Introduction to HOPEX Database Builder
HOPEX Database Builder is used to design and model databases.
A database describes organization of a system in the form of data stored in a structured way. Database design is an analysis procedure covering different levels:
Logical level: intended for clients seeking to develop general business-oriented models. Here it consists of modeling data of a domain, application or business process. It represents what we wish to do and where we want to go, irrespective of technical questions related to implementation. Data is represented in a data model or a class diagram.
See:
See “The data model”, page 21.Physical level: consists of defining models intended to persist in a DBMS. It comprises detailed specifications for production of the physical diagram of the repository. It is represented by the relational diagram.
The physical level also defines the way in which data is stored and how it can be accessed. It enables use of data by DBMSs.
HOPEX Database Builder integrates by default the logical and physical modeling levels and is used to switch from one model to another. You can therefore:
• Create data diagrams.
• From these data diagrams, create database tables and their columns, indexes, and keys, as well as the drawings for the corresponding relational diagrams.
• Optimize the resulting relational model and generate SQL commands to define the tables. HOPEX Database Builder in particular takes account of changes in the conceptual model without losing optimizations made to the relational model.
• Reverse generate a database definition using the ODBC protocol to create the corresponding tables and columns in HOPEX Database Builder, and obtain the corresponding data diagram.
To use the functionalities of HOPEX Database Builder, you must be in "Advanced" mode:
1. Click Main Menu > Settings > Options.
2. In the left pane of the window, click the Repository folder.
3. In the right pane, check that access to the repository is in "Advanced" mode.
