Database reverse-engineering

Overview

Reverse-engineering can be used to quickly populate a model from table structures stored in a schema.
During this process, entities are created with attributes named after the column names.

This process connects to a database schema using a platform datasource that must be previously configured in Semarchy xDM.

Reverse-engineering results

Reverse-engineering is provided as a one-shot method to quickly populate the initial model from a database schema, and has the following results:

  • The entities created are by default basic entities.

  • The foreign keys are not reverse-engineered as references in the model.

The reverse-engineering process is not incremental. Changes made to the table and columns are not taken into account if you repeat the reverse-engineering process.

Reverse-engineer a database

To perform a database reverse-engineering:

  1. Select the Entities node in the model.

  2. Right-click and select Database Reverse-Engineering. The Reverse-Engineer Tables to Entities appears.

  3. Select the Datasource to Reverse-Engineer from the list.

  4. Click Next. The list of tables and columns is reverse-engineered. An Entity Preview page shows the list of tables and columns and the suggested logical names for these.

    • The Logical Name column corresponds to the internal names of the entities and attributes generated by the reverse-engineering process.

    • The Physical Name column is filled in with the physical name of the table and column in the database.

    • The Entity Type defaults to Basic.

  5. Select only the entities and attributes you want to reverse-engineer.

  6. Modify the logical and physical names for the entities and attributes, and the type of the entities.

  7. Press Finish. The entities and attributes are created according to your definition.