Visio2000: ORM Add Constraint Dialog Box Upgrade Available

In addition to solving existing issues, Service Release 1 (SR-1) for Visio 2000 adds new content and functionality to your Visio environment. This article details one of those new features.

With SR-1, Microsoft redesigned the ORM (Object Role Modeling) Add Constraint dialog box to make it easier to use and to expand the possible types of constraints that you express with it. The Constraint Type, Facts, and Roles Played By columns present on the Add Constraint dialog box in Visio 2000 Professional Edition and Visio 2000 Enterprise Edition have been replaced by a Constraint Type list box, a Primary check box, a Select The Role Box Of Each Role In The Constraint field, a list describing the constraint, and a Reset button, as shown in the following picture.



To obtain SR-1, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Changes to the ORM solution's Add Constraint dialog box and functionality include the following:

• Support for more types of constraints. The Add Constraint dialog box now supports Uniqueness, Mandatory, Ring, Set, Frequency, and Index constraints.
• New look and functionality. Role boxes have replaced the spreadsheet-style entry fields of the Visio 2000 Add Constraint dialog box. You can use the role boxes to select source and target role pairs.
• A resizable dialog box. You can now stretch the dialog box to accommodate very long fact types.
• A "Primary" check box. Click to select this box if you want a Uniqueness constraint to be the basis for primary identifiers. A primary uniqueness constraint (sometimes called a primary reference constraint) joins two or more facts that have an external uniqueness constraint.
• A "Select the role box in each role of the constraint" field. Click a predicate box to specify the type of constraint that you want to add to one or more selected predicates.

TIP: You can add constraints by using the Add Constraint dialog box, the Database Properties window, and the Fact Editor.

To learn more about the Add Constraint dialog box, see the "Add Constraint dialog box options" and "Constraint types" topics in Help, or see the Visio 2000 Enterprise Edition User Guide.