Physical Modeling › Columns › Assigning Column Properties

Assigning Column Properties

You can assign properties to a column in several ways, including:

• Assigning Column Properties in the Columns Dialog. You can assign new values or override any default value attached to the column using the Table Column Editor.
• Setting Column Property Defaults When Selecting a Target Server. Default data type and null options are automatically assigned to new columns based on the default settings in the Target Server dialog and whether or not the new columns are part of the primary key. For example, if you set the default data type for new columns to CHAR(10) in the Target Server dialog, new columns are automatically assigned the CHAR(10) data type.
• Attaching a Domain to a Column. To speed the process of defining physical column properties, you can group a set of column properties together in the Domain Editor and save them as a domain. Once you create a domain, it is available in the Model Explorer under Domains. You can quickly create columns in your tables by dragging and dropping domains from the Model Explorer to tables. Each new column you create in this way inherits all physical domain properties, including the column name. You can also assign domain properties to a given column simply by associating the column name with the domain name in the General tab in the Table Column Editor. When you attach a domain to an existing column, you do not overwrite the column name with the domain name.
• Switching between Logical and Physical Models. If you create entities and attributes in the logical side of a Logical/Physical model, corresponding tables and columns are automatically created in the physical side of the model. Columns that are generated in this way are assigned the attribute name (with spaces and reserved characters replaced by underscores) and a data type, based on the domain assigned to the attribute in the logical model.
• Assigning User-Defined Properties. You can define your own column properties, and assign property values to selected columns. These properties are external to the database and exist only within the scope of the data model.