How can ANSI DDL be imported directly into EA with

[Justin Halls]

Issue:
I need to import DDL from Teradata.
We use ODBC, but EA does not support Teradata.
It produces a "Data is not a Numeric-literal" error.

Proposed Solution:
Other CASE tools allow the direct import of ANSI compliant DDL CREATE statements.
This is useful, even if they do not support other databases like Teradata.
I can write parsing scripts which can take Teradata DDL, and convert it into an EA preferred DDL (eg BD2), and then import it into EA.
Parsing scripts could then modify the Generated DDL output to produce Teradata compliant DDL.
Please note that the requirement is NOT to support Teradata.
However, at the moment, the import drawbridges appear to be up, as the only way to import is from a supported database via ODBC.
This facility would also expand EA's market, as it would make it possible to import from non-supported databases.  
The facility should be based on the ANSI standard.

Can anybody help?

[sargasso]

?  You may have to muck around getting a version of tdodbc that matches both your teradata version and the version of MDAC used for EA. ?

? You may have to muck around creating a dbprofile in EA to cope with non ANSI teradata types?

? What exactly do you mean by "import DDL"  - EA uses ODBC to query the actual db structure not the DDL's ?

hth
Bruce

[mikewhit]

Import DDL = read text file containing DDL statements.

Or not ?

[Justin Halls]

Yes, that is correct.
The need is to be able to read ANSI 92 compliant text like:

CREATE TABLE xyz.Cost_Item(
     Activity_SName VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
     Channel_Code CHAR(4) ,
     From_Date DATE ,
     To_Date DATE,
     Unit_Cost_Amt INTEGER);

and produce a model.

The work around I have just completed is to use a simple awk script to parse the Teradata DDL into a schema.ini file.
This can then be used as input via the ODBC Text driver.
Very ugly indeed as almost all semantic information is lost in the bare as bones ODBC text view.
However, it provides a starting point for creating a simple data model out of the 600 odd tables.
I have no intention to use such a model for DDL generation, but it works as far as data model diagramming goes.

[Dan_Lundy]

I have always felt a DDL importer would be great!

Often, I need to include and generate the database model for use in a project. The ODBC option requires that I (1) have access to the database, and (2) that the database already exists.

[dserodio]

I'd love a DDL import feature.  

[Paolo F Cantoni]

I strongly support the development of a DDL importer.  Most other tools of EA's calibre have it and it is most useful.

Paolo

[Justin Halls]

This should not be too technically difficult.
For example, mySQL would have DDL parsing code.
The mySQL source could be looked at to determine the best way to import DDL.

The tool's value will increase as it will be able to handle  standard ANSI DDL Create statements.
This should attact a whole new class of users who work on data centric rather than process centric systems.