Creating a Data Source

A data source provides a connection to one or more other models for mappings and (in the PDM) can also provide a connection to a database. You are prompted to create a data source with a wizard the first time you open the Mapping Editor or click the Create Mapping tool on an object property sheet Mappings tab.

1. On the Data Source Identification page, enter a name for the data source, and then specify an access type. The selected type controls which types of queries (for PDM data sources) are available in the Mappings pane, and the existence of forward and reverse mappings. You can choose between:

   • Read/Write – Enables Criteria, Select, Insert, Update and Delete queries.

   • Read-Only - Enables Criteria and Select queries. You can only create forward (Source > Target) mappings to a read-only data source, and such sources are not displayed during reverse mapping (Target > Source). For more information about forward and reverse mappings, see Creating forward and reverse mappings.

   • Write-Only - Enables Criteria, Insert, Update and Delete queries. You can only create reverse mappings to a write-only data source, and such sources are not displayed during forward mapping

2. Select the type of the model to use as the data source.
   
   
   
3. Click Next to go to the Source Model Selection page.
4. Select one or more models from the list of open models in the workspace, and then:
   • For data sources created from an object's Mapping tab - click Finish to create the data source and open a selection dialog to choose the external object to map to.

   • For data sources created from the Mapping Editor - click Next to go to the Options page. By default, the Create default mappings option, which creates mappings where possible based on shared names, is selected. Click Finish to create the data source and proceed to the Mapping Editor.

     To create additional data sources in the Mapping Editor, click the Create Data Source tool. To add additional models to a data source, click the Add Model to Data Source tool.

• Data Source Properties
  You can modify an object's properties from its property sheet. To open a data source property sheet, double-click its diagram symbol or its Browser entry in the Data Sources folder.