Data Modeler: Naming

Question

OK guys, I'm struggling.
I've watched the on-line tutorials, read the white papers (especially "Naming Standardization"), and looked through the help pages. There are so many options for controlling naming that I think I'm lost in the trees trying to find the forest. Between the name, short name, synonym, synonym to display, preferred abbreviation, naming rules, glossaries, naming standards, templates, object name prefixes, name abbreviations, name translations, design rules, and classification types, I'm a bit overwhelmed.
I'd like to take this logical model:
| facility category |
facility category identifier <PK>
     1:1
      |
      |
      |
     0:M
| facility |
facility identifier <PK>
facility category id <FK>and create the following relational model:
| t_fac_cat |
fac_cat_id <PK>
  1:1
   |
   |
   |
  0:M
| t_fac |
fac_id <PK>
fac_cat_id <NN,FK>which, in turn, generates this DDL:
create table t_fac (
     fac_id integer  not null ,
     fac_cat_id integer  not null ) ;
alter table t_fac add constraint pk_fac primary key ( fac_id ) ;
create table t_fac_cat ( fac_cat_id integer  not null ) ;
alter table t_fac_cat add constraint pk_fac_cat primary key ( fac_cat_id ) ;
alter table t_fac
    add constraint fk_fac_cat_2_fac foreign key ( fac_cat_id )
    references t_fac_cat ( fac_cat_id ) ;Note: I could live with the relational model table names not being prefixed with a 't_' as long as the DDL includes it.
I think the tool has the ability to do what I want, but I'm missing how all the parts fit together to enable me to accomplish my goal.
Does anyone have a simple approach that might decrease the learning curve a bit?

Answer 1

Well,
I'll try to explain it in several posts.
I. Name abbreviations tool
this is something separate from big picture but can be useful in some cases.
1. Create a text file containing <name,abbreviation> pairs - name forum.csv and content:
facility,fac
category,cat
identifier,id
2. Set following template for PK name (it's in Naming standard>Templates):
pk_{table}
3. Set following template for FK column name:
{ref column}
4. Set following template for FK name:
fk_{parent abbr}_2_{child abbr}
2), 3) and 4) are according your example
5. Create tables (not entities) in relation model using full names, no abbreviations
following DDL is generated:
CREATE TABLE facility
facility_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL ,
facility_category_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE facility
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_facility PRIMARY KEY ( facility_identifier ) ;
CREATE TABLE facility_category
facility_category_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE facility_category
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_facility_category PRIMARY KEY ( facility_category_identifier ) ;
-- ERROR: FK name length exceeds maximum allowed length(30)
ALTER TABLE facility
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_facility_category_2_facility FOREIGN KEY
facility_category_identifier
REFERENCES facility_category
facility_category_identifier
6. Invoke "Name abbreviations" and select forum.csv file, leave the rest as it is, press ok - message appear with list of changed objects and here is the new status:
CREATE TABLE fac
fac_id INTEGER NOT NULL ,
fac_cat_id INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE fac
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_fac PRIMARY KEY ( fac_id ) ;
CREATE TABLE fac_cat
fac_cat_id INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE fac_cat
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_fac_cat PRIMARY KEY ( fac_cat_id ) ;
ALTER TABLE fac
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_fac_cat_2_fac FOREIGN KEY
fac_cat_id
REFERENCES fac_cat
fac_cat_id
7. Change abbreviations with related full name - it's possible to restore initial status if abbreviations in file (forum.csv in our example) are unique - they are in our case;
- repeat step 6) but now for "Direction" select "Abbreviation to name".
8. Well, if we want to have long names for table and columns (i.e. table "facility_category" and column "facility_category_identifier") we'll get into problem with names for objectors that use these names in their name template (see 'Naming standard>Templates"). We can use table abbreviation and column abbreviation in name templates however we have to define these abbreviations. This can be done manually using dialogs for each table/column or "Name abbreviations" toll can be used.
8.1 change template for primary key to *pk_{table abbr}* - (we already set template for FK as fk_{parent abbr}_2_{child abbr}
8.2 Invoke "Name abbreviations" and select forum.csv file, and select "Abbreviations" for "Scope"; press ok - report is shown for applied changes
9. We need to generate names according changed templates and defined abbreviations. This could be done at relation model level or at table level - at least this is the idea however bug was introduced in patch 1 (build 584) and "Apply naming standards for key and Constraints" at model level works only for foreign key columns. So, we have to apply naming templates at table level. And new DDL is:
CREATE TABLE facility
facility_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL ,
facility_category_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE facility
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_fac PRIMARY KEY ( facility_identifier ) ;
CREATE TABLE facility_category
facility_category_identifier INTEGER NOT NULL
ALTER TABLE facility_category
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_fac_cat PRIMARY KEY ( facility_category_identifier ) ;
ALTER TABLE facility
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_fac_cat_2_fac FOREIGN KEY
facility_category_identifier
REFERENCES facility_category
facility_category_identifier
10. Logical model - at this point I will transform tables to entities in relational model in order to have starting point for next example. You can check that table abbreviation goes to "Short Name" for entity
Philip