Explorer diagram

The Explorer Diagram shows a graphical view of your data source metadata. Use the Explorer Diagram to explore your metadata and view the relationships between objects.

To access the Explorer Diagram, select one or more objects in the Explorer Tree. Then, click the Explorer Diagram icon located above the Explorer Tree.

In the Explorer Diagram window, you can do the following:

View objects and relationships.
Change the layout of objects to either star layout or standard tree layout.
Create a preliminary star schema based on any table containing facts.
Zoom in or out
Change the settings for the diagrams.

There are two ways of using the Explorer Diagram. From the Explorer Tree, you can select a subset of objects that you are interested in and add them to the Explorer Diagram. From the Explorer Tree, you can also add all the objects to the Explorer Diagram. You can then keep the objects you are interested in and remove the rest. Use the Show Related Tables and Remove Tables menu items to create a view of just the objects you want to explore. The diagram is a read-only view of your data source metadata. When you add or remove tables, you are only modifying the diagram. You are not making changes to the data source.

Use the diagram menu options to explore relationships to other objects. To access diagram menu options, select an object in the Explorer Diagram and right-click or use the toolbar. Right-click a table to select the option to view the diagram as a star or tree layout around that table. You can also access some of the diagram menu options using the icons.

You can create a preliminary star schema by selecting any one table in the Explorer Diagram. Right-click on it and select Generate a Star Schema from this Table to create a full star schema design.

You can dock the Explorer Diagram onto the workspace by clicking the docking button. From the docked window, you have the option of splitting your screen horizontally or vertically.

Use the Options dialog box to customize the default diagram settings. For example, if your tables contain many columns or use long names, the data in the diagrams may not be fully displayed. Adjust the maximum table size options on the General tab to ensure that all your data is displayed. Use the Colors tab to modify default colors used to identify diagram characteristics.