hey chrislong a question about ERWin

[pando]

Hey chris

I was trying to use ERWin, I have a question since you know ERWin pretty well I hope you can give a hint. How can I select only a limited number of tables of an owner for Reverse Engineer purpose? I cant find any option in ERWin that allows me to select just a few tables, it always reverse engineer the whole Schema. Am I missing something here?

BTW I am using ERWin 4.0

[Edited by pando on 05-14-2001 at 09:35 AM]

[pando]

chris show me the torch

[chrisrlong]

Oops - missed this one. Sorry.


But the apologies don't end there...

I'm afraid I don't have any spiffy tricks for ya on this one.

First, I still haven't used 4.0, although I have the eval copy installed and just need to get off my duff and call them for a key (what a pain, BTW).

Second, I rarely Rev-Eng. I design *from* ERwin and have seldom needed to pull a model *into* ERwin.

Third, when I have pulled one in, I *wanted* all the objects, so I've never tried to restrict the set.

I'll assume that the model is somehow prohibitively large, because you can, of course, delete what you don't want when finished.

Looking around, I see the ability to restrict by tablespace(s) and owner(s), but not by the tables themselves.

Sorry pando - hope you find something in 4.0, because it doesn't look like 3.5.2 has it.

Good luck,

- Chris

BTW, here is a link to the only ERwin forum I've come across. It's bulky, slow to load and very slow to accept questions and get responses - basically, it's a piss-poor forum. But as I said, it's the only one I've found.

http://webboard2.iland.com/~ERwin

[jdorlon]

Pando,

if you don't care about the pretty pictures that Erwin makes and all you are after is the DDL, EZSQL can extract the DDL for only the tables you select. You can include or exclude indexes, triggers, constraints, etc.

-John
http://www.ezsql.net

[pando]

hi Jdorlon

I need to see the tabledesign so guess cant use ezsql here

chris

the schema is huge and since it´s module based I wanted to see only the tables related to one or two modules that´s why I wanted to select only a few tables, in Embarcadero you can do so. I cant find anything on ERWin help aboutt his =(

anyway thanx

[chrisrlong]

Hmmmm..... a couple of thoughts on both replies.

If EZSQL can filter specific tables and generate a script... ERwin *can* rev-eng from a script.

However, to the module-based thought... my personal opinion, but if they *do* represent a single schema, shouldn't they be in a single model?

The way that I would handle this is as separate sub-models. Sub-models are the absolute *key* to making large models understandable. The trick is not to split them into separate ERwind files, but to split them into separate sub-models *within* a single ERwin file. Actually, ERwin calls them Subject Areas, at least in 3.5.2. Once I get over 30-40 tables, I stop using the (Main Subject Area), which contains *all* the objects. I start breaking the model into multiple areas of interest. My demo model has the following Subject Areas:
- Client
- Code tables - Dynamic
- Code Tables - Static
- Contract
- Employee
- System Tables
- Timecard

Each subject area also then has its own primary color - makes things incredibly readable.

Anyway, just a thought.

- Chris

[Edited by chrisrlong on 05-14-2001 at 12:30 PM]

[pando]

the modules are part of the schema, they are not single schemas. Our application started with 79 tables now it has around 170.... basically they are small modules related to those some master tables in those 79 that started (such as country, city, area etc)

[chrisrlong]

So like I said - break it up by subject. Decide what the primary objects are in the database and make a separate sub-model for each. Each subject area should contain the primary object or objects, their children and 1 level out of any FKs.

For example, I had Employee, which contained:
Employee_T
EmployeeJobHistory_T
EmployeeSalaryHistory_T
State_T
Job_T
Location_T

In another model, I have Timecard_T, which has an FK from Employee_T and Client_T, so they are also in that model to resolve the FKs from the primary objects, but the FKs from Employee_T are not resolved in that sub-model - only in the Employee sub-model.

Then you also always want at least one for code tables.

Make Sense?

- Chris

[pando]

yes it makes sense hard to do with our model though... it´s so messed up =(
I will try it anyway

[Heath]

Go buy a better tool then. :P

PowerDesigner has been able to selectively reverse engineer objects for years now. I am actually quite surprised that a tool as commonly used as ERWin can't do something so basic.

As for the rest of the thread, most good tools allow you to break your large models into sub-models and it is definitely the only way to stay sane on large projects. Only 170 tables.....? Been a long time since I've seen a model that small.