Database Reference
In-Depth Information
and/or deletion of related records and if the relationship should be sorted right from the
onset.
▪ Copy/Paste doesn't work on the graph, so the
Duplicate
tool is the way to go. It can du-
plicate whole groups of TOs, called table occurrence groups (TOGs). See
Table Occur-
rence Groups
for details.
▪ The
Edit
button opens the controls for editing whatever object you've selected on the
Relationship Graph. Faster yet, double-click the object you wish to edit to get the same
tools.
TIP
You can tell when a relationship line is selected, because the line thickens, the box in the middle
is highlighted, and the Edit tool becomes active.
▪ The
Delete
button has a trash can icon on it, making its purpose clear. You can also de-
lete items by selecting them and then pressing Delete. Because deleting items from the
graph is so potentially destructive (layouts, scripts and calculations that use the TO, and
all other relationships that depend on the relationship will break), you'll see a warning
message to confirm that you want to remove the selected items.
If you make changes on the graph that might be destructive, or if you just change your mind,
then in the Manage Database window, click Cancel and then click Discard. You'll have to
redo the changes you made since you opened the window, but it's easier to redo good work
than to undo bad work.
Arrange the Graph
The table occurrences in the graph behave like layout objects in Layout mode. You can Shift-
click or rubber band several to select them all. You can even press Ctrl+A (
⌘
-A) to select
all
the table occurrences. Just click empty space on the graph to deselect. Once you have some
selected, you can use the Arrange tools to line them up.
After you've dragged a few table occurrences around on your graph, it can look pretty
sloppy. Here's how to use the tools to inflict some order on the graph:
▪ The
Align Vertical
tool lets you choose whether to align the left edges, centers, or right
edges of any highlighted table occurrences.
▪ The
Align Horizontal
tool lets you align the top edges, centers, or bottom edges of the
highlighted table occurrences.
