Other Tools

VisioModeler Fix for Win 7 and Vista

David — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:22:28 GMT

This is a re-post from an IT education list I belong to. I tested it and it solved my problem. VisioModeler does not work in Windows 7 and Vista, however there is a fix. 1. Download and install VisioModeler from: http://download.microsoft.com/download/visio2000enterprise/ORMtool/3.1/WIN98/EN-US/MSVM31.EXE 2. Download this DLL: ftp://ftp.mackichan.com/download/sh33w32.dll 3. Go to the VisioModeler program directory (like C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft VisioModeler 3.1\Program or C:\Program Files\Microsoft VisioModeler 3.1\Program) and overwrite SH33W32.DLL with the file you downloaded in step 2. 4. Run VisioModeler. Mine worked fine at this point, but if it fails to run, proceed to step 5, otherwise, finish here. 5. Download and run shfix.exe from: http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/229251.htm 6. Extract shw32.dll from the executable. There are only two files in there. 7. Rename the DLL to sh33w32.dll 8. Go to the VisioModeler program directory (like C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft VisioModeler 3.1\Program or C:\Program Files\Microsoft VisioModeler 3.1\Program) and overwrite SH33W32.DLL with the file you extracted in step 6 and renamed in step 7. 9. Run VisioModeler. Credit for these instructions goes to Luke Vear, a student in grade 12 Virtual Schooling IPT (who actually made an EXE to do the patching for you - you can download it from http://www.acromos.com/vssipt/VisioModelerFix.zip if you wish, but it's not required). The first 4 steps got VisioModeler working on my PC at home running Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Regards, Richard Kelly Stanthorpe SHS Virtual Schooling Service

ORM modeling no longer supported in Microsoft Visio, how are others proceeding?

mtmccor — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:30:41 GMT

My understanding is that Microsoft does not plan to support ORM modeling in versions of Vision after either 2005 or 2008. It appears they are dropping the Visio for Enterprise Architect line. I was wondering if there are others out there impacted by this and what path forward are they taking? I was considering looking at NORMA, but I wanted to find out what recommendations others might have.

Thanks

jOOQ on The ORM Foundation?

lukas.eder — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:23:34 GMT

Hello,

I am the developer of jOOQ, a Java database abstraction framework. I was wondering whether jOOQ might be an interesting tool for discussion on your website, even if it is not exactly an ORM in the classic meaning (as in mapping objects to the relational world > ORM). Instead, jOOQ uses a reverse engineering paradigm (as in mapping relational entities to objects > "ROM").

http://www.jooq.org

An example query:

create.select(TAuthor.FIRST_NAME, TAuthor.LAST_NAME, create.count())
      .from(T_AUTHOR)
      .join(T_BOOK).on(TBook.AUTHOR_ID.equal(TAuthor.ID))
      .where(TBook.LANGUAGE.equal("DE"))
      .and(TBook.PUBLISHED.greaterThan(parseDate('2008-01-01')))
      .groupBy(TAuthor.FIRST_NAME, TAuthor.LAST_NAME)
      .having(create.count().greaterThan(5))
      .orderBy(TAuthor.LAST_NAME.asc().nullsFirst())
      .limit(1, 2)
      .forUpdate();

Cheers,
Lukas

ORM Designer icons

zitos1_so — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:36:16 GMT

Thanks for the reply

My job is to make the transformation from ORM to UML.

I am developing a perfil_ORM correspondence from ORM to UML on "Enterprise Architects"and it must enter the "ORM designer icons. " if not, I have to do in the editor from EA (shape ...).

NORMA has a file .dll with "ORM Designer icons" as icons of Microsoft?

If yes, i can import this file into AE and make the profile-ORM.

Tks

Universidade do Algarve - Faro, Portugal.

Faculty of Science and Technology.

ORM Designer Icons

zitos1_so — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 00:00:06 GMT

Hi,

I am Master student and I'm modeling in Enterprise Architects in ORM to UML transformation.
how can I import ORM Designer Icons, or where I can get file ORM Designer Icons???

