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The sample application models a Travel Agency. The picture shows four tables and their relationships: PERSON, TOUR, SCHEDTOUR and RESERVATION. The general description of a tour is stored in the TOUR table. Data about when tours actually take place is stored in the SCHEDTOUR table. Data about persons in the role of either customer, guide, member of staff dealing with a customer or person making the reservation is stored in a table named PERSON. Table RESERVATION contains data about reservations. (F) indicates foreign key columns. (V) indicates virtual columns.
There are many ways of exploring and accessing structure definitions. The step-by-step instructions below are just some examples.
To explore tables in the data model (example):
| 1. | Double-click the Definer item in the Binder. |
| 2. | Click the Model and Rules tab in the catalog. |
| 3. | Click the + sign of the Tables Tree View Node. |
| The Tree expands displaying icons representing the tables defined in the repository. |
| 4. | Double-click on the PERSON icons, then take a good look at the specification of this table and its columns (browse through columns using arrow keys). |
| 5. | Close the Table Object window, then click the Relationship tree node. |
| 6. | Double-click on one of the icons, then take a good look at the specification of the relationship (repeat this procedure for every table). |
| 7. | Close the Relationship window, then click the Constraints tree node. |
| 8. | Double-click on one of the icons, then take a good look at the SQL rule specification, then close the window. |
| 9. | If you feel comfortable enough with the data model continue, else take some more time. |
To explore relationships in which the PERSON table is involved as a parent (example):
| 1. | In the Tables window, place the cursor on the primary key column in the lower part of the window. The primary key of PERSON is the PERSON_ID column. |
| 2. | Get the related list for this column (choose Box, Related List from the menu bar, click on the Related List icon on the ribbon or press the F9 shortcut key). |
| 3. | In the Related List, select "Relationships in which this Column is a Parent Column", then click OK. |
You can alternatively choose Define, Relationships from the menu bar and issue a query with a search condition on the Parent Column field of the Relationships definition window, or access relationships by expanding the Relationships node on the Model and Rules tab of the catalog.
To explore business rules (constraints) in which table PERSON is involved (example):
| 1. | In the Tables window, place the cursor on the PERSON record. |
| 2. | Choose Special, SQL Object Containing Tables from the menu bar. A related list appears with all constraints in which table PERSON is involved. |
| 3. | Choose Special, This Constraint from the menu bar to get more details on the current constraint. This window is synchronized with the previous windows, so that you can browse. |
You can alternatively choose Define, Constraints from the menu bar or access constraint information by expanding the Constraints node on the Model and Rules tab of the catalog.
Next Step:
Step 6: Defining a Simple HTML Batch Job That Extracts Data from One Table
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