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Overview

PhixFlow Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs) define the logical structure of the data in your application. "Entities" represent the things in the world that you want to represent as data

.

The

ERD Window Layout

Here is a simplified view of the ERD

window:

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1. The

1. toolbar provides ERD specific options, such as displaying the available

1. data tables that you can add to your ERD and

1. creating a new

1. screen for your data.

1.  
2. On the toolbar, click

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   _tables _tables nopanel true

    to list all available tables in the repository pane on the right. 
3. The main part of the window is the canvas, where you create the ERD.
   • To add a new table, from the toolbar, drag the 

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      icon onto the canvas.
   • To add an existing table, on the toolbar, click 

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     . PhixFlow lists the available tables in the repository. Drag a table from the repository onto the canvas.

1. • To add an Excel or CSV spreadsheet, drag it directly onto the canvas

1. • . PhixFlow imports the data and uses it to create a new table.
2. The

1. tables and

1. the relationships between them.
   • A table is represented as a box, containing a list of all of the attributes it contains

1. • and

1. • their associated data type.
   • A

1. • line connecting tables represents the relationship between them. The line connects the primary key of one table to a foreign key

1. • in a

1. • different table; see Relationship.

ERD Example

The following example shows an ERD for a school. Here the school has entities: departments, teachers, students, classrooms and so on. All these entities are represented as tables and the lines connecting them show their relationships to one another. We can see from this diagram that a School Department has many Class Rooms and Teachers. This example is covered in detail in Understanding ERDs.

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Creating an ERD

1. On your application's home page, click the Data link to list the existing ERDs. Alternatively you can click the data link from the header bar. 
2. Click the 

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   button to create a new ERD.

Opening an ERD

1. On your application's home page, click the Data link to list the existing ERDs. Alternatively you can click the data link from the header bar. 
2. Double-click any ERD to open it.

Already Have Data?

If you

have data

to import into PhixFlow, such as a database

or API, use an

analysis model

to import it. This allows you to configure connectors to access your existing data

and store the data as tables in PhixFlow's own database. see Importing Data and Importing Data Through an API.

You can also use an analysis model to set up

bulk processes to manipulate large volumes of data before it is presented to your users; see Analysis

Models for Batch Processing Data.

What's Next?

Understanding ERDs

covers ERDs in more depth to help you design your own ERDs and views to display your data

.