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Manipulating the Diagram |
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The ERD diagram allows for a number of customisations including positioning of each table on the canvas, foreground and background colours, fonts and line styles in addition to numerous display enhancements. These actions are described below. |
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Moving Tables within the Diagram |
The ERD pane allows for moving selected tables around the canvas to generate a clearer view of the database structure as desired. To move a table from its current position using the mouse, left-click the table's header (where the table name is shown) and drag the table to the desired position. Existing relationships drawn against the selected table will remain intact. |
Adding a Diagram Title |
An ERD diagram title box may be added by selecting the Add ERD title button from the ERD toolbar. The box allows for the entry of title, date, author, revision, database and description values within a formatted technical title box. |
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The title box may be moved like any other component to the desired position by dragging. To edit the content of the title box after initial creation, double-click anywhere within it to display the ERD Title dialog and make changes as necessary. |
Altering Diagram and Table Appearance |
Fonts and ColoursTables displayed may be customised through custom font selection and colouring. Use the font button from the ERD toolbar to select a new font for the ERD - this will be applied to ALL tables within the diagram. Table background colours may be set using the Table Background button from the ERD toolbar. Line StylesThe line style selection dialog alters the appearance and colour of the lines drawn within the diagram to represent table relationships. Selection of the arrow style is also available in this dialog. Table Column DisplaysTables may be shown to display ALL their table columns or just those that are of a special type such as primary and foreign keys - the latter may be more desirable within larger database structures where space is limited. This may be modified from the ERD popup menu (right-clicking with the mouse within the ERD canvas area) toggle View > Display reference keys only. Canvas Background and GridThe default canvas grid display may be toggled on or off using the ERD popup menu item View > Display grid. The canvas background colour itself may be altered by selecting the Canvas Background Colour button from the ERD toolbar - selecting a canvas background also has the affect of hiding the grid. ZoomingZoom controls are available at 25% increments from 25% to 200% and are accessible via either the popup menu or the respective toolbar buttons. This does not affect the printing scale of the diagram. |
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