This is a Help page for ERwin Spy

ERwin Spy Help page

## ERwin Spy Screen

### Use Model menu to select a model

Model menu displays title of models available for examination. Select a model title in the menu to bring model data for review.

### Use the left pane to review available model objects.

Double click on a node, expands the node and shows children objects if hey are available.

When a mouse cursor positioned over an object node, the object id will appears in a tip window. Use File/Options/Show Ids to turn this feature on.

### Use the right pane to review object properties.

Button on the right of objects pane populates the right pane with selected object properties. Type codes, flags and values for each property are shown. Each value displayed in the original format as well as formatted as a string.

Menu File/Options/Sync With Properties View allow to automatically update the view based on the current selection in the Object View on left.

### Help pane

The pane at the bottom of the screen shows help information and every time a new type of object selected in the right pane, associated help displayed in the window.

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## Model Objects

### Domain

A group of predefined logical and physical property characteristics that can be saved, selected, and then attached to attributes and columns.

Domain has a type: <unknown>, <default>, blob, string, number, datetime are intrinsic domain types. ERwin creates domains of this type along with a model. A client can create own domains. These domains will have <Regular Domain> type.

Following are some of domain properties:

‘Type’ – as mentioned above are either intrinsic domain types created by ERwin or <Regular Domain> for user defined domains.

‘Domain Name’ or ‘Domain Physical Name’ depend on the type of a model. This property holds a domain name.

‘Parent Domain’ is a reference to a parent domain.

### Default Value

An object referred by a column property that sets a default or initial entry in a column if a user does not enter a value. A column can be assigned different default values for the server and client.

### Bitmap

This object stores information about bitmaps that could be assigned to represent entities, attributes, and domains graphically.

### Entity

Represents a set of real or abstract things (people, places, events, and so on) that have common attributes or characteristics. An entity is the logical equivalent to a table.

‘Type’: an entity can be either an independent entity or a dependent entity. Available values are:

Independent, Dependent, View, Summary, Complete, Incomplete, Inclusive and Inclusive incomplete

### Attribute

Represents a type of characteristic or property associated with a set of real or abstract things (people, places, events, and so on). An attribute is the logical equivalent to a column.

The following are some of properties for attribute:

‘Type’ - available values are: Primary Key, Non-Key, and Derived.

‘Name’ – an attribute name.

‘Parent Domain’ is a reference to a parent domain.

### Key Group

A key group is a logical modeling tool that you use to identify relationships between entities that are implemented as foreign keys. You can also use key groups to identify potential primary keys or alternate keys for use in the physical model.

### Relationship

Represents connections, links, or associations between entities and tables.

The following are some of properties for relationship:

‘Type’ – relationships are available of the following types: identifying, non-identifying, many-to-many, subtype and derived.

‘Relationship Parent Entity’ – a reference on a parent entity in the relationship

‘Relationship Child Entity’ – a reference on a child entity in the relationship

### Subject Area

A named set of entities. ERwin includes all entities in the model in a subject area named Main. You can create subject areas to organize a model into manageable subsets of entities for modeling and presentation purposes. You can create subject areas by including entities from other subject areas and by including entire subject areas. You can, for example, include the Customer Information subject area in the Sales subject area. Then any changes you make in the Customer Information subject area, such as deleting entities, are also made in the Sales subject area since it includes the Customer Information subject area.

### Stored Display

An alternative presentation of a subject area or model that highlights a particular aspect of the total data structure. A stored display includes all the objects in the parent subject area or model, but the objects may be positioned differently and the diagram window can be set to a different display level.

### History Information

Track and stores changes made to an associated object.