Entity Type: Variants

General

A variant refers to the definition of an entity type, that is, you can assign several definitions to an entity type using variants.

It is possible, therefore, for an entity type to have a number of different definitions in the modeling process, particularly if the entity type is being used by more than one developer.

The first definition of an entity type, and therefore its first variant has the identification number 00. The ID numbers of additional variants are incremented by 1 each time.

If you want to display or change an entity type for which variants have been created, enter the name of the entity type and activate either Display or Change to display all the variants together with their corresponding ID numbers in a dialog box. Select the required variant in this dialog box.

Creating a variant for an entity type

1. After you have saved the entity type, select  Edit  Variants  New Variant  to display the screen Create Entity Type: Definition again. The heading for the definition text is now Definition Variant 01. The previously saved definition text is no longer visible.

2. Enter the variant of the definition. To access the text editor, choose the Editor pushbutton or double-click on the text lines. You can enter more detailed definitions here. To exit the text editor, choose Back.

3. Save the variant by choosing Edit -> Variants -> Save Variant.

Displaying or changing a variant for an entity type

1. On the definition screen for the entity type, choose  Edit  Variants  Get Variant .

2. The dialog box Entity Type Variants appears. Place the cursor on the required variant and choose Execute.

3. The selected variant is displayed. If you are in maintain mode, you will be able to make changes (otherwise choose the Display<->Change pushbutton).

4. To save your changes, choose  Edit  Variants  Save Variant .

Deleting a variant for an entity type

1. Access the variant you want to delete as described above under Display Variants or Maintain Variants.

2. Choose  Edit  Variants  Delete Variant .

3. Confirm the subsequent dialog box.