Overview

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.

The process for creating an ERD is slightly different depending on whether or not you have already created tables in PhixFlow. The following table summarises the different ways you can add data to an ERD, depending on your starting point:

Starting Point	Process	Primary Key	See
I have CSV or Excel data	These types of file can be dragged directly onto an ERD canvas and PhixFlow will automatically import the data for you.	In each table: either set one attribute as the primary key and ensure all values will be unique or add an attribute called UID with Data Type = Integer Precision = 10 Set one attribute to be the Display Name.	Adding CSV and Excel Data below
I have no data	Define the streams, attributes and their relationships in the ERD. Later you will need to add records to the table: either manually, for example create a screen in which application users can enter data. or via an analysis model.	PhixFlow automatically creates each table with: a primary key called UID a Name attribute, as the Display Name.	Creating a Table below Also see: Creating a Screen from an ERD Table Importing Data
I have data but it's not in PhixFlow	Use an analysis model to connect to your data and read its data structures to create tables. When you run analysis, PhixFlow loads the data records.	In each stream: either set one attribute as the primary key and ensure all values will be unique or add an attribute called UID with Data Type = Integer Precision = 10 Set one attribute to be the Display Name.	Importing Data Analysis Models for Batch Processing Data
I have tables in PhixFlow already	In the ERD toolbar, click List Tables to display a list of all the streams. Drag streams into the ERD and then add the relationships.

PhixFlow cannot ensure unique values for a primary key where:

the name is UID but its data type is not integer
the name is not UID

If your data already has a unique attribute, you can use that as the primary key. For example, the Teacher table could have a National Insurance attribute, which would be unique to a teacher. In this case, you must set up your own processes to make sure that the records in a table all have unique values in the primary key.

Creating Tables in an ERD

Create a Table using CSV or Excel Data

Drag a CSV or Excel file directly onto an ERD canvas.
PhixFlow will create a table automatically based on the information in the file.

This is covered in the ERD Fundamentals video course found here: Entity Relationship Diagrams.

Create a New Table

Drag Create New Table from the toolbar into the diagram.
In the pop-up, enter a name that reflects what the table will represent. For example Customer.
PhixFlow opens the properties tab for the new table on the right and adds the table to the canvas.
The table header displays its name. PhixFlow automatically adds 2 attributes:

- UID, a primary key that is a unique identifier for each record.
- Name, a display name which in a view or form will be used to provide a user-friendly name to the user in place of the numeric UID.
To add attributes to the stream:
1. In the stream, click Create New. PhixFlow opens the attribute properties on the right, with the default settings of:
  - Type = String
  - Length = 50 characters.
2. In the properties, enter the Name and select appropriate type properties, such as Date or Integer; see Attribute. The following data types have additional properties:
  - For String add Length
  - For Integer add Precision
  - For Decimal add Significant Figures and Decimal Places
3. Click Apply and Close to save the attribute properties.
PhixFlow adds the attribute to the stream in the ERD.

Add an Existing Table

In the toolbar, click List Tables.
PhixFlow filters the repository to show the list of tables available in this application.
Drag the desired table from the repository onto the ERD canvas.

Create Relationships

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.
1. One of the attributes must be a primary key.
PhixFlow highlights the attribute when your mouse pointer is over it.
When the destination attribute is highlighted, release the click.

Relationships

See the table below for the relationships that can be created between attributes:

Drag from		Relationship
Table 1	Table 2	Relationship
primary key	attribute	1:Many Table1.primarykey → Table2.attribute
attribute	primary key	1:Many Table2.primarykey → Table1.attribute
attribute	attribute	If Table1 has no primary key, PhixFlow makes the Table1.attribute the primary key. If Table1 has a primary key, the relationship is from Table1.primarykey instead of from the attribute being dragged.

Relationship Restrictions

PhixFlow cannot create a relationship between your selected attributes if your selected foreign key attribute:

is already a foreign key to a different primary key.
has a different Data Type and type properties to the primary key.

If this happens, you can:

create a new attribute to be the foreign key.
change the foreign key attributes to match the primary key, provided there is no data in the table.
create the relationship with a different attribute.

To change the data type properties, In the ERD, click on an attribute to open its properties.

Show Relationships From Other ERDs

If you have created several ERDs to define the data structure that your application requires, then each ERD is a view onto a part of the full data structure.

If a table appears on more than one ERD it may have relationships with tables that are not visible in your current ERD. To see other related streams, right-click a table to show the context menu and select:

Show many-to-one relations
Show one-to-many relations

PhixFlow adds the related tables to your ERD.

To keep the related tables in your ERD, in the toolbar, click Apply.

To remove the related table from your ERD, in the toolbar, click Refresh.

Saving ERDs

Changes to an ERD are automatically saved.

Accessing Properties

You can set properties for all the items in an ERD. To access properties:

ERD: in the canvas toolbar click Properties
Table : in the ERD, click on the stream header or right-click to open the pop-up menu and select Configure
Attribute: in the stream, click on an attribute

PhixFlow opens the properties panel on the right.

Rearranging ERDs

To move streams around in the ERD, click on the header and drag the stream. There are also Align options in the toolbar that you can use to line up or distribute selected streams.

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

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

If a stream has a lot of attributes that you do not need to see, collapse the list to show only the stream's primary and foreign keys.

Either right-click on a stream and select Hide attributes or Show attributes
Or double-click on the stream header.

To select multiple streams, draw a square around them.

By default, relationships are straight lines, but you can change them to have angles.

Click on a relationship line to add an angle point, which appears as a blue dot; see the screenshot on the left.
Move the mouse pointer over the blue dot. It changes to a four-way arrow to indicate you can drag.
Drag the point to the position you require.

To remove an unwanted angle, right-click the blue dot and select Remove Point; see the screenshot on the right.

Hover your mouse pointer over
an angle to see the blue angle point.

Right-click the blue angle point to see the Remove option

Arranging Content in an ERD