JDElite Flowchart Builder offers design and modeling solutions for a wide variety of use cases. The sections in this guide demonstrate the features of JDElite Flowchart Builder through screenshots and short video clips. The free demo version has all of the built-in features. The only difference from the full version is that there is no access to the proprietary file browser and respectively to the file system. You can create your diagrams but in order to save/reopen them you'll need the additional server module. There are built-in sample templates for each diagram type. In the free demo they can be edited but not saved. In the full version they can be replicated as diagram files, edited and saved.
The start page shows the paths to the three supported diagram types. You can switch to one of these types any time by clicking the Start Here button on the top toolbar. Most of the time a bubble is pointing at it. In the free demo version the Open buttons open the corresponding templates rather than the proprietary file browser as in the full version.
This section covers most of the features common for all three types of diagrams. Most of the short video clips refer to flowcharts, but the features displayed in them apply equally to the remaining two diagram types. One exception is the horizontal flow direction that is relevant only to flowcharts. The diagram type specific features are explained below in the corresponding sections.
Following is a list of actions, accessible from the top toolbar buttons, as well as from context menus or by mouse/keyboard shortcuts. Most of these actions can also be invoked from the hamburger main drop-down menu in the upper left corner:
Here is the list of actions:
- Main drop-down menu
- Start Here: it brings the
start page allowing you to switch to a different diagram type
- Open the file system browser (see
the File System Browser entry below)
- Open a template for the selected
diagram type
- Open the Import/Export
dialog to import database scripts to ERDs and/or to export ERDs to scripts
- Undo the latest action (Ctrl+Z)
- Redo the latest action that has
been undone (Ctrl+Shift+Z)
- Delete the selected individual element,
or a selected group
- Copy the selected element or the group
(Ctrl+-C)
- Paste the selected element or group
to a location pointed by the mouse (Ctrl+V)
- Save the diagram - enabled if there are any
changes from the last save action (Ctrl+S)
- Save the diagram as a new copy
- always enabled (Ctrl+Shift+S)
- Refresh the diagram and reset the scaling,
if any
- Open the Search dialog (Ctrl_Shift+F)
- Clear the canvas without saving current changes,
if any
- Navigate to the previous diagram,
if such is available, and ask to save current changes
- Navigate to the next diagram,
if such is available, and ask to save current changes
- Open the Settings dialog
- Open the drop down help menu
/
- Indicate that the connection to the server is on/off
The editor actions are undoable through an unlimited number of Undo/Redo steps. The undo buffer is cleared by a save action.
The Settings dialog applies to all supported diagram types. It can be invoked at any time
from the Settings icon on the toolbar:
The General tab of Settings dialog offers several different options. The Horizontal direction applies to flowcharts only. Changes to most of the options will not affect the earlier design work.
The Colors tab allows to select the background and/or foreground colors, as well as the border colors, of the node types and the other common graphical elements. The selections usually affect the currently opened diagram and will be saved in its output JSON file. These values will be displayed in the diagram the next time the file is open. In addition, any current set of color selections can be saved as a named color scheme from the Schemes tab.
The Node Icons tab allows to choose the nodes icons from a list of images. Nodes are grouped by categories.
The Schemes tab allows to save named color selections in a local configuration file for further reuse. There are 3 built-in color schemes: default, blueSplash and greenSplash. The selected scheme will be applied when creating new diagrams. However, the specific color selections may be overwritten later on as desired.
The editor has a proprietary file system browser that is accessible as long as a server connection is available. Its full access to the file system makes it possible to easily open, save and delete files, as well as to display, create and delete folders. The created diagrams, in JSON format, can be saved in the existing folders or in newly created ones. Currently the file browser works under Windows. The server connection uses node.js.
A view of the browser in OPEN mode:
The actions prompted by the buttons on the top of the file browser are as follows:
- Move one level up
- Move one level down
- Create new folder
at the current location
- Delete the selected file of folder
A view of the brouser in SAVE mode:
The layout structure of the canvas is the same for the three supported diagram types.
The nodes are positioned on a rectangular dynamic grid that consists of
layers across the flow direction and
lanes along the flow direction. They are allocated in the cells at the
intersections. The connection links are traced along the pipes between the
layers and between the lanes. All these areas are highlighted when the mouse is moved over.
The layers and the lanes take up considerably larger space than the tiny space taken up by the pipes.
