Crow Foot Data Types

 

Another thing that annoyed me is the fact that either I can't find a way to edit the data type of an attribute (it must be well hidden though as I have tried everything) or there is simply no such option! When I double-click on any attribute I can edit its name, when I right click I can set it to be primary key, foreign key or required. There is no option to change the type, how crazy is that?! I can select the text tool from the menu and click twice on the attribute in the place of the attribute type (first click will go to editing of the attribute name). This method however is stupid, as I can type any rubbish in the place of data type, plus it is not easily accessible! Anyone figured out how to do it 'the right way'?

Assuming you are using the "Crow's Foot Database Notation" stencil by Microsoft (that you select by going to More Shapes -> Software and Database -> Database), you can right click the Entity and add the checkmark to "Show Attribute Types" at the top. This will show a veritcal line and data types listed on the right side, which you can edit by single clicking a couple times (with some time spaced in between each click) until only the data type box is selected, then start typing or hit F2 to edit (similar to editing a cell in Excel) the data type text.

Hope that helps.

Now, as for myself, the problem I'm having is that I need to be able to re-size the Entity boxes (while maintaining scale) so that I can fit the entire ERD onto a single 11x17 (Ledger) page. I have too many entities that fit this size. The problem is that the Crow's Foot Database Notation stencil prevents you from re-sizing the shapes (Protections on Height and Width).

I tried making a copy (via Save Stencil As) of the original stencil (which is read-only) and then modify the copy by editing the Protections in Developer ribbon for the container and unchecking Height and Width, but that didn't help as there additional Protections for each member of the container. The problem is, once you Ungroup the container to edit the Protections for each piece, it breaks the ability to right click the entity and choose "Show Attribute Types."

I hope someone had a solution to that problem with the stencil - maybe a modified version of the stencil that allows re-sizing while maintaining scale and not breaking everything else?

You can edit the original stencil if all diagrams referencing the stencil are closed (close all database notation diagrams).

1. Open the stencil from %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office15\Visio Content\1033\DBCROW_M.VSSX (for Metric Units), DBCROW_U.VSSX (for US Units). (backup the file before opening)
2. Right click on the shape and select 'Edit Master' --> 'Edit Master Shape'
3. Right click on the shape you want to resize and select 'Show Shape Sheet'
4. Under 'Shape Transform', 'Height', change the height of the shape and enter (see how I modified the formula below)
5. Close the Shape Sheet window and the Attribute window, you will be prompted to update the Attribute, click Yes
6. Close the Stencil, you will be prompted to save once again, click Yes to Save the Stencil
7. All future diagrams using that stencil will have the new height for the shapes you have changed

The default height formula for the 'Attribute' shape in the Metric stencil is '=GUARD(MAX(9 mm,TEXTHEIGHT(TheText,TxtWidth),Sheet.6!TxtHeight))'

• means the height will be at least 9 mm or the text height of the shape or the text height of the sheet.

I changed the height of the 'Primary Key Attribute' and 'Attribute' to '=GUARD(MAX(6 mm,TEXTHEIGHT(TheText,TxtWidth)-2))' since it was taking too much space. My attribute shapes will be either 6 mm or the text height of the shape minus 2. I am not bothered of the text height of the sheet, so I have taken that part out totally. IF you know what you are doing you can meddle with the formula a bit or even have a fixed height, but it won't resize if you increase the font size.