Meta Integration® Model Bridge (MIMB)
"Metadata Integration" Solution

MIMB Bridge Documentation

MIMB Import Bridge from erwin 7.x Data Modeler (File)

Bridge Specifications

Vendor erwin, Inc.
Tool Name erwin Data Modeler
Tool Version 7.x
Tool Web Site https://erwin.com/products/erwin-data-modeler/
Supported Methodology [Data Modeling] Data Store (Physical Data Model, Logical Data Model, Stored Procedure Expression Parsing), Graphical Layout via COM API on Native (.erwin) or Export (.XML) File

SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: erwin, Inc. / erwin Data Modeler version 7.x via COM API on Native (.erwin) or Export (.XML) File
See https://erwin.com/products/erwin-data-modeler/
Metadata: [Data Modeling] Data Store (Physical Data Model, Logical Data Model, Stored Procedure Expression Parsing), Graphical Layout
Component: CaErwin7Xml version 11.2.0

OVERVIEW
This bridge imports data models from erwin Data Modeler, including logical only models with Entities, Attributes, Domains, physical only models with Tables, Columns, Data Types, or Logical/Physical models with both. This bridge also imports all relationships and their implementation (e.g. PK/FK) as well as the graphical layout of the data models (diagrams).
This bridge can import either the .erwin format files or .xml format files saved using erwin Data Modeler.
- erwin Native Format (.erwin):
This bridge requires the erwin Data Modeler COM/OLE API to be installed in order to parse .ERWIN format files.
erwin Data Modeler must be properly installed with a valid license on the machine executing this bridge.
In order to test this, open an erwin model in Data Modeler and save it as 'XML Repository Format'.
- erwin XML File Format (.xml):
You can create the .xml version of a file (Save As... in erwin), select the 'XML Repository' format for the type of XML file that erwin creates.
Here are the steps to create this type of .XML file:
1. Open the .erwin file in erwin.
2. Select File, then Save As...
3. Select 'XML Repository (*.xml)' for the 'Save as type' pulldown.
4. Specify a path and name for the exported file.
5. Click OK

REQUIREMENTS
WARNING: This bridge uses the COM API of a Windows based tool client and/or SDK which must be (a) properly installed, (b) licensed on behalf of a Windows user capable of running this tool, and (c) capable of accessing the tool server content. In addition:
(1) As recommended by the tool vendor, the tool server must NOT be installed/coexist on the same machine where the tool client (and the bridge) is installed/running because of potential conflicts of resources, including with respect to COM API.
(2) Windows COM API based tools are notoriously unstable after repeated failures or lack of system resources, which requires a Windows reboot to make that tool COM API work properly again.
(3) If this bridge is running as an application, then it must be logged with the same above Windows user.
If the bridge is running as a Windows service, then go to the services manager of Windows, right-click on the MIMB Application Server service, and go to the "Log On" tab to define an account by name under which the service will run.

- erwin User:
This bridge must run on behalf of the Windows user that can run the erwin software.
If this bridge is running as part of a Windows desktop application, then you must log onto Windows with that user.
If this bridge is running as part of a Windows service, then go to the Windows services and click on the 'Properties' menu of such service, go to the 'Log On' tab, select 'This account' and specify the same user name and password used as Windows session when testing connectivity from erwin to the mart, and restart the Windows service.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: How does this bridge import the ordering of attributes?
A: This bridge imports the physical order preferably, if the information is present in the XML file, otherwise the logical order is used.
To view the physical column ordering in erwin:
- Switch to the model Physical View,
- In the 'Format' menu, select 'Stored Display Settings...',
- Click on the 'Physical' tab, and select the 'Physical Order' radio button.
This is the order erwin uses when generating SQL DDL, and MIMB will import this order, if it is available in the file.
If you wish to import the logical order, please derive a logical only model in erwin and import it.

LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at https://metaintegration.com/Products/MIMB/Help/#!Documents/mimbknownlimitations.html

- Warning On Potential Missing Physical Names:
This issue is particularly relevant when you convert from erwin to ETL or BI (business intelligence) tools, or to the OMG CWM XMI standard. When you save a logical and physical model, the physical names of tables, columns, and keys might not always be saved into the XML file. When you use erwin to manage the automatic generation of physical names from logical names, only the generation rules are saved. This is not an issue for physical-only erwin models, which are often used to re-engineer existing databases.
The main workaround for this issue is to select the 'AllFusion Repository Format' radio button (as described above) when saving the .XML file. Just import the produced XML file in the erwin import bridge as usual.
Another solution is to make sure all physical names are explicitly set, therefore not relying on any generation rules from the logical names.
Alternatively, you can derive a new physical model (to be saved as XML) from your existing logical and physical model. Select 'Derive New Model...' from the 'Tools' menu, and select 'New Model Type' as 'Physical'.
The next step of the wizard will then invoke all the generation rules to produce all the physical names.
The new physical model can then be saved as XML. Note that the logical names of the tables are also available in this new XML file, but unfortunately the logical names of attributes might still be missing.
Note that this bridge automatically parses the .ERWIN files using the correct XML generation function in erwin, so that the problem of missing physical names does not occur.