When a node icon is dragged from the palette to the canvas, or when a node is dragged to a different
position, only the cells accepting the particular node are highlighted:
Nodes are assigned names at node creation time. Names have to be unique across the diagram. Node names are automatically generated. They can be changed inline any time later. Duplicate names are rejected. Nodes are created either by dragging a node icon from the palette, or by selecting a node item from the context menu on the canvas. The available selection options are context sensitive:
Layers and/or lanes can be added from the canvas context menu when the mouse is positioned on a pipe. Empty layers and/or lanes can be removed when the mouse is positioned on them:
Single mouse click on a node or on a link marks it as selected. Multiple selections can be made in two ways:
The Copy and Paste actions require one or more selected nodes of the same copy category (see below) and include only the links between them, if any. Paste is activated only after a Copy. Any combination of the following works on selected nodes:
The copy categories comprise nodes that can be copied together.
Flowcharts include five categories:
Logical ERD nodes are grouped in one (separate) category.
Copying between different diagrams is not accepted.
You can delete all of the selected graph elements using any of:
Mouse click outside any graph element cancels all selections, except if pointing a paste location.
When a diagram is larger than the browser viewable area, the Thumbnail View dialog, invokable
from the top right of the screen, helps to navigate the entire diagram:
To search for a particular node or nodes in large diagrams, use the Search dialog accessed from the
top toolbar:
It allows to find a single or multiple nodes by using a
full or partial name, or by matching the appropriate text or pattern in the node content text.
Flowcharts represent the steps of algorithms, processes or workflows, vizualising the
structure of the problems or tasks.
The template shown below represents
a bank transaction process.
Build a diagram by simply drag-and-drop nodes from the palette
and by dragging links between the nodes, connecting the popup handles with the mouse.
Note that when selecting(clicking) a popup handle, the handles that potentially allow
a connection between certain nodes will become lightly highlighted. The connection is accepted
when the connection line dragged by the mouse reaches one of these handles and the highlight color
changes to a darker blue.
When moving the mouse over the node, two editable areas are visualized under the cursor: the node name
field and the node text content field. When double-clicking on any of them, the corresponding text field opens,
accepting the keyboard input.
There are certain spelling rules regarding the node name. In case of
spelling mistakes, an error message comes up below the field.
Edits to these two fields are accepted by pressing the Enter key.
If the text content size is too large, use the context menu on the node
in order to compress the text to only two lines, or, if desired, to expand it back in full:
The editing of these fields can also be done within the Properties dialog that is invoked from the context menu on the node. Additional text can be attached to the node above and/or below its shape:
The Properties dialog also allows changes to the node colors, adding or removing an icon, as well as hiding or unhiding the node name:
Resizing the nodes horizontally and vertically is easily achieved by mouse dragging one of the sides or one of the corners. The larger sizes can be reset either individually from the node context menu or globally from the canvas context menu:
The data flow direction in flowcharts is either top to bottom or left to right, and can be changed or switched back and forth at any time by double clicking the flipping arrow button in the box on the right of the screen above the palette. The flow direction can be changed from the Settings dialog as well.
- Vertical
- Horizontal
The flowchart will be rotated and flipped. This does not otherwise affect its content. The flipping preserves the correlation between the flowchart internal directions and the canvas coordinate system:
A new node is created either by dragging an item from the palette on the right of the screen to an accepting cell on the canvas, or by positioning the mouse on an empty cell and selecting a node type from the context menu. The menu shows only nodes that are accepted at this location:
The start and end layers, as well as the left and right swim lanes, are optional. They all accept their specific node types from the palette or from the mouse context menus.
The flowchart frame size can be modified from the context menus at any time by inserting new layers or lanes, and/or removing the unused ones:
The Settings dialog offers the option to choose whether to use the start & end lanes or not,
as well as whether to use the side swim lanes or not.
In the case of a vertical flow direction, the side swim lanes appear at the top and at the bottom
of the diagram,
while in the case of a horizontal direction they appear on the left and on the right.
There are specific start, end, left/top and right/bottom nodes.
The central layers and/or lanes can be added or removed
from the context menus on the canvas.
The link Properties dialog can be invoked from the link context menu or by double clicking the link itself. This dialog allows to attach labels to the link or to change its color.
The nodes can be moved, as well as copied and pasted, to different grid cells.
In order to reassign the link ports,
they need to be moved to different nodes by dragging them with the mouse to the appropriate connection
ports.
