Create a New ERD

1. From the home menu, select Data → ERD.
2. From the ERD list, select Create New.
3. PhixFlow opens the properties for the ERD on the right. Enter the name for your ERD and click  OK.
4. PhixFlow opens a new ERD canvas on the left. The ERD has a toolbar at the top. Hover over toolbar icons to display a tooltip for them.

Open an Existing ERD

To open an existing ERD you can:

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

Create a New Table

1. From the canvas toolbar, drag the 
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    icon from the toolbar into the diagram.
2. In the pop-up, enter its name, for example "Customer" and click .
3. PhixFlow adds a box to represent the table, and opens the properties tab for it. The table is created with one attribute called UID, which is set as the primary key.
4. Optionally, rename the primary key. 
   1. Click on the UID line in the table. PhixFlow opens the attribute properties.
   2. In the Name field, change the name. We recommend that UID or ID is part of the name to indicate this attribute is the unique identifier.
   3.  the attribute properties.
5. To add attributes to the table:
   1. In the table, click  Add New. 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.
   3.  the attribute properties.
6. PhixFlow adds the attribute to the table in the ERD.

Add an Existing Table

1. From the canvas toolbar, Click the Stream List icon.
2. PhixFlow filters the repository to show the list of tables available in this application.
3. Drag a table from the repository into the ERD canvas. 

Creating Relationships Between Attributes

The purpose of a relationship is to show that an attribute in one table contains the same data as the same as a primary key in another table. You are aiming to:

• relate a primary key with a non-primary attribute 
• ensure related attributes have the same data properties.

To create a relationship between attributes in different tables, click-drag from one attribute to another. 

1. Click on the source attribute.
2. Drag to the destination attribute. PhixFlow highlights the attribute when your mouse pointer is over it. This may be offset from the end of the relationship arrow.
3. When the destination attribute is highlighted release the click.
4. Enter the name for the relationship.
5. PhixFlow
   • adds the relationship arrow
   • opens its properties; see Relationships
   • sets the destination attribute to be a foreign key. 

If you try to create a relationship between two non-primary attributes, PhixFlow assumes the source attribute is the primary key.

• If the source table does not have a primary key, it sets the source attribute to be primary.
• If the source table already has a primary key, it uses it as the source attribute.

Properties

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  We recommend you always add a Description that explains the purpose of the item you are creating. 

For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Properties, Windows, Menus and Toolbars.

Basic Settings

ERD Context Menu and Toolbar

In an ERD, you can hover your mouse pointer over the toolbar or context menu options to see what they are for.

Toolbar

You can find the toolbar at the top of the canvas

Context Menu

In the ERD, right-click a table to show the context menu.