Saving, Opening, Exporting, and Importing Designs

To store a design (or parts of a design) that you are working on, you can save or export it.

To use a design that had been saved, you can open it by clicking File, then Open. Opening a design makes all models and objects in the saved design available for you to work on. Any saved physical models are not initially visible in the object browser; however, you can make a physical model visible by right-clicking Physical Models under the desired relational model, selecting Open, and then specifying the database type (such as Oracle 11g).

To use a design that had been saved by Data Modeler, or exported or saved by another data modeling tool, you can import it by clicking File, then Import, then the type of design to be imported. Usually, you specify a file, and then use a wizard that enables you to control what is imported.

Any text file that you open or import must be encoded in a format supported by the operating system locale setting. For information about character encoding and locales, see Oracle Database Globalization Support Guide.

Related Topics

Importing a DDL File

Importing Cube Views Metadata

Importing from Microsoft XMLA

Importing an ERwin File

Importing from a Data Dictionary

Importing an Oracle Designer Model

Importing a Data Modeler Design

Importing a Domain

Importing a DDL File

Importing a DDL files enables you to create a relational model based on an existing database implementation. DDL files can originate from any supported database type and version. The file to be imported usually has the extension .ddl or .sql.

The import process creates a new relational model with the name of the imported DDL file and opens a physical model reflecting the source site.

Importing Cube Views Metadata

Importing Cube Views metadata enables you to create a multidimensional model based on an existing implementation, as reflected in a specified XML file.

Importing from Microsoft XMLA

Importing from Microsoft XMLA enables you to create a multidimensional model stored in the Microsoft XMLA file format.

Importing an ERwin File

Importing an ERwin file enables you to capture models from the ERwin modeling tool. Specify the XML file containing definitions of the models to be imported.

Importing from a Data Dictionary

Importing from a data dictionary enables you to create a relational model and a physical model based on an existing database implementation. The data dictionary can be from any supported database type and version.

In the wizard for importing from a data dictionary, you must either select an existing database connection or create (add) a new one, and then follow the instructions to select the schema or database and the objects to be imported.

After you import from a data dictionary, you can edit the relational and physical models as needed, and you can reverse engineer the logical model from the relational model.

Importing an Oracle Designer Model

Importing an Oracle Designer model enables you to create a relational model and a physical model based on an existing Oracle Designer model. You can create a connection to an Oracle Designer repository and import the entities, tables, and domains from a workspace in Designer.

In the Import Oracle Designer Model wizard, you must either select an existing database connection or create (add) a new one, and then follow the instructions to select the work areas, application systems, and objects to be imported. (Note that you cannot import Oracle Designer dataflow diagrams.)

After you import the Oracle Designer model, you can edit the relational and physical models as needed, and you can reverse engineer the logical model from the relational model.

Importing a Data Modeler Design

Importing a Data Modeler design enables you to capture the logical model and any relational and data type models from a design previously exported from Data Modeler.

Importing a Domain

Importing a domain enables you to change and extend the existing domain definitions. In the Import Domains dialog box, select the domains to be imported and deselect (clear) the domains not to be imported.