9.1.2.6 The Properties Palette

The Properties palette is used to display and edit the properties of objects on an EER diagram. It is especially useful for editing display objects such as layers and notes.

Selecting an object in the EER diagram displays its properties in the Properties palette.

All objects except connections have the following properties except as noted:

• color: The color accent of the object, displayed as a hexadecimal value. Change the color of the object by changing this value. Only characters that are legal for hexadecimal values may be entered. You can also change the color by clicking the ... button to open a color changing dialog box.

• description: Applicable to layers only. A means of documenting the purpose of a layer.

• expanded: This attribute applies to objects such as tables that can be expanded to show columns, indexes, and triggers.

• height: The height of the object. Depending upon the object, this property may be read only or read/write.

• left: The number of pixels from the object to the left side of the canvas.

• locked: Whether the object is locked. The value for this attribute is either true or false.

• manualSizing: Whether the object was manually sized. The value for this attribute is either true or false.

• name: The name of the object.

• top: The number of pixels from the object to the top of the canvas.

• visible: Whether the object shows up on the canvas. Use ‘1’ for true and ‘0’ for false. It is currently used only for relationships.

• width: The width of the object. Depending upon the object, this property may be read only or read/write.

Tables have the following additional properties:

• indexesExpanded: Whether indexes are displayed when a table is placed on the canvas. Use ‘1’ for true and ‘0’ for false.

• triggersExpanded: Whether triggers are displayed when a table is placed on the canvas. Use ‘1’ for true and ‘0’ for false.

For a discussion of connection properties, see Section 9.1.4.3, “Connection Properties”.