- Warning On Potential Missing Dimensional Modeling Roles:
This issue is particularly relevant when erwin is used for dimensional modeling to BI tools, or to the OMG CWM XMI standard. As for the physical name issue explained above, the dimensional modeling roles (Fact, Dimensional, or Outrigger) may not be available in the XML file if they are automatically calculated by erwin.
One solution, is to make sure all dimensional modeling roles are explicitly set (use the 'Table Editor', tab 'Dimensional'), therefore not relying on automatic calculations by erwin based on usage.

SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with debug log. Debug log can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6


Bridge Parameters

Parameter Name Description Type Values Default Scope
File The erwin data model file which can be either:

'model.erwin'
The native format which requires erwin Data Modeler to be installed (Windows only) in order to access its COM API.

'model.xml'
The erwin data model file in the .ERX (erwin exchange format) which can then be used for import on both Linux and Windows. This .ERX format is produced by erwin Data Modeler as follows:
1. Open the .erwin file in erwin.
2. Select File, then Save As...
3. Select 'XML Repository (*.xml)' for the 'Save as type' pull down.
4. Specify a path and name for the exported file.
5. Click OK
FILE
*.xml
*.erwin
*.erwin_tmpl
  Mandatory
Import UDPs In erwin data modeler, a User Defined Property (UDP) is defined with a name (e.g. Threat Level), a definition (e.g. an enumeration with values: green, yellow, orange, red), and a possible default value (e.g. green). Applying a UDP to an object (e.g. table or column) can be done with an explicit value (e.g. orange) or without value therefore the default value of the UDP (e.g. green).
By default, this bridge imports the UDP definitions as a Property Type.

UDP can be imported:

'As metadata'
Import an explicit value as Property Value, implicit values are not imported, the default value is kept on the Property Type only.

'As metadata, migrate default values'
Import explicit and implicit values as Property Value objects.

'In description, migrate default values'
Append the property name and value, even if implicit, to the object's description and/or comment (depending upon the design level). This allows you to export the UDP values to another tool which does not support the notion of UDP.

'Both, migrate default values'
Import the UDP value, even if implicit, both as metadata and in the object's description and/or comment (depending upon the design level).
ENUMERATED
As metadata
As metadata, migrate default values
In description, migrate default values
Both, migrate default values
As metadata  
Import relationship name Controls how the erwin relationship names are imported:

'From relationship name'
From the name property.

'From relationship description'
From the description property. This option may be useful to some database modelers who decided to use the description property to document the relationships name instead of the regular name property.

'From derived name'
From the verb phrase derived name.
ENUMERATED
From relationship name
From relationship description.
From derived name
From relationship name  
Import column order from In erwin data modeler, the columns physical order can viewed through edit the current subject area 'Stored Display Settings', then click on tab 'Physical', group 'Display Level', then on the 'Physical Order' radio button.

Controls how the erwin table's column order is imported:

'Column order'
Order of the columns displayed in the erwin physical view.

'Physical order'
Order of the columns in the database, as generated in SQL DDL.
ENUMERATED
Column order
Physical order
Physical order  
Import owner schemas Controls how the erwin owner schemas are imported:

'True'
The owner schema for Tables and views and other database objects is imported.

'False'
The owner schema for Tables and views and other database objects is ignored. This option may be useful for models where physical names are not unique, to indicate the model should be treated as a logical model (not ready for SQL DDL generation) while physical information is still maintained the model.
BOOLEAN   True  
Import diagrams Controls how the erwin data model diagrams are imported:

'None'
Diagrams are not imported.

'Current view'
Only the current view of the diagrams are imported.

'All'
Diagrams are imported twice: once for the logical view and once for the physical view.
ENUMERATED
None
Current view
All
Current view  
Move entities to subject areas In a logical model, entities may be assigned to one or more subject areas. When migrating to UML (Unified Modeling Language) entities are migrated as classes. Subject areas are migrated to packages. A class is generally a member of a package. To improve the usefulness of the migrated model,this bridge can move entities to subject areas:

'True'
Use subject areas as conventional (UML) design packages with their own namespace where any entity may belong to ONLY one subject area. If entities belong to only one subject area, they will be placed in the corresponding package. Other entities are placed under the model. Assumes that all entities are defined within a user defined subject area.

'False'
Do not move entities.
BOOLEAN   False  

 

Bridge Mapping

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"erwin 7.x Data Modeler (File)"
Metamodel
CA ERwin Data Modeler (Model)
Mapping Comments
     
