An Entity is a title bar over a list of fields, each a name with an optional type. It is the box at the heart of a UML class diagram and an entity-relationship diagram alike.
Finding it
In Diagram mode, Entity is in the palette's Build category, after the Card, Badge and Step Number. It belongs to the Components category, which only Illustrate mode's palette offers, and Illustrate leaves it out; in any mode you can also add it by name from the editor's Search panel.
Adding one and filling it in
Add an Entity. It arrives titled "Entity" with two example fields, id and name, both typed
string.
Right-click the entity and open Tools, then Fields, to edit the rows: each has a name, an optional type and a × to remove it, with Add Field at the foot.
An entity holds up to 40 fields, each name and type up to 80 characters. The type column is optional. Leave it blank for a rough sketch or an attribute list where the type does not matter, and the row simply shows the name.
Modelling with them
- Class diagrams. Put attributes and methods in the same list; a method reads naturally as
render(): voidin the name column. - Data models. One entity per table, one row per column, with the type beside it.
- Relationships are ordinary arrows. Pin one to each entity and it stays attached as you move them; the arrowhead styles include the hollow triangle (inheritance) and the filled and hollow diamonds (composition and aggregation) UML uses.
The title bar grows with the title's text size, so a larger title never collides with the divider under it.
Entities are ordinary elements underneath, so a theme recolours them, the format painter copies their look, and they export with everything else.
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