SQL Data Modeler bugs (or only misused?)

Question

Hi,
I think I ran into some modeler bugs and missing features ...
BTW: is there a place where all the known bugs are listed?
* although "no action" was selected in "General Options - Model - Relational" for foreign keys all the foreign keys are created with
"not deferrable" (well, why not, if it makes the modeler happy) and
"on delete set null" (thats not what I'd call "no action")
* DDL statements for indexes lack the schema name
* newly generated foreign relations are not always displayed in the relational model
* DDL preview for syncing physical model with relational does not (always) work (well - so far it worked once)
steps taken: File - Import - Data dictionary, selected objects for import, correct target model chosen, "swap target model" checked
* foreign keys in unique constraints are always set to "not null" (in logical and physical model)
* no trigger/constraint created for ARCs (I am not sure about this, but IIRC I did not see anything making an ARC really work)
Or do ARCs simply not work yet?
* modeler hangs sometimes (e.g. when opening "Save as" dialog etc.)
* dialogs are opened outside visible pane when the position of monitors is changed (the dialogs seem to remember their last position)
* sequences (physical model withing relational model) are loosing their user
* missing multi schema capabilities :-(
* the layout capabilities - pardon my french - suck
Especially that the boxes and lines seem to wander around from one usage to the next (entities aligned with grid - next start the entities are no longer aligned).
And if you ever need to save/export the model somewhere else all the references stick to a single connection point.
Not to mention a simple move of a box ...
Thank you for your effort
Peter
Edited by: stueckl on Sep 3, 2009 9:41 PM

Answer 1

Hi Philip,
sorry for not answering quite a time ...
Just some prerequisites ;-) ...
- Target database: Oracle 10g R2 (10.2.0.4)
- Modeler version 2.0.0 build 570
- model creation method: logical model, relational model, (physical model), Database objects
- OS WindowsXP German, SP3
- JDK Sun Java 1.6, build 1.6.0_16-b01
* nullable FK column in unique keys
meanwhile I found out, how to achieve that - but IMHO the steps to take are quite cumbersome
1) make a FK relation with "target optional" checked on the Cardinality page of the FK properties
2) open entity properties, check attributes of FK column (it says: nulls allowed - the checkbox cannot be changed)
3) got to unique identifiers page and add a unique identifier
4) open the unique identifier property dialog and add the foreign key
5) close both property dialogs
6) reopen the entity property dialog, check attributes of FK column (it says: no nulls allowed - the checkbox cannot be changed)
7) check the FK properties: it still says: target optional (it is checked)
8) check the graphical representation of the FK key: dashed line at target entity (meaning: optional)
9) create the relational model: the FK column is created with "not null"
10) go back to logical model
11) change FK property to: target mandatory (uncheck "target optional")
12) create relational model
13) change FK property to: target optional (check "target optional")
14) create relational model
15) SUCCESS! the foreign key column is now nullable
BUT: you never ever must change ANY of the entities properties or you must redo steps 11 to 15
* "no action" of FKs
I will look into that. Thanks for the suggestions.
* DDL statements for indexes
Sorry for being imprecise ... I was talking about automatically generated indexes (for unique and foreign keys).
Those don't show up in the index listing of the tables in the physical model (probably, because they are automated).
But why do I have to set the default schema for indexes again? The tables get the schema information for the default schema (General Options - Model - Physical) but not the indexes :-(.
Generated DDL snippet:
CREATE TABLE ZCBC1ST1.ZCBRAGIT_AGENDAITEM ( ...
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX ZCBSAgIt_U1X ON ZCBC1ST1.ZCBRAGIT_AGENDAITEM ( ...
Same for FK indexes. And the unique index property page in the physical table section does not let me specify a schema owner (OK for me, because the unique key is created by an "alter table" statement).
* ARC trigger
My bad - I only checked "DDL preview" of the table, which doesn't show the ARC trigger. The complete generation does. Sorry.
* "missing multi schema capabilities" and "sequences loose owner"
Please excuse a newbie blush.
I just found out I can change the table owner using the physical model capabilities (I guessed I used way too long PowerDesigner V6 ;-) ).
BUT ...
The newly created user does not "survive" a "save all - close all - open" sequence on "Physical Models" ... only closing the app or saving the Oracle10g physical model makes the user persistent.
And also ... if the new table or sequence owner is the first in the drop down list on the property dialog, the user is replaced by an automatically created new user (e.g. User4, User5, and so on).
Example:
* I have three defined users and the standard "MDSys" and "Public".
* My three users are named ZCBC1ST1, ZCBCCore and ZCBCDial (those names are because i need to follow naming rules).
* ZCBC1ST1 is my default physical model user, which was set in "General Options"
* ZCBC1ST1 is the first in each drop down list.
* I have some sequences named Seq1, Seq2, Seq3 and Seq4
* Seq1 was given to ZCBC1ST1, Seq2 to MDSys, Seq3 to ZCBCCore and Seq4 to ZCBCDial
* saved and closed the Oracle10g physical model and reopened it
* Seq1 now has User4, but the other have still the users they were attached to
The same applies to tables - I am unable to give a table to the first entry of the user list.
Solution I found to this problem ...
1) remove the default physical user in "General Options" (and never ever set it again)
2) create a explicit user (with the name of the prior default user)
3) manually reattach all objects to this user sigh
4) so far not a problem with automatically generated indexes, because they don't use the default user anyway
* newly generated FKs not shown in relational model
I had this odd behaviour several times.
1) Logical model: adding a new FK relation
2) giving the reference-column a pretty relational name
3) generating the relational model
4) rather often the new column shows up in the relational model but the arrow for the new foreign key does not.
5) only after i open the properties dialog of the missing foreign key the arrow is shown in the model
6) happens often to sub-models - less often to the top-model
* model syncing (Oracle10g with modeler)
As Ms. Harper stated in one of her posts (and she even made a video tutorial IIRC) it should be possible to sync a Modeler model with the Oracle10g contents.
AFAIR the tutorial showed only how to sync the model with the contents but not vice versa.
I tried to achieve this checking the "swap target model" check box (that's the important thingy) of the import dialog. Everything worked fine besides there is only a preview of DDL statements available but no "Merge" or "Create DDL Statement". And exactly that preview doesn't seem to work anymore. No matter what objects I select, I am unable to see any DDL statements to upgrade the Database.
I don't know why, but it worked again just before. I will keep an eye on this. ;-)
So much for now ...
Thank you for your effort
Peter
Edited by: stueckl on Sep 9, 2009 1:03 PM