Page in draft: this should be the concept page for data.
Panel | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
|
Overview
The end point an application that displays data to users and lets them make changes
- screen displays data in grids and charts → view
- user adds, removes or changes the data - form fields, buttons which are wired to actionflows
changing individual or small numbers of records - transactional changes.
You can also bulk change. Use an analysis model for complex processing of large number of data records.
Data structure: Use ERDsInsert excerpt | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
in your application
- Other page
- Defining Data Structures using ERDs
Action types and table types - calclulate etc.
Panel | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||
|
You can:
- either define an ERD before adding any data to PhixFlow. In this case you create the tables, attributes and relationships
- or you can load data from external sources first. You can then drag tables into the ERD and simply add the relationships.
Getting Data in
- loading data page to do??: New concept page
- Enter data yourself
- Load excel files
- Use an analysis model
- generate test data
- API to import from a tool
- using input multipliers
Seeing Data
If you are working with tables that have records, to see them:
. "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:
- The toolbar provides ERD specific options, such as displaying the available data tables that you can add to your ERD and creating a new screen for your data.
- On the toolbar, click
to list all available tables in the repository pane on the right.Insert excerpt _tables _tables nopanel true - The main part of the window is the canvas, where you create the ERD.
- To add a new table, from the toolbar, drag the
icon onto the canvas.Insert excerpt _tables _tables nopanel true - To add an existing table, on the toolbar, click
. PhixFlow lists the available tables in the repository. Drag a table from the repository onto the canvas.Insert excerpt _tables _tables nopanel true - To add an Excel or CSV spreadsheet, drag it directly onto the canvas. PhixFlow imports the data and uses it to create a new table.
- To add a new table, from the toolbar, drag the
- The tables and the relationships between them.
- A table is represented as a box, containing a list of all of the attributes it contains and their associated data type.
- A line connecting tables represents the relationship between them. The line connects the primary key of one table to a foreign key in a 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.
Creating an ERD
- 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.
- Click the
button to create a new ERD.Insert excerpt _add _add nopanel true
Opening an ERD
- 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.
- 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.