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7.5.3 Creating Views »
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7.5.2.3. The Properties of a Connection

To select a connection, right click it. When a connection is selected it is highlighted and its properties are displayed in the properties palette. The properties of a connection are quite different from the properties of other objects. These properties are described in the following list:

  • caption – The name of the object. By default this property is centered above the connection line. Its default value is the name of the foreign key.

  • captionXOffs – The “x” offset of the caption.

  • captionYOffs – The “y” offset of the caption.

  • comment – The comment associated with the relationship.

  • drawSplit – Whether or not to show the relationship as a continuous line.

  • endCaptionXOffs – The “x” termination point of the caption offset.

  • endCaptionYOffs – The “y” termination point of the caption offset.

  • extraCaption – A secondary caption. The default location for this extra caption is centered beneath the connection line.

  • extraCaptionXOffs – The “x” offset of the secondary caption.

  • extraCaptionYOffs – The “y” offset of the secondary caption.

  • mandatory – Whether ot not the entities are mandatory. For more information, see Section 7.5.2.2, “The Relationship Editor”.

  • many – False if the relationship is a one-to-one relationship.

  • middleSegmentOffset – The offset of the middle section of the connector.

  • name – The name used to identify the connection on the EER Diagram canvas. Note that this is not the name of the foreign key.

  • referredMandatory – Whether or not the referred entity is mandatory

  • startCaptionXOffs – The start of the “x” offset of the caption.

  • startCaptionYOffs – The start of the “y” offset of the caption.

In most cases you can change the properties of a relationship using the relationship editor rather than the Properties palette.

If you make a relationship invisible by hiding it using the relationship editor's Visibility Settings, and then the relationship editor is closed, you will no longer be able to select the relationship in order to bring up its relationship editor. To make the relationship visible again you will need to expand the table object relating to the relationship in the Layers window and select the relationship object. Once selected, you can change the relationship's visible property to True in the corresponding Properties window. The relationship will then be visible in the EER Diagram window.