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WarehouseArchitect - User's Guide

Part 3 WarehouseArchitect Model

Chapter 12: Building a WarehouseArchitect Model

Defining default physical options

Defining default physical options

DBMS specificityIn the WAM, you can assign default values to physical options for tables, indexes, tablespaces, storages, primary keys, and alternate keys. The available physical options depend on the DBMS that you select for the target database.

Physical options are not supported for certain databases. If you select one of these databases as your target, the physical options menu item is grayed.

For information on changing the target database, see the chapter Database Creation and Modification.

DBMS syntaxThe syntax for a physical option also depends on the DBMS. The option window in a Default Physical Options dialog box displays the syntax that is recognized by the target database. The following is an example of a syntactical difference for the tablespace option in different DBMS:

DBMS	Tablespace option syntax
Oracle 6.0 or higher	tablespace
Adaptive Server Anywhere	in

Tablespace and storage optionsWhen you select a tablespace or storage option in the option window of the Default Physical Options dialog box, a Question Mark button appears next to a dropdown listbox below the option window. Clicking this button opens the List of Tablespaces or the List of Storages dialog box, where you can add a new tablespace or storage to your model. You can then select this new tablespace or storage as a default value in the Default Physical Options dialog box.

Saving default valuesInitial default values are loaded into a WAM from a DEF file specific to a DBMS target.

For information on DEF files, see the appendix DEF File Basics.

You can save modified physical option default values in the WAM or in a CDF file. A CDF file is a customized DEF file. It is loaded into a new WAM, after the original DEF file. PowerDesigner creates a CDF file automatically when you save default physical options for all models.

The Default Physical Options dialog box has a Save For dropdown listbox, where you indicate how to save default physical option values.

You have the following choices:

Save for	Where saved	Application
Current Model	WAM	Current model only
All Models	CDF	All models with same target DBMS

Application to existing objectsIf you want to apply modified default physical options to existing objects in the WAM, you can select the All or the List radio buttons after making your changes. In either of these cases, the new default physical options will also apply to any objects of the selected type (table, index, primary key, foreign key, tablespace, or storage) that you subsequently create in the WAM.

If you select the List radio button, you can click the Question Mark button next to it. You open a dialog box for objects of the selected type, from which you choose the objects to which you want to apply the modified default physical options.

Generating default valuesThe default values you assign for physical options can be included in a database creation script that you generate from a WAM, or can be directly generated in the target database via ODBC. You must select the Use checkbox for each default value you want to generate.

You can view the script for physical options by clicking the Preview button in the Default Physical Options dialog box.

Physical option default values can also be generated from a database to a WAM via reverse engineering.

• To define default physical options:
  1. Select Database-->Default Physical Options.

     The Default Physical Options dialog box appears for the target database you have selected.

     The following example shows the dialog box that appears if you select the Oracle 7.3 DBMS for a target database.

     

  2. Click a tab for an object type.

     The available object types depend on the DBMS.

  3. Select an option in the option window.

     The selected option appears as a label below the option window.

     For some options, this label is followed by a textbox. For other options it is followed by a dropdown listbox, and for certain others it is followed by no box at all.

  4. Type or select a value for the selected option, if needed.

  5. Select the Use checkbox, if needed.

  6. Type other options in the Other Options multiline textbox.

     When you generate physical options to a database, the text you type for other options is generated in a separate line following all physical option values that you enter.

  7. Select an Apply To radio button.

  8. Click OK.