Month Year

August 2001

Issue: 21

Editor's Notes: MS VSEA ORM CASE
by Scot A. Becker

Microsoft's New Database Modeling Tool (Part 2)
by Dr. Terry Halpin

This is the second in a series of articles introducing the Visio-based database modeling component of Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise Architect. Part 1 discussed how to create a new ORM source model, add sentence types, basic internal constraints and examples in the fact editor, drag fact types onto the drawing window from the business rules editor, and save the model. It also explained how to map an ORM model to a logical database model by creating a database model project, adding the ORM source model, and then building the logical model. Finally it showed how to generate the physical database model from the logical model by selecting the target DBMS and generating a DDL script. Part 2 discusses how to use the verbalizer, mark an object type as independent, objectify an association, and add external uniqueness, inclusive-or and value constraints to an ORM source model.

Creating Conceptual Source Components
by Patrick Hallock

The upcoming version of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (Enterprise Architect edition) includes the new version of Visio and the newer ORM software. (After three years of waiting we now have a revised set of software!) One of the features is the ability to create many source documents. Each source document can be either an ORM model or an ER model or a combination of both. This article focuses on using ORM source documents to model reusable components. This article is short and simple, but it demonstrates the idea.

A Visual Studio Enterprise Architect
ORM Primer for Experienced VisioModeler Users
By Scot A. Becker

Microsoft is releasing a new Object-Role Modeling (ORM) tool as part of the Visual Studio Enterprise Architect (VSEA) package. Picking up where Visio Enterprise 2000 left off, this new tool now supports all of the features of the InfoModeler/VisioModeler tools, including all graphical (ORM) symbols. This article is intended to introduce this new tool to experienced InfoModeler/VisioModeler users. It is hoped that this article will allow the reader to quickly become acquainted with the way the new tool operates.

Implementing a Generic Attribute Domain Validation Model (Part 2)
By Adrian Miley

As mentioned in part 1, a major limitation of the simple "Code : Description" version of the Domain Entity is that it only caters for values existing at a point in time, that is if a Code is valid then it is assumed to have always been and always will be valid and conversely once a code becomes invalid (and is removed from the Domain) then its absence logically means that it has never been valid.

Achieving Workflow Flexibility through Taming the Chaos
By Maxim Khomyakov and Ilia Bider

Traditionally, flexibility in workflow is introduced by moving from the rigid predefined control flow to permitting alternative patterns. The paper propose a reverse approach to achieving flexibility, namely to start with chaos and then impose restrictions. This approach employs an untraditional view on business process which is regarded not as a "flow of work", but as a trajectory in the space of all possible states. The execution control in the proposed approach is realized via the notion of valid state, were a state includes activities currently planned for the given process. The flexibility is achieved by breaking the rules of planning into three categories: obligations, prohibitions, and recommendations.

Dr. John Sharp
Analysis Problem
Solution for Last Issue's Analysis Problem