Chapter 7. The Editors

7.1. MetaData Editor
7.2. The Mapping Editor
7.3. The Visualization Editor
7.4. The Table Editor
7.5. The Foreign Keys Editor

The editors all function on the same basic principals. First, they are all controlled by the File main menu, in terms of saving and closing. Second, they all share the same editing pane and can be active and inactive at your control and are identified by an icon, a context name, and potentially a modified flag. The final shared feature of the editors is that they will not store the changes until a save occurs. For example, a column that is removed from a table editor will not be removed from Kodo Workbench's schema until saved. The prevents potentially inaccuracies as tasks are run against changing data model.

7.1. MetaData Editor

The MetaData editor provides access to all the options specified in the JDO metadata specification. Each option has a label which usually has tooltips describing in detail what the option controls and a corresponding input which will set the appropriate value in the metadata.

At the field level, these options are dependent on the type of the field of the class. For example, with Collection fields, the editor expands to include a place to enter element-type class name as well as an element-embedded flag option.

In addition, at both levels of the editor is the option to add extensions that are known to Kodo. By selecting an extension from the drop-down, the description box will give further details on what each extension does. Activate each extension by selecting it from the drop-down, pressing add and then entering a value for the newly added row in the Value column. You can also add custom vendor/key/value combinations by selecting the Add button on the right.

This editing component is also used by the metadata creation wizard, but functions in the same manner as in the editor mode.