By selecting the 'Show association links' option in the Settings dialog, you can
assign relations between certain nodes.
The Decision nodes have two outputs: YES and NO, and can accept multiple inputs.
The input(s) location is fixed at the top of the shape in a vertical layout and on the left
of the shape in a horizontal layout.
The configuration of the outputs can be chosen by double-clicking the node. The popup box
offers six different options for the YES/NO outputs selectable by the arrow buttons in a clockwise or
an anti-clockwise direction:
The Database ERDs (entity-relationship diagrams) represent the databases physical structure. In essence, an ER diagram contains two object types: entities and relationships. The entities correspond to database tables and in the ERDs they are modeled as diagram nodes. The detailed table designs are expressed visually in the diagram nodes. The relationships between the entities are modeled as links between the nodes.
The current relational databases on the market use as a common language the SQL, however they all have certain implementation differences. In order to reconcile them for a unified ERD design, JDElite Flowchart Builder provides a common UI and handles the differences internally. Here we introduce only the basic concepts of relational databases. However, they are not sufficient for the full understanding of all details. In order to make successful ERD designs, you should consult the corresponding database documentation. Combined with this knowledge, JDElite Flowchart Builder is one of the most user-oriented tools for the design of ERDs. It covers all intricacies of MySQL and SQLite databases.
An ERD created in JDElite Flowchart Builder is saved as a file in JSON format. This file can be exported to a specific script for automated creation of a database. Vice versa, a database script can be imported to a JSON diagram file, visualized and further modified in the editor.
Database tables contain records (table rows) and columns. A table record is an instance of the represented entity. All records in a table have identical structure. For example, the records in the CUSTOMER table below are instances of the customer entity and each record corresponds to a particular customer.
The database table record is composed of fields. The record fields in vertical direction constitute the table columns. Columns, respectively all fields in a column, have common properties: name, data type, data length, etc. The property values are specific for each column. In the above example, the record fields in the CUSTOMER table are customer_id, first_name, middle_name and last_name. These are the database table column names.
Each ERD node in JDElite Flowchart Builder represents the structure of a database table in its own table form. The rows in the diagram node table correspond to the database table columns, and at the same time the columns in the diagram node table correspond to the database column properties.
The structures of relational databases are determined by the primary and foreign keys.
A primary key is a column or a group of columns (composite primary key) that ensure unique
row identification in a relational database table. Primary keys aren’t allowed to have duplicates
or null values. If a primary key contains multiple columns, the combination of values within these
columns should be unique for it to be valid. A table can have only one primary key.
A foreign key is a column or a group of columns that together with
a primary key represent a reference between two database tables.
The foreign key in one table has a reference to a primary key in another table. There could be multiple
foreign keys from different tables referencing the same primary key.
As mentioned earlier, the rows in the diagram table node correspond to the database table
columns. The columns in the diagram node show the property values of each database column.
In the picture below, the first record field in the CUSTOMER table, named customer_id, is
the first row of the CUSTOMER diagram node. This is the primary key of this database
table. It is tagged with PK in the first column of the node.
The first record field in the CONTACT table, named contact_id, is
the first row of the CONTACT diagram node. This is the primary key of this database
table. It is tagged with PK in the first column of the node.
The second record field in the CONTACT table, named customer_id, is
the second row of the CONTACT diagram node. This is the foreign key of this database
table. It is tagged with FK in the first column of the node.
The popup handles on the PK row of one node and on the FK row of another node offer the
choice to create a link between the two diagram nodes. This link is an essential
feature of the relational databases. It establishes and ensures the referential integrity between the
referencing column and the referenced column.
The small vertical bars at the both ends of the link below show the particular cardinalities.
They define the possible number of occurrences of the primary entity customer associated
with the possible number of occurrences of the foreign entity contact. In the example below
each customer can have only one contact associated with him and each contact corresponds to only
one specific customer. This is called one-to-one relationship. Other types of cardinalities
are illustrated later.
A new DB table node is created either by dragging an item from the palette on the right to an accepting cell on the canvas, or by selecting an item from the canvas context menu displayed on an empty cell. In both cases there are three node choices, which differ only by the initial number of columns. The most convenient number of columns can be chosen later in the table node editor. The minimal number of columns cannot be less than two.
The node name can be edited by double-clicking the name field.
