Is there a way to show icons for the datatypes or do the datatypes need to be spelled out on the model? An option to switch between the defined information (ie Varchar2(200), