10 Importing Design Definitions from Oracle Designer

Oracle Designer is shipped with Oracle Developer Suite. Designer incorporates support for business process modeling, systems analysis, software design and system generation.

Oracle Designer provides a multiuser repository based on Oracle SCM, and is closely integrated with Oracle Forms Developer, Oracle's declarative database application development tool. In this way, Designer allows organizations to design and rapidly deliver scalable, client/server systems that can adapt to changing business needs.This chapter shows you how to import design definitions from Oracle Designer.

This chapter contains the following:

"Using Oracle Designer Sources"

Using Oracle Designer Sources

You can create a source module that connects to an Oracle Designer repository. When the definitions for an application are stored and managed in an Oracle Designer repository, the time required to connect to the application is reduced.

Designer repositories use workareas to control versions of an object. By selecting a workarea, you can specify a version of a repository object. With Oracle Designer, you can also group objects into container elements within workareas. Container Elements contain definitions for namespace and ownership of objects, and enable you to view objects even if they are owned by a different user. Because Designer container elements are controlled by workareas, they are version controlled. See the Oracle Designer documentation for more information about workareas and container elements.

All visible objects of a workarea or a container element in Designer are available for use as data sources. To select Designer objects as a source, you must:

Specify a workarea, and
Specify the container element in the workarea

The list of repository objects available for import is determined by the following criteria:

The object type must be supported by Oracle Warehouse Builder (Table, View, Sequence, and Synonyms).
The object must be accessible in the specified workarea. This determines the version of objects accessed.
The object must be visible in the specified container element. The list displays objects owned by the specified container element and other objects shared by the specified container element, but not owned by it.

To import definitions from a Designer source, you must create an Oracle database module.

Using Oracle Designer as a Metadata Source

To create a Designer source module:

Create a database source module that points to a database containing a Designer object.

Follow the steps outlined in "Importing Metadata Definitions from Oracle Database" to create the module.
From the Projects Navigator, double-click the name of the newly created module to open the Edit Module dialog box.
In the Metadata Location tab, select the source type as Oracle Designer Repository. Also select the database location containing the Designer object.

When you select the source type as Oracle Designer Repository, two new lists, Workarea and Container Element, are visible in the Metadata Location tab.

Figure 10-1 displays the Metadata Locations tab of the Edit Module dialog box.
Select the Designer object from the workarea and select the specific container element.

Figure 10-1 The Metadata Location Tab

Description of "Figure 10-1 The Metadata Location Tab "

Note:
The database you specify as source must contain a Designer object. If not, then the Workarea and Element Container lists do not display any values.
Click OK.

For related information, see the following sections: