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Layers in VEA |
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By Scot Becker on
5/4/2005
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Visio has a generic layer facility that allows you to place shapes on one or more layers. A user can then specify settings for a given layer that dictate some behavior for all shapes on that layer.
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Nested Role Readings |
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By Scot Becker on
11/3/2004
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You may have noticed than when an object type is the result of a nested predicate, you can specify extra information on the "Nested Roles" tab of the "Database Properties" window. This is provided in case you wish to add extra semantics between the relationship of the nested object type and the object types that make up the fact type that was nested.
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User Defined Types and ORM |
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By Scot Becker on
11/2/2004
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User defined types are typically used to express semantic domains that cross multiple attributes. For example, one could create a type named "Phone Number" as some sort of length-limited character type and then use that type as the basis for several attributes such as fax number, mobile number, office number, home number, and so on.
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Discriminator and Complete Category Settings |
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By Scot Becker on
10/22/2004
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The Category symbol in an ER Source or Database Model Diagram has a couple of settings that help to describe some semantics of the categorization (a.k.a. subtype, specialization).
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N-ary fact verbalizations |
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By Scot Becker on
10/20/2004
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For any given fact type, there are n! (read: n factorial) readings of that fact type (where n is the number of roles in the fact type). In a unary fact type, there is exactly one reading, in a binary there are two readings, in a ternary there are six readings (3 x 2 x 1), in a quaternary there are 24 readings (4 x 3 x 2 x 1), and so on.
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Using Namespaces in ORM Source Models |
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By Scot Becker on
10/14/2004
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Many object types have similar (usually, descriptive) properties. For example, People, Animals, Products, and so on, all have names. This poses a choice for the ORM Modeler: do you create one "Name" object type or multiple?
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Cloning and Reusing Model Elements in Visio |
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By Scot Becker on
10/12/2004
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Although Visio supports the standard cut-copy-paste operations found in most software, the results might not be what you expect because Visio separates the notion of the definition of a model element (e.g. a table, object type, predicate, whatever) from the shape(s) used to display that element.
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Verbalization of Reference Modes |
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By Scot Becker on
10/7/2004
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On the "Ref Mode" tab of the "Database Properties" sheet for an object type, you may have noticed the "Type" drop down list. This list is enabled if the selected object type is an entity type and has a simple (internal) reference mode.
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Using Folders to Group Fact Types |
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By Scot Becker on
10/5/2004
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The Business Rules window (Database | View | Business Rules) has an interesting feature that I never gave much thought about until today.
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Adjusting predicate text in VEA |
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By Scot Becker on
9/30/2003
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In Visio for Enterprise Architects, predicate orientation (e.g. reverse roles, flip orientation) is controlled by the Visio shape rotation options found in the "Shape | Rotate or Flip" menu options; you merely highlight the predicate shape as select the desired option.
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Abbreviations in VEA |
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By Scot Becker on
9/27/2003
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Abbreviations and their use in name generation has always been one of the coolest features of the (now) Visio line of ORM tools.
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