Help with Database Builder

[architect504]

Hi all,

A quick (hopefully) question ...

If I have a model already in EA, and I don't want to completely replace that model, how do I connect and compare to a live database. I'm not sure how you tell EA that you want to "associate" objects already created in EA with the database builder objects coming in from ODBC.   The issue is that the model has become a bit stale, and I need to update it with some minor modifications that have occurred over time.  I'm not sure how the model was created in EA.

[qwerty]

I used the DB import only occasionally and so I'm not sure whether there is an update function (I don't believe so). What can be done in such occasions is to import the DB into a second EA root and then replace (manually) those parts which need to be updated. Such replacements can be assisted by some scripting (e.g. to switch over connectors and replace elements used in diagrams).

q.

[architect504]

Thanks for your reply.   Hearing that there may not be a solid way to do it, I guess it could also be done this way.....

1) generate what you have into a database which will make the connection from the model to a physical database. 
2) From outside EA compare the 2 databases, and update the one you generated into.
3) Use DB Builder to compare the database it knows about, and bring in the changes. 

[qwerty]

Your step 2) will be tricky. Comparing UML models is per se non-trivial. If you have certain constraints you might support the comparison with a smart script.

q.