Fine Tuning the Diagram

When you have created your diagram by adding objects to the project, there are a number of ways in which you can customize it.

You can:

move objects
hide objects
change object display colors
display qualified names throughout SQL Dependency Tracker
display column names in the diagram
show constraints as objects in the diagram and object lists
show filegroups and system object dependencies
show relative importance bars
change the layout of the diagram
reapply the layout to the diagram

Moving objects

To move an object on the diagram, click the object and drag it to the required position. Note that you must remember to save your changes when you have moved objects on the diagram; you will not be prompted to save the changes when you close the project or open a different project.

If you want to undo your changes and revert to the original layout, click Reapply Layout.

Showing and hiding objects

You may want to temporarily exclude an object from the diagram. You do this by hiding it. Hiding an object does not remove it from the project, so you can easily show it again.

To hide the selected objects:

on the toolbar, click Hide
in the diagram, right-click a selected object and click Hide

To hide objects that are not selected, in the Objects in Project pane, clear the visibility check box for the objects that you want to hide.

To reveal all hidden objects:

on the toolbar, click Show Hidden
in the diagram, right-click an object and click Show Hidden

To reveal individual hidden objects, in the Objects in Project pane, select the visibility check box for the objects that you want to reveal.

Changing object display colors

To change the display color of an object:

Select the objects that you want to change.
Right-click a selected object, and click Properties.
On the Object Properties dialog box, click the Fill Color or Text Color box, and use the Color selector to specify the color you require.
Click OK on the Color selector.
If you have changed a color, you can revert to the default color by clicking the relevant Reset button.
Click Close.

Qualifying names of objects

You can choose to display qualified names for objects and databases:

On the View menu, click Qualify Names.
Click Object Names or Database Names as required.

To switch this feature off, select the option again.

Showing table column names

You can show the names of columns in the table objects on the diagram:

On the toolbar, click Table Column Names.

For example:

If Show constraints as objects is switched off, the number of check constraints and the number of indexes are also shown.

Showing constraints as objects

By default, constraints are not represented individually on the diagram. You can show constraints as separate objects in the diagram:

On the toolbar, click Constraints as Objects.

Show filegroups and system object dependencies

By default, filegroup and system object dependencies are not shown in the diagram; these dependencies can make the diagram appear to be very complex, often with many dependencies on one object. However, if required, you can display these dependencies on the diagram.

On the toolbar, click Filegroup and System Object Dependencies.

Show relative importance bars

Relative importance bars are displayed on the objects to indicate how many other objects use the object. The relative importance takes into account dependencies at all levels.

On the View menu, click Relative Importance Bars.