The DB table node editor is invoked by double-clicking either the table title bar or a chosen table row. You can add, edit or remove a row, as well as rearrange the order of the rows, using the buttons at the top right. These buttons are enabled or disabled depending on which table row is selected. You can also define database table indexes and database column constraints. The editor actions are demonstrated below.
The node columns Key and Column Name are preselected to show the minimal size of the table node and cannot be unchecked. The remaining two columns can be displayed as needed. These selections do not affect the actual content of the node table row. The four designated node columns are common for all existing relational databases. They are as follows:
Key - designates the database column as either primary or foreign key, or none
Column Name - the database column name
Data Type - data type of the content of all fields in this column
Length - the length of the data of all fields in this column
The buttons on the toolbar of the DB table editor are as follow:
- Add a new empty row
- Add an additional row for primary key
- Delete the row if there is
no reference to it
- Move the row one step up
if the row has no primary key assigned
- Move the row one step
down if the row has no primary key assigned
Here is an example how to create a database table node:
And here is an example how to rearrange some rows in a database table node:
Within database modelling, cardinality is the numerical relationship between rows in one database table and rows in another. It defines the number of occurrences of a primary entity associated with the number of occurrences of a foreign entity. The cardinality is represented graphically by the so called crow's foot symbols at the ends of the connection. There are six commonly accepted relationships symbols:
There are three main types of cardinality relationships: one-to-one, one-to-many (many-to-one) and many-to-many.
One-to-one cardinality
One example was the CUSTOMER to CONTACT relation shown before under the Primary and Foreign Keys title. This is the case when one entity is split in two in order to present the information in a more comprehensible way. Another example would be the car to service ticket relation in a car repair shop:
One-to-many cardinality
This is when one instance of the first entity may be related to more than one instances of the other entity. An example would be when we keep an authors catalog and we need to show the relation between an author and her/his books:
Many-to-many cardinality
In a different scenario, in a library, we need to establish the relations between the plurality of authors and the plurality of books. In this case we can preferably use an additional join table with two one-to-many relations as follows:
The AUTHORS_BOOKS table contains two foreign keys pointing respectively to the AUTHORS and BOOKS tables. These two foreign keys together act as a composite primary key for the AUTHORS_BOOKS table. See more details about composite keys in the next topic.
As it was pointed out in the Notations and Cardinality topic, some foreign keys may be grouped together and act as a composite primary key. In the scenario of the handling the plurality of authors and the plurality of books in a library, simply relating an author to a book turns out to be not sufficient. Most of the authors have more than one book, and some book titles are repeatedly used by different authors. In this case the pair author-book is an entity by itself. In order to identify it uniquely we need to introduce the AUTHORS_BOOKS table. This table has two foreign keys: author_name and book_title. They will represent a composite primary key, meaning that together they identify uniquely any author-book entity.
Here is an example how to assign a composite primary key. You need to double-click the table node title bar to open the DB table node editor, then to click the Composite primary Key button. The preselected type is PRIMARY KEY. The dropdowns of the fields Column1, Column2, Column3 contain the list of all foreign keys present in this table node. You have to select two or more different foreign keys. Optionally you can specify a name for this composite key.
Database constraints are used to specify rules for data in a table. They can be column-level or table-level, and can refer to a single column or multiple columns. Constraints are used to limit the type of data that can be included in a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the table. If there is any violation between a constraint and the action on the data, the action is aborted.
Here are some examples of database constraints:
- PRIMARY KEY constraint: Uniquely identifies each row in a table, requiring that the values in this column be a combination of a NOT NULL and UNIQUE
- FOREIGN KEY constraint: Connects data across multiple tables, based on a common column or columns. It is a field (or collection of fields) in one table, refering to the PRIMARY KEY in another table
- UNIQUE constraint: Prevents duplicate values from being entered into a column, but allows null values
- NOT NULL constraint: Ensures that a column will never contain an invalid value
- CHECK constraint: Specifies a requirement that must be met by each row in a table, and can refer to a single or multiple columns
- DEFAULT constraint: Allows to define a value to be placed into a column when a new row is inserted
There are some additional clauses that complement some of the constraints:
- REFERENCES: Complements the FOREIGN KEY constraint
- AUTO_INCREMENT: A unique number will be generated automatically when a new record is inserted into a table
Here is an example how to assign some constraints for a database table column. You need to double-click the table node row that corresponds to the database column:
And here is an example how to assign a REFERENCES constraint. You need to double-click a table node row representing a FOREIGN KEY. Using the dropdowns, select an existing table and the column name from that table representing the PRIMARY KEY of that table. By confirming this assignment, a graphical link will be created in the diagram.
