Guided Tours › Diagrams, Subject Areas, Layout, and Customization › Model Layout and Navigation

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Model Layout and Navigation

Use the following steps to become familiar with model layout and navigation.

  1. Open an existing model (or create one) that contains at least 10 entities/tables. If you are creating a new model make sure to include attributes and relationships. Left-click on a blank area of the visible diagram to ensure that no model object is currently selected.
  2. Click Layout, Circular on the Diagram menu or click the Circular Layout Icon on the Drawing Toolbar toolbar icon and review the effect of this selection. Notice that annotations connected to model objects stay connected even after the diagram layout is changed.
  3. Perform Step 2 again, this time selecting a different model layout option – until you have tried all five layout options that are available.
  4. Select a subset of the visible model objects on the diagram, apply any of the five model layout options and note the effect this has on your diagram.
  5. Next, open the Overview pane (click Windows, Overview Pane on the View menu) if it is not already open. Note the marquee rectangle that designates the drawing area that is visible in the drawing workspace. Interactively move and resize this rectangle to pan to a different area of the drawing and to change the viewing zoom factor. Auto-hide (use the "push-pin” icon Bulk Editor Pushpin to Turn Off Auto Hide) this pane for use later.
  6. Modify the zoom percent value (between 1% and 200%) of the diagram by dragging the zoom bar at the bottom right-hand corner of the application. You can alternatively increase or decrease the zoom by clicking on the plus or minus signs at the ends of the zoom bar.
  7. Select an entity in the diagram and resize the entity to make the diagram object either extremely large or extremely small. Right-click the entity and select Reset Object to Automatic Sizing and observe that the entity is resized exactly to the size of contained text.
  8. Select any relationship on the diagram and drag the relationship line arbitrarily to make it extremely long. Right-click the relationship line and select Reset Relationship Path and observe that the relationship line is set to the least distance between the connecting entities.