Argument Argument  
Comment Comment  
DefaultValue Default Value  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Kind Kind  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Position Position  
Association Relationship  
Aggregation Identifying True if identifying
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
ExtraConstraint Constraint  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
AssociationRole Unnamed RelationshipEnd, Named RelationshipEnd  
Multiplicity Cardinality  
Name Name  
OnDelete On Delete  
OnInsert On Insert  
OnUpdate On Update  
Source Source Based on the multiplicity of each role and the Identifying/Non Identifying property
Attribute Attribute, Column, Primary Key Column - Attribute, Primary Key Attribute, Column - Attribute, Primary Key Column  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
ExtraConstraint Constraint if the validation rule cannot be set on the type
Generate Generate  
InitialValue Default Value imported from the default value tag associated to this type
Name Physical Name, Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Optional Nullable  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Position Position  
BusinessRule Min - Max, Valid Values List, Default Value, User-Defined  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
LowerBound Min  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
UpperBound Max  
Value Default Value, Text  
CandidateKey Candidate Key Group  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name if set by the user
UniqueKey Unique Key True for Primary Key/Alternate Key, False for Inversion Entries
Class Entity, Table, Table - Entity, Data Source Table  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
DimensionalRole Dimensional Role  
DimensionalType Dimensional Type  
Generate Generate  
Name Physical Name, Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
ClassDiagram ER Diagram  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
MaxDefinitionLength Max Definition Length  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Notation Notation  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Condition Condition  
Name Name  
ConnectionNamespace Folder, Directory  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
ConnectionPackage Data Source Schema  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
DatabaseSchema Database Schema  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
DerivedType Domain The MIR UserDefined property is set to True for User Defined Domains
Comment Comment  
DataType Data Type See datatype conversion arrays
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
InitialValue Initial Value imported from the default value tag associated to this type
Length Length extracted from the datatype
LowerBound Lower Bound imported from the validation rule associated to this type
Name Name  
NativeDataType Native Data Type  
NativeId Native Id  
NativeLogicalDataType Native Logical Data Type  
PhysicalName Physical Name computed from the datatype, length and precision
Scale Scale extracted from the datatype
UpperBound Upper Bound imported from the validation rule associated to this type
UserDataType User Data Type  
DesignPackage Subject Area  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
FlatTextFile Data Source File, File  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Physical Name, Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
ForeignKey Foreign Key Group  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Generate Generate  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name if set by the user
Generalization Subtype Relationship  
Complete Complete  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level set to Logical Only if involved in a transformation
Exclusive Exclusive  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
GeneralizationRole Subtype Relationship Role  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
OnDelete On Delete  
OnInsert On Insert  
OnUpdate On Update  
Identity Identity  
Cache Cache  
Cycle Cycle  
IncrementValue Increment Value  
MaximumValue Maximum Value  
MinimumValue Minimum Value  
Name Name  
StartValue Start Value  
Index Index  
Clustered Clustered  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Generate Generate  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Unique Unique  
IndexMember Index Member  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
NativeId Native Id  
Position Position  
SortOrder Sort Order  
Note Note  
Author Author  
Importance Importance  
ModificationTime Modification Time  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Status Status  
Value Note  
PhysicalObject SQLServer Database, Oracle Database, Storage Group, DB2 Database, File Group  
Comment Comment  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PropertyElementTypeScope UDPs used for UDP values and column physical information specific to Teradata: COMPRESS, CASE and FORMAT
Name Name  
Scope Scope  
PropertyType UDP UDP design level: Logical and/or Physical
DataType Data Type  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Group Group  
InitialValue Initial Value  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Position Position  
Usage Usage set to User
SQLViewAssociation View Relationship  
AliasName Alias Name  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
SQLTableSequence Sequence  
SQLViewAttribute View Column  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Expression Expression  
InitialValue Default Value  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Optional Nullable  
Position Position  
SQLViewEntity View  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
DimensionalRole Dimensional Role  
Generate Generate  
GroupByClause Group By Clause  
HavingClause Having Clause  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
OrderByClause Order By Clause  
SelectType Select Type  
ViewStatement View Statement  
ViewStatementType View Statement Type  
ViewType View Type  
WhereClause Where Clause The View SQL if user defined or else the Where clause
Sequence Sequence  
Comment Comment  
DataType Data Type  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Generate Generate  
Length Length  
Name Name  
NativeDataType Native Data Type  
NativeId Native Id  
Scale Scale  
StoreConnection Model Source, Data Source  
Comment Comment  
Connection Connection  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
StoreType Store Type  
SystemMajorVersion System Major Version  
SystemMinorVersion System Minor Version  
SystemReleaseVersion System Release Version  
SystemType System Type  
SystemTypeOld System Type Old  
StoreModel Model  
Author Author  
Comment Comment  
CreationTime Creation Time  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
ModificationTime Modification Time  
Modifier Modifier  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
StoreType Store Type  
SystemMajorVersion System Major Version  
SystemMinorVersion System Minor Version  
SystemReleaseVersion System Release Version  
SystemType System Type  
SystemTypeOld System Type Old  
StoredProcedure Stored Procedure  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Generate Generate  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Postcondition Postcondition  
Precondition Precondition  
Semantics Code  
Synonym Synonym  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Generate Generate  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Trigger Trigger  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
FireOnDelete Fire On Delete  
FireOnInsert Fire On Insert  
FireOnUpdate Fire On Update  
Generate Generate  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
Semantics Code  
TriggerType Trigger Type  
TypeValue Type Value  
Comment Comment  
Description Definition  
DesignLevel Design Level  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Position Position  
Value Value  

Last updated on Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:43:11

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