Overriding Color and Font Settings for a Specific Object

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Go Up to Customizing the Data Model

To make your model more attractive and easier to read, you can change the background, outline, and font colors along with the font type entities/tables, attributes/columns, views, and relationships in your data model. Use specific colors and/or fonts to help you organize your data model.

  • Set the default background color of the model in the Main Model Display area of the Logical or Physical tabs of the Options editor, choose Tools > Options.

This section is comprised of the following topics:


Change Color and Font Settings for an Entity, Table, Attribute, Column or View

Use the Color and Fonts editor to do the following:

  • Change the font, font style, size, and effects (strikeout and underline) for one or more selected components of an entity or table, such as: entity name, entity attributes, primary keys, role names, alternate keys, and inversion entries.
  • Change the font, font style, size, and effects (strikeout and underline) for selected components of a view column.
  • Apply font and color settings to attribute categories such as: non-inherited primary keys, inherited primary keys, non-inherited non-keys, inherited non-keys, primary key index, unique indexes, non-unique indexes, attachments, triggers, and data security.
  • Change the background and outline color of entities, tables and views.


  1. In the Data Model Window, right-click the object you want to change or the object containing the object you want to change.
  2. For entities, tables, columns, and attributes, choose Entity Color and Font Settings > Entity/Attributes Colors and Fonts.
    For views and view columns, choose View Color and Font Settings > View/View Columns Colors and Fonts.
  3. In the Colors and Fonts editor make the changes desired.
  4. You can apply the same changes to multiple attributes or columns by pressing and holding CTRL while clicking the objects.
  5. To apply color and font setting changes to all occurrences of the selected object in the model, select Apply to all submodels ; otherwise, the changes will affect only the occurrence of the entity selected.
  6. Use the preview area to preview your changes and then click OK to implement the changes.

Change Entity/Table Background and Outline Colors

  1. In the Data Model Window, right-click the entity/table you want to change.
  2. Choose Entity Color and Font Settings > Entity Background/Outline Color.
  3. In the Entity Color editor make the changes desired.
  4. To apply color changes to all occurrences of the selected entity in the model, select Apply to all submodels ; otherwise, the changes will affect only the occurrence of the entity selected.

Change the Background and Outline Colors of Views in an Open Data Model

  1. In the Data Model Explorer, expand the Views node of a logical or physical mode, and then right-click the view you want to change.
  2. Choose View Color and Font Settings > Colors & Fonts > Colors.
  3. To set the background color of all views in the model, from the list, select View Background and then click Set Color.
    To set the foreground color of all views in the model (the dotted line around the view box), from the list, select View Foreground and then click Set Color.
  4. To choose one of the Basic colors or one of the existing Custom Colors, select a color box and then click OK.
    To choose a color not already displayed in this dialog, click Define Custom Colors, define the new color, click Add to Custom Colors. (This adds a new color option to the available Custom Colors.) Then you can select the new color box and click OK.
  5. To apply your changes and exit the Colors & Fonts editor, click OK again.

Notes

  • When exporting the model, you can also export the view background by selecting Export model and object background color in Model > Options > Display.
  • You can specify background and foreground colors for an individual view by right-clicking the view in the Data Model Window and then selecting View Background/Outline Color. This setting can be overridden by selecting Same background color for all views in Tools > Options > View. If Same background color for all views is enabled, the View Background/Outline Color option will be unavailable in the View Color and Font Settings short-cut menu.
  • You can specify that all views in the data model share the same background and foreground (outline) colors by choosing Tools > Options > View and then in the View area, selecting Same background color for all views. This setting will override any setting made for individual views in Tools > Options > View.

Changing the Color of Relationships

  1. In the Data Model Window, right-click the relationship for which you want to change the color.
  2. Choose Relationship Color > Edit Settings.
  3. You can change the color of all or individual relationships in your diagram. You can specify a default relationship color on the Options Editor - Application tab. Even if you set a default color for your relationships, you can still use the Colors and Fonts Editor to change all or individual relationships in your diagram.


See Also

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