Tks.

tkz-orm - a new way to draw ORM2 diagrams with TikZ instead of NORMA

jakob.voss — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:42:47 GMT

I have released tkz-orm, a LaTeX package to draw ORM2 diagrams by using the TikZ package. See here for an example and here for the documentation. You need the CVS version of TikZ in order to use tkz-orm (a build is available at texamples). The full package is free software / open source, so you don't need any commercial softwarelike Visual Studio in order to create ORM2 diagrams- and you can hack it Of course feedback is very appreciated.

ORM2 Exchange Language

jakob.voss — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:56:18 GMT

Is there an official (!) exchange language for ORM2 or are there plans to create and support (!) such a language? I know the paper "A markup language for ORM business rules" by Demey, Jarrar, and Meersman and surely each tool (NORMA, ORM Lite/GanttPV, DogmaModeler etc.) has it own file formats but without standardized exchange language to import and export model between different tools, you are stuck to one tool - and you end up in modeling in a proprietary tool language instead of ORM. Which ORM exchange language standard should I build on to create my own ORM-based tools? Is there any interest of exchange at all in the ORM community or do you prefer everyone having "his own" dialect of ORM ;-) ?

VisoModeler - How to add constraints to subtype?

charles.wilt — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:31:22 GMT

Does VisoModeler support the"mutually exclusive", "exhaustive" and "both" constraint symbols for subtype links?

If so, how to put them on?

The "exclusion constraint" on the toolbar seem to only be for roles.

Thank you,

Charles

ORM2 Metamodel

Josue Portal — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:56:33 GMT

Hi, What is the most accepted ORM2 metamodel? Thanks,

What are the "must have" features for an ORM tool?

BrianC — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:08:01 GMT

What are the essential features that an ORM tool must have? Obviously it must be able to draw ORM diagrams, but I think we all expect more from an ORM tool than that. What is your "must have" list?

My reason for asking is that yesterday we released the v0.11 beta of ORM LITE. The new release adds a relational table diagram, a much improved (but still incomplete) Rmap algorithm, and better SQL generation. We would like to ask you to take a look at the tool. It is available in the Library. The documentation explains what is and is not implemented. Our goal is for ORM-LITE to become a powerful introduction to ORM. To make focused improvements to the tool, we need to know: what essential features are missing? and what is the most urgent need?

Please share your thoughts on this. What is your "must have" features list for an ORM tool?

Thanks for your help!

Sample Data support and Key-board shortcut documentation in ORM-LITE v0.11a

BrianC — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:02:18 GMT

Sample data is the major addition to the latest beta release of ORM-LITE. Two factors drove this addition. First, the ability to display sample value tables in the diagram is an invaluable aid to explaining the uniqueness constraint notation. Second, the case for entering sample data is more compelling if the sample data can be use to populate a test database. We feel that sample data support will make it easier to test (and demonstrate) code generated to implement ORM constraints. While sample data SQL "insert" generation isn't supported yet, this enhancement lays the ground work.

Alex and I recently worked out the algorithm that we would like to use for the management of sample data. The core parts of the algorithm are implemented in this release. Each sample value object is tied to an object type. Sample data cells are tied to shared value objects. The order of display for sample data is tied to the preferred fact reading. Unused sample data objects (caused, for example, by typos) are automatically cleaned up. Future plans include the ability to display and edit the sample values of each object type and to enter sample data without adding a sample table to the diagram.

The ORM quick start documentation explained how to create diagrams with a mouse, but didn't include important keyboard shortcuts. The quickest method to enter a new fact is:

Shift-click on the canvas to create a new object type
Switch to the keyboard to enter the object type name
Type "(" to enter the reference mode
Press ctrl-r to start a fact type
Type the fact type predicate
Press ctrl-r to start another new object type
Enter the object type name

Other short cuts for object types (that are not yet included in the quick start documentation) are:

Type"$" to toggle between entity and value types
Type "*" to toggle derived
Type "+" to toggle semi-derived
Type "!" to toggle independent

VisoModeler - working with larger models that don't fit on a single page

charles.wilt — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:35:23 GMT

Hello again,

Still learning VisoModeler, I'm trying to reverse engineer a subset of our existing DB. I used Database-->Extract Physical Catelog to bring in about 20 tables into a new logical model. (Unfortunately, the DB doesn't have PK/FK constraints defined, that's all handled at the application level)

So far so good.

