ER/Studio - Embarcadero Technologies Product Documentation

USING ER/STUDIO > COMMON TASKS
Snowflake: Parents of dimension tables.
Snowflake tables present a more-normalized format where elements of dimension tables are listed. The
following example shows two snowflake tables which are parents of a dimensional table. There are many
other good examples or snowflake tables in the sample model, Orders.dm1.
Bridge: Implements a many-to-many relationship.
Bridge tables support multi-valued dimensions or complex hierarchies. The Bridge is also known as a
helper table or an associative table. It is the only way to implement two or more one-to-many relationships
or many-to many relationships.
Hierarchy Navigation: Used to support complex hierarchies, such as organizational charts.
Undefined: All other tables
Assign this type to flag tables for which you have not yet determined the appropriate type, such as a table
with a many-to-many relationship, or a table that is a parent to both a fact table and a dimension table.
Changing the Model Notation
1 Click the target model and then click Model > Model Notation.
2 From the list, select Relational or Dimensional.
The model is redrawn to conform with the model notation selected.
Notes
• When generating a physical model, by reverse-engineering or importing an external data source to create the
model, you can choose the model notation.
• You can change the notation of a physical model in the Physical Model Options dialog. Access this dialog by
right-clicking the target physical model, and then from the shortcut menu selecting Model Options.
• You can change the table type of an object in the dimensional model using the Dimensional tab of the Entity
Editor or Table Editor. Access this editor by double-clicking an entity or table.
EMBARCADERO TECHNOLOGIES > ER/STUDIO® 8.0.3 USER GUIDE 92