Defining code and reuse options for data items

Chapter 4 Building Conceptual Data Models

Defining code and reuse options for data items

You can define the following options for data items:

Option	Result when selected	Result when cleared
Unique code	Each data item has a unique code	Different data items can have the same code
Allow reuse	One data item can be an entity attribute for more than one entity	One data item can be an entity attribute for only one entity

If you do not select Unique Code, two data items can have the same code. In this case, you differentiate the data items by the entities that use them. The entities are listed in the Dependencies column of the list of data items.

Item not visible in list
To make an item visible in a list, click the Customize Columns and Filter tool in the list toolbar, select the appropriate check box from the list of filter options that appears, and click OK.

To define code and reuse options for data items:

Select Tools→Model Options.

The Model Options dialog box opens to the Model Settings page.

Select the Unique Code check box in the Data Item groupbox to require a unique code for each data item.

or

Clear the Unique Code check box in the Data Item groupbox to allow more than one data item to have the same code.

Select the Allow Reuse check box to allow the one data item to be an entity attribute for more than one entity.

or

Clear the Allow Reuse check box to prohibit the one data item from being an entity attribute for more than one entity.

Click OK.

Error message

The following error message appear when you select the Unique Code, when it is incompatible with the current CDM:

Error message	Solution
Unique Code option could not be selected because two data items have the same code: data_item_code.	Assign unique codes to all data items