Except that the table diagram objects are pretty large, showing index usage ect, so that a single table takes up almost half a page.

I've used tools before that let your diagram be as large as you wanted, if you printed it, it would "tile" the diagram onto multiple physical pages. But VisoModeler seems tied to the physical page size and apparently you can't have a relationship between tables on different pages???

I figure I must be doing something wrong, but I have no idea what.

Help!

Thank you,

Charles

How to add Exclusion Constraint in VisioModeler?

charles.wilt — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:38:50 GMT

Good day to all,

Hopfully I'm posting this question in the right place.

I downloaded VisioModeler so I could use it to learn about ORM. For the most part, I'm having no problems. Except for the fact that I can't seem to figure out how to create an exclusion Constraint.

I select the "Exclusion Constraint" tool from the toolbar, click a role and get the (1:1), hold down shift and click another role and get the (1:2), but the "Accept Constraint" button on the tool bar remainsinactive and greyed out.

I've tried selecting one or both sides of both roles involved.

I've tried deleting an existing exclusion constraint from the Academic sample model, and recreating it.

No luck. What am I missing?

Thank you,

Charles Wilt

ActiveFacts project implements relational mapping for NORMA and CQL files

Clifford Heath — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:52:16 GMT

Over the weekend, I implemented RMap - the part that chooses which object types will be tables in a third-normal-form database. I had previously identified all possible absorption paths, so it's now a small step to emit columns, either foreign key fields where the referenced object is a table, or all absorbed fields where not, and using that, to emit SQL.

My example models are all emitting mappings that are either identical or superior(*) to those of NORMA. There may be cases that still fail, but I believe I have almost all possibilities covered, even the weird ones.

I was able to do this without resorting to binarizing the model, so the roles that are listed in my join paths are in all cases the same role objects that are covered by constraints, role references for readings, etc - which makes it much easier to incrementally adjust the mappings and to correlate operations between the relational and elementary forms. It also means that it's easy to emit constraint enforcement for all constraints that are mappable.

I can do this from either NORMA files or the CQL files that I can generate from them, though a couple of "known problems" with the CQL parser means that not all my models compile properly yet. I'll address those soon.

My metamodel so far has no indicator that a subtype should be partitioned, so that's not implemented, though subtype absorption or extension is possible using the "independent" role. Partition will also require the identification of subtype exhaustion. Anyhow, that's a small step.

My main next step is to emit SQL, for at least a couple of databases, and to annotate the generated Ruby so that the objects know how to construct queries. That should take me up to my presentation at the OSDC conference In Sydney on Dec 3.

(*) NORMA will sometimes absorb an AutoCounter field into a table that already has one, or will absorb the same AutoCounter into more than one place, which leads to processing errors. It also sometimes chooses the wrong end of a one-to-one, such as when it creates a "Name" table instead of an "Author" table in my Blog model. My implementation of Rmap doesn't have these errors. The entire implementation codebase of ActiveFacts is just 5000 lines of code, which is small enough to be able to make rapid progress. It's open source, and I invite your contributions.

Clifford Heath, Data Constellation.
Agile Information Management and Design.

Orphaned object types, how would you find them in ORM Lite? An example script.

BrianC — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:41:50 GMT

Recently Jim Ludden asked how he could find orphaned object types (object types in the model, but not in any diagram). He was asking about NORMA, but I thought it would be interesting to try to solve the same problem for ORM Lite by writing a script. The following is one possible solution. My guess is that the script reads enough like English to be readily understandable. What do you think? Is there a part of the script that is puzzling or that you think might not work?

------------

def PrintOrphans(project):
    objectTypesDisplayed = {} # all object types with graphics
    for diagram in project.GetList('Report'): # look at all reports in project
        if diagram.ReportType.PanelType != 'ORMDiagram':
            continue # ignore if not an ORM diagram
        for shape in diagram.GetGraphicList('ORMObjectTypeShape'):
            objectTypesDisplayed[shape.Target] = True # object type in diagram

    notInDiagram = 0 # count object types not in any diagram
    allObjectTypes = project.GetList('ORMObjectType')
    for objectType in allObjectTypes:
        if objectType not in objectTypesDisplayed:
            print "Object Type '%s' is not in any diagram" % objectType.Name
            notInDiagram += 1
    print "%d of %d object types were not in any diagram" % (
            notInDiagram, len(allObjectTypes) )

def Do(reportWindow):
    rid = reportWindow.ReportID # current report id
    report = Data.DBObject.GetObject('Report',rid)
    project = report.Project # the project that contains the report
    PrintOrphans(project)

Do(self) # 'self' refers to the current report window

------------

The ability to write scripts like this one is a major strength of ORM Lite.

