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Modifying a Diagram

Once you've saved the initial diagram, you might want to move items around to make more sense structurally.

Resequencing Modules

Once you have created your diagram, you might want to resequence certain modules under the parent. To do so, click the Reposition icon. Select the module you want to resequence. Drag it into the module you want to follow it and then release the button.

TIP

When you're making a module the last module, there is no room on the menu for it at the end. Instead, make it the second-to-last module; then, move the last module in front of it.

Moving a Module

Sometimes, it makes sense to move a module from one area of the diagram to another. To reparent a module, click the Relocate icon. Select the module you want to move. Drag the cursor to the new parent and release the button or drag it to empty space to make it an orphan.

Delete a Module and its Slave Modules

If you delete a parent module from the diagram, the slave modules hook up to the parent above their original parent. To delete the entire chain, use the Delete Association icon. Click the icon and select the parent module you want to delete. The module and all its slave modules are deleted.

Consolidating

You can make changes to a module's definition or its point in the structure in either the Module Structure Diagrammer or RON. To consolidate, choose Edit Consolidate. At this point, you can choose whether to consolidate a specific module or the entire diagram.

Decompose and Recompose

As you add slaves to parent modules, they make the diagram larger and larger. Sometimes, you want to look at the diagram at a higher level and ignore the lower level. If a parent has a minus sign to the right of it, you can recompose it. If a parent has a plus sign to the right of it, you can decompose it in order to see more modules. To decompose an item, click the Collapse icon. To decompose an item to its lowest level, click the Collapse All icon. To recompose a decomposed item, click the Expand icon. To recompose an item and all the items below it, click the Expand All icon.

Changing Diagram Layout

The same three types of diagram layout are available. These are similar in appearance to the layout of the functional hierarchies:

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• Vertical: All modules display vertically on the diagram.
• Horizontal: All modules display horizontally, with each level displaying vertically.
• Hybrid: A combination of vertical and horizontal that seems the most appealing based on the structure.

To choose a specific layout type, select the icon: Horizontal, Vertical, or Hybrid.

You can also choose a structure for an area of the diagram from a parent down. Select the parent of the area you want to restructure. Then, select the Horizontal icon or the Vertical icon.

Figure 32.17.
The Diagram
Preferences screen.

Color , fonts, and line widths are also available as in all the Designer/2000 tools. Additionally, use the Preferences dialog (shown in Figure 32.17) to specify your preferences.

Ready to Generate

Once you are satisfied with your diagram, you are ready to generate. Click the Generate icon. You see the generate screen. For more information on using the generator, see Chapter 33.

NOTE

If your diagram starts at a menu level, the generator generates a menu. You need to link this menu to an Oracle form in order to use the menu.

Summary

The fact that many of the tools in Designer/2000 use similar icons and share a number of properties makes the design process easier to learn and can make all your design diagrams conform to specific patters of color or shading to connect them and help make them easier to read and follow. This chapter should have given you an overview of several good modeling and design tools. You should now feel comfortable experimenting and creating useful diagrams for the entities, relationships, and dataflow of your system.

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