Creating and Editing Submodels

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ER/Studio Data Architect lets you create independent views of all or part of your logical or physical models called submodels. Submodels can focus attention on specific characteristics of a model and can facilitate faster data access. Any changes to submodel objects, except object deletions, automatically propagate to the main model. When deleting a submodel object, you have the option to apply the change to the main model or to only delete the object from the submodel. You can create any number of submodels within your data model and can nest any number of submodels within a submodel.

In addition to creating submodels of models, with ER/Studio Data Architect you can derive a submodel from a submodel and then display the submodel relationships by nesting submodel folders in the Data Model Explorer.

ER/Studio Data Architect automatically includes relationships between objects if related objects are part of the submodel. You can edit the submodel to include or exclude specific relationships. When you add a relationship, ER/Studio Data Architect automatically includes the corresponding parent table in the submodel definition.


  1. On the Data Model Window or Data Model Explorer, select one or more objects to include in the submodel.
    Magic Wand Icon.pngTip: CTRL-click to select multiple objects.
  2. Choose Model > Create Submodel.
  3. In the Create Submodel dialog, enter a name for the submodel.
  4. From the list of objects, CTRL-click to select the objects to add to the submodel and then press the right arrow to add the selected objects to the submodel.
  5. Click OK to create the submodel.

Once you are finished creating a submodel, ER/Studio Data Architect adds the submodel to the Data Model Explorer and displays the model in the Data Model Window.

Edit Submodel tab

  • Click Select Related Objects to add parent and child entities and dependent views or procedural logic.
  • If you select Inherit Objects Added to Nested Submodels, any objects you later add to submodels nested within the model or submodel will automatically be also added to the model.

Attributes tab

Lets you choose which attributes of the entities selected on the Edit Submodel tab to include in the submodel. If you deselect an attribute, ER/Studio Data Architect can display an elipsis to indicate that not all attributes are displayed. For more information, see the Entity or Table tab description in Customizing the Display of Diagrams and Objects.

Definition tab

Enter or edit a definition for the submodel.

Attachment Bindings tab

Bind an external piece of information, or attachment to the submodel. You can also remove an attachment from an object, override an attachment binding's default value, or change the position of a bound attachment. To override the value of the attachment you have moved to the Selected Attachments grid, double-click the Value field of the target attachment. ER/Studio Data Architect opens the Value Override Editor or a list depending on the attachment datatype. Attachments are created in the Attachments folder of the Data Dictionary. For more information, see Attaching External Documents to the Data Model.

Security Information tab

Displays the current security information as defined in the Data Dictionary. You can add or edit security reporting information in by double-clicking the field you want to change. To set the model-wide default value for a property, go to the Data Dictionary tab and expand the Data Security Information node. For more information, see Enforcing Security Using Data Security Types and Properties.

Notes

  • If you select a submodel to add to the new submodel, then all objects belonging to the source submodel will be added to the new submodel.
  • Deleting an object from a submodel does not delete the object from the Main model unless you select the Delete from Model option in the Delete dialog.
  • Once you have created a submodel, you can add objects to it by right-clicking an object in the main model or in another submodel and then selecting Apply to Submodel(s) from the shortcut menu. In the dialog that appears you can select which submodels to add the object to.}}

See Also