Which ORM tool works with vistual studio express edition

prakash.surekha — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:50:09 GMT

I am working with visual studio express edition 2005 .i want to know which ORm tool will support visual studio express edition 2005.plz help

A new tool, the Constellation Query Language

Clifford Heath — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:06:30 GMT

Folk,

Some of you know that I am working on an implementation of a structured-text language in the ORM/SBVR family. After more than a year of work, I'd like to report some recent milestones.

The CQL Data Definition Language is complete but for most external constraints, which I'm working on completing now. I can dump any nORMa model to CQL, and I can generate Ruby code for an object-oriented API to manage the fact populations allowed by the model. I can also compile the CQL, emitting either the same CQL or the same Ruby code, except where the Ruby code depends on constraints that were not converted in the first instance. The generated Ruby code doesn't yet enforce any constraints other than those implied by its structure.

In some cases, nORMa models require additional readings or changes in the wording of readings to allow CQL to parse the input. For example, it's not legal to use names of existing concepts (entity types or value types) as linking words in a reading; such names may only be used where the implied concept is intended.

The generators make use of Ruby code to store a compiled model, and this code is itself generated from a nORMa (or CQL!) meta-model. My metamodel adopts relevant terminology from SBVR, so rather than use "model" or "schema", I use "vocabulary". I also use the term "concept" to denote a object type (entity type or value type). The metamodel also includes a number of extensions to the core ORM2 concepts, such as units for value types, ability to import (and alias concepts from) external vocabularies. These features aren't yet implemented in the CQL language yet. However, I believe that my metamodel is a suitable basis for evolving a shared understanding of fact orientation, and I'd welcome this discussion to be re-opened by anyone with an interest in improving it.

After completing the external constraints, I will implement relational mapping and conceptual queries (most query syntax is already recognised), and the generated Ruby data management code will be wired up to retrieve, modify and save data from the relational database.

In the meantime, I plan to make the nORMa->CQL converter available as a web service through my website http://dataconstellation.com. Until I do that, feel free to make contact with me by emailing cjh@dataconstellation.com, and send me an nORMa file if you want to know how your model will look in CQL.

At present, almost all of the implementation of CQL is open source, hosted on rubyforge.org as the ActiveFacts project. The Ruby version of these tools will always be open source, but in future, I envisage commercialising application generators for languages other than Ruby, so if you would take objection to helping me in such an endeavour, please refrain! I need some way to rationalise the many months of effort that have gone into the tools so far.

I'll follow up with a couple of simple examples of CQL, and leave it to you to comment.

'Enterprise Aware' - Rapid Predicate Reading Creation - Richmond

VictorMorgante — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:17:56 GMT

Hi all,

There's been a general call for 'Intellisense' like features in ORM tools, and Viev is responding to that and our own 'wants and needs' to provide (what we call..) 'Enterprise Aware' typing assistance throughout Richmond.

One of the best places to use this type of feature is when creating 'Predicate Readings' within ORM. We also think that this type of feature is in line with a 'Cost per Click' thesis (the less clicks to do the job, the more money you save).

The other reason is that we really want to push the envelope of what is possible and feasible within an ORM tool, so it challenges our coding skills too, which is a boon.

Anyway, we are really enthusiastic about the ability to just 'type' the predicate readings with intelligent assistance.

Here's a small video:

http://www.viev.com/resources/videos/RichmondDemo10.htm

I hope this is helpful and welcome information within the ORM community.

Best regards

Victor
Viev

General Disclaimer: Richmond is a commercial product and Viev Pty Ltd does not offer 'reward for suggestion'. Viev does however value feedback greatly. Viev offers beta-testing from time to time to qualified/registered beta-testers. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not offer suggestions to Viev Pty Ltd. If you would like to find out more about our beta test programme, please contact Viev at www.viev.com. Of course, a pat on the back is always welcome, so if you find anything in this post helpful, please let us know. Or simply send us a mail with your ideas, agreeing to these terms.

'(In-Model) Fact Tables' and Hot-Keys - Richmond

VictorMorgante — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:42:31 GMT

Hi all,

We wanted ORM models in Richmond to have '(in-model) Fact Tables', so that ORM models in Richmond look as close as possible to what you find in the literature (i.e. with 'Fact Tables' next to their respective 'Fact Types').

Here is a quick video demonstrating '(in-model) Fact Tables' and our ongoing commitment to the use of 'Hot-Keys' under a 'Cost-Per-Click' thesis ("the less clicks you need to do the job, the more money you save").

http://www.viev.com/resources/videos/RichmondDemo8.htm

We hope you like it and that this is welcome news to the ORM Community.

Best regards,
Victor
Viev

Auto-Arrangement, Zooming and Panning - Richmond

VictorMorgante — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:47:03 GMT

Hi all,

One of the most likeable features of nORMa (for me) is that it adopts ORM2 and can cram a lot of information in a very small space. Of course, this is by design of ORM2 and nORMa.

We want our customers to have the best, so we have implemented 'Zooming', 'Panning' and new features...'Auto-Layout' and 'Automatic Arrangement of Roles wihtin FactTypes'. The first two let you manage large models, the last two work on a 'Cost-Per-Click' thesis ("the less clicks to do the job, the more money you save").

Here's a quick video

http://www.viev.com/resources/videos/RichmondDemo7.htm

We hope you like it and that this is welcome news to the ORM Community.

Best regards
Victor
Viev

Rapid Fact Type Establishment - Richmond

VictorMorgante — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:27:25 GMT

Hi all,

We're working on a thesis within Richmond that is synonymous with the 'Cost Per Click' paradigm found in 'Call Centres'.
The readily accepted principal is that "each click of the mouse or keystroke costs money/time"; both of which are metrics which are constantly monitored in Call Centres, where time is critical and each click of the mouse is measured in orders of magnitude (depending on the size of the call centre) e.g. '1 click times 500 call centre agents= 500 clicks...at (say) 1 second per click...that's 500 seconds or 8 1/3 minutes in person/time per click (within an application)'.

The same paradigm is gaining foothold right across the IT&T spectrum, as evidenced by the abundance of 'code generators', 'reverse engineering tools' etc.
So, in short, we want a tool that is very easy to use, and quick.

Here's a sneak preview of 'Rapid Fact Type Establishment' in Richmond....

http://www.viev.com/resources/videos/RichmondDemo4.htm

Best regds

Victor
Viev

Validation of a physical model against a conceptual model

JParrish — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:47:50 GMT

I've been working a little on the idea of an application called SchemaCop.. which is to be for physical database models what the .NET application FxCop is for the .NET framework. I think anyone who has experienced working with an existing data model in the majority of cases will face models that lack normalization, referential integrity, and often lack the type of constraints necessary to enforce conceptual rules, i.e. value constraints.

My initial approach is to define the rules as SQL queries which are perceived as having a violation for each record returned. For instance:

"SELECT * FROM PATIENTS WHERE PTYPE NOT IN ('In-Patient', 'Out-Patient')"

This makes the task simple.. albeit limited to the accuracy of the SQL statement and limited to currently data sources that allow execution of SQL commands against them. In the end it is not much more than a glorified SQL script, but with some meta information about each rule, and some work at the GUI, I felt it was compelling enough to have one application that could load a set of rules, and run the rules against multiple data sources reporting back violations for each.

I've been following ORM as much as I can since VEA was integrated into the VS tools suite, and I've been very excited about the progress of NORMA. So.. naturally I thought that it would be great if there was any potential for NORMA to output a file that could be consumed by a program like I describe as at least a launching point for defining the rules to execute against a physical data model.

I don't really have any idea on how to go about that, and it's probably likely that there would be too much manual translation / mapping work to be effective but I thought I'd post this up for any suggestions anyway.

P.S. My sincere thanks to the developers of NORMA for their hard work. I hope to become more active with the project, and offer design work and at least some real world usage to provide feedback very soon.