It determines what kind of comparing data will be displayed on the result pane.Īll: Display all kinds of differences including the addition, modification and removal of shapes. For example, if there is a shape absent on the left hand side, but appear on the right hand side, the shape is said to be a removed shape. Right hand side: Comparison is based on the diagram on the right hand side. For example, if there is a shape absent on the left hand side, but appear on the right hand side, the shape is said to be a new shape. Left hand side: Comparison is based on the diagram on the right hand side. It determines which diagram is used as a base for comparison. Model Element: Differences, such as model name, are displayed. View: Differences, such as coordinates, width, height and color of shapes, are displayed. It determines how two diagrams will be displayed for comparison.Īll: Both view and model elements are displayed. This way of comparison is usually used to visualize the differences between model elements. Transitor: Shapes will be matched base on their transition established by Model Transitor. One of typical examples is to compare databases and class models. This strategy is useful when visualizing differences for external works. Name: Shapes will be matched base on their names. This strategy is usually used to visualize the changes of same shapes in two projects. Differences between shapes that have same ID will be displayed in the result pane. ID: Shapes will be matched base on their internal ID. Select the appropriate strategy that suits your application most. It determines how two diagrams will be compared. Note: Alternatively, you can right click on diagram background and select Utilities > Visual Diff… from the pop-up menu. In Logical ERD diagram, select Modeling > Visual Diff from the toolbar.With the features of Visual Diff, the differences between Logical and Physical ERD can be found easily. Two ERDs are compared: one for modeling the Logical Model and another one for modeling the Physical Model. Since physical ERD and logical ERD represent the business requirement and database schema respectively, comparing physical and logical ERD helps to find out the differences between them in order to confirm the database is exactly following the initial business requirements regardless of the changes. Sometimes, relationships need to be resolved by introducing additional tables, like a Linked table for a many to many relationship. When modeling a physical ERD, Logical ERD is treated as base, refinement occurs by defining primary keys, foreign keys and constraints. It deals with conversion from logical design into a schema level design that will be transformed into relational database. Physical ERD represents the actual design of database. The need of satisfying the database design is not considered yet. Entities and relationships modeled in such ERD are defined around the business’s need. Logical ERD models information gathered from business requirements. They are used in different stages of development and are inter-related. There are at least two types of ERD – Logical and Physical. In forward engineering, ERD will be transformed into a relational database eventually. Entity relationship diagram (ERD) represents a detailed picture of the entities needed for a business.