There is a two-way synchronization between a created link and the REFERENCES constraint: creating a link will also automatically assign a REFERENCES constraint.
Database index is an optional structure, associated with a column or columns on a table,
that can speed up the access to the data. Indexes are structures stored in the database that users
manage using SQL statements. They are used to support database performance.
Database key is a column or set of columns that uniquely identify rows in a table. They
are used to maintain data integrity. A key declaration is a constraint.
Examples of keys are the primary keys, the foreign keys and the composite primary keys, all that
were explained above.
The documentation for keys and indexes is specific for each database implementation.
The corresponding user manuals provide the interpretations and detailed information for the usage.
It is recommended that you consult the database documentation.
Here we show how to specify the creation of these structures using JDElite Flowchart Editor.
In a SQLite database, in order to create an index, you need to double-click the
table node title bar. You can define an index to be UNIQUE by selecting the appropriate checkbox.
Here is an example showing how to create an index for SQLite database:
In a MySQL database, JDElite Flowchart Editor provides an uniform way to assign indexes and keys. They are all defined at table level. Key is normally a synonym for index. There are several key flavors, like:
The PRIMARY key can be defined either on table level or on a column level.
The FOREIGN key is defined at column level.
Here is an example showing how to create an index for MySQL database:
Import from SQLite Scripts
JDElite Flowchart Builder imports database schemas exported from SQLite to .sql files.Here are the steps to follow:
Export to SQLite scripts
JDElite Flowchart Builder exports SQLite schema diagrams to .sql files.Here are the steps to follow (the diagram has to be previously saved):
Here are shown the steps to follow:
Import from MySQL Scripts
JDElite Flowchart Builder imports database schemas exported from MySQL dumps to disk. MySQL offers two options for exporting database schemas:Here are the common steps to follow for each case:
Export to MySQL scripts
JDElite Flowchart Builder exports MySQL schema diagrams offering two options to select from, following the original options:Here are the steps to follow for the export (the diagram has to be previously saved):
Here are shown the steps to follow:
The table scripts are in the selected folder:
Logical ERDs (entity-relationship diagrams) are the conceptual or logical models of business objects as components of systems. They are a convenient tool for business analysts or database designers, and are useful at preliminary design stages for physical databases, presumably following a whiteboard design. A conceptual or logical model identifies the business objects as building blocks. It defines the entities and their attributes, as well as the relationships between them.
The graphical nodes representing the logical symbols, adopted here, consist of three basic types: entity, relationship and attribute. There are some additional derived types as follows:
- Entity (also Strong Entity) -
generic object. It is considered to be a prototype of a database table and is further defined by its attributes.
- Weak Entity - entity that depends on a strong entity
- Attribute - defines a property of an entity
- Derived Attribute - defines an attribute based on
another attribute
- Multivalued Attribute - defines an attribute with
multiple values
- Relationship - defines the type of relation
between two entities. Usually it corresponds to a primary-foreign key reference.
- Weak Relationship (also Non-Identifying
Relationship) - a reference that does not correspond to a primary-foreign key reference
Similar to the database modelling, the cardinality defines the number of occurrences of one entity
associated with the number of occurrences of another entity. The cardinality is represented
graphically by crow's foot symbols at the ends of the connections between entities.
Here are the six cardinality symbols:
As in Database ERDs, there are three cardinality relationships: one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many.
The Logical ERDs represent logical structures of objects, consisting of
entity-attributes groups, and show the relations between them. Here are step-by-step
examples how to create a logical ERD.
Create a new logical ERD node either by dragging an item from the palette to an accepting cell on the canvas, or by selecting an item from the canvas context menu displayed in an empty cell:
In order to show the relation between two entities, place a relation node between them:
Continue adding attributes to the entities. Note that the cardinality relationship between one or more employees and their manager is many-to-one.
The Relationship node has two modes - YES/NO decision mode and 1-to-3 ways mode. When double-clicking
the node, a popup box allows to choose which mode is more appropriate for the particular case.
The YES/NO decision mode is similar to the decision mode in Flowcharts.
The 1-to-3 ways mode has one input that can be positioned at any of the four directions, and 3 outputs
positioned at the remaining 3 corners:
When you want to modify the layout of the diagram, it is convenient to change the positions of the ends of the Relationship node:
