFlow opens the attribute properties.
    2. Enter the Name, Type and Length for the data; see Stream Attributes. Attributes are created with the default of a 50 character string. It's important to change this for other types of data, for example, numerical or date/time data. We make no reference to the current table  relation button??
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       the attribute properties.
  5. PhixFlow adds the attribute to the table in the ERD.

Add an Existing Table

  1. In the toolbar, click the Tables button. ??icon
  2. PhixFlow filters the repository to show the list of tables available in this application.
  3. Drag a table from the repository onto the ERD canvas. 

Creating Relationships Between Attributes

In an ERD you can create a one-to-many relationship between a primary key in one table with an attribute in another table. For relationship concepts, see Understanding ERDs.

To create a relationship, click-drag from one attribute to another. 

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  1. Click on the source attribute.
  2. Drag to the destination attribute. PhixFlow highlights the attribute when your mouse pointer is over it. 
  3. When the destination attribute is highlighted release the click.

Set a display name

Match Data Types

 And Phixflow will change the foreign key to match - if there is no data already in the table???

PhixFlow

  • adds the relationship line
  • sets the destination attribute to be a foreign key.

Different drags

DragRelationship lineForeign key type
From table1To table2
primary keyattributetable1.primarykey → table2.attribute

Table has no records: attribute type changed to match the primary key

Table has records: 

  • types match - relationship created
  • types don't match - error


attributeprimary keytable2.primarykey → table1.attribute
table headerattributetable1.primarykey → table2.attribute
primary keyprimary keyTable has no records:
Table has records:


tbc
attributeattribute

table1.primary key → table2.attribute
OR makes attribute primary key if there's no UID

Table has no records:
Table has records:
tbc


If you want to highlight the relationships that affect a table, click the table to select it. The following screenshot shows the Teacher table is selected.

  • Blue lines indicate relationships to a foreign key in the selected table
  • Green lines indicate relationships from the primary key in the selected table.


Properties

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Basic Settings

FieldDescription
Name

The name for the ERD.

When you press Return or click Save  PhixFlow opens an empty diagram in the workspace on the left. check??

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ERD Toolbar

The toolbar is at the top of the canvas. Hover your mouse pointer over the toolbar to see a tooltip.Tooltips for Dev?? or add the icons??

OptionDescription
Create
CreateDrag this icon onto the canvas to create a table.
ScreenCreates a new screen for the selected table.
List
TablesClick to see a list available tables.
ScreensClick to see a list available screens.
 Canvas
SaveSave changes to the diagram. If there is no save icon, PhixFlow is saving changes automatically.
Refresh

Redraw the ERD to display recent changes to the diagram.

HelpSlide open the help panel on the right. there is no help button??
PropertiesOpen the properties for the current diagram.

Zoom out

Zoom out to see more of the diagram, with smaller text.

Zoom in

Zoom in to see a smaller area of the diagram, with larger text.

Ungroup

Select a grouped set of items and then click to ungroup them.

Select several items then click to group them together.

Group

Select several items then click to group them together.

Back

For screen layout, move a component back.

ForwardFor screen layout, bring a component forward.

Align options

Click/hover to show all the options for aligning items on the canvas.

Align Grid

Organise selected items into a grid pattern.

Align left

Align selected items to the left.

Align right

Align selected items to the right.

Align top

Align selected objects to the  top.

Align bottom

Align selected objects to the bottom.

Distribute horizontally

For 3 or more items, distributes the selected items evenly between the left and right items.

Distribute vertically

For 3 or more items, distributes the selected items evenly between the top and bottom items.

Table Pop-up Menu

You can access more options in a pop-up menu:

  • in the table header, click 
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  • right-click anywhere in the table.

OptionRename to Description

Configure Table

Table properties

Open the properties for this table.

Remove this item from the Diagram

Remove from ERD

Remove the selected item(s) from the diagram.

Hide AttributesHide attributesCollapse the table so that it only shows the table name, primary key and any foreign keys. Other attributes are hidden.
Show AttributesShow attributesExpand the table to show all the attributes
Parmanently DeleteDelete everywhereDDelete the selected item(s) from the ERD and from everywhere it is used.

Show all tables using this table



Show all tables related tables

Show all tables used by this table




??Jira needed for Hide attributes. - It tries but doesnt work on first attempt