Using the Toolbars
Toolbar buttons offer quick access to common features of ER/Studio. All functionality accessible from toolbar buttons are also accessible from menus and accessing shortcut menus. ER/Studio toolbars are context-sensitive and therefore become active or inactive (grayed-out) according to what you are doing.
There are six toolbars in ER/Studio: Application, Diagram, Modeling, Layout & Alignment, Drawing Shapes, and Repository. We’ll describe each in this section, with the exception of the Repository toolbar, because the Repository is a separate tool. The toolbars can be displayed or hidden through these commands:
|
Menu |
Toolbar |
Explorer |
Shortcut Key |
Shortcut Menu |
|
View, followed by the toolbar name |
n/a |
n/a |
<ALT + V>, followed by the letter for the appropriate toolbar name |
n/a |
|
Become an ER/Studio Hotshot: · ER/Studio allows you to move toolbars anywhere on the ER/Studio workspace. You can also dock toolbars anywhere on the perimeter of the workspace. To undock a toolbar, click and hold the toolbar handle (the four vertical dots to the left of the toolbar) and drag it to a new location. To dock a toolbar, double-click the title bar of the toolbar. | ||||
The Application toolbar contains icons for creating, opening, and saving models, as well as icons for some handy tools such as the naming standard utility. Figure 3.2 shows each of the icons on this toolbar along with their name.
Figure 3.2 Application toolbar
The Diagram toolbar contains icons for selecting and viewing objects. Figure 3.3 shows each of the icons on this toolbar along with their name.
Figure 3.3 Diagram toolbar
The Modeling toolbar contains icons for creating objects. The tools available on the Modeling toolbar depend on whether your data model is logical or physical, relational or dimensional, and the designated platform for the physical data models. More on these types of models in Section III. Figure 3.4 shows each of the icons on this toolbar along with their name.
Figure 3.4 Modeling toolbar
The Layout & Alignment toolbar contains icons to quickly and accurately arrange your entire diagram or a subset of entities. More on this toolbar in Chapter 4, Entities. Figure 3.5 shows each of the icons on this toolbar along with their name.
Figure 3.5 Layout & Alignment toolbar
The Drawing Shapes toolbar contains icons for different shapes such as rectangles and lines. Figure 3.6 shows each of the icons on this toolbar along with their name.
Figure 3.6 Drawing Shapes toolbar
Drawing shapes have no fixed meaning in your diagrams, so you can determine how they are used and interpreted. They can represent objects in your model that are not commonly represented by data modeling syntax, as well as communicate the concept of containment, such as grouping objects by subject area or status (e.g. “The box around these five entities indicates that they will be implemented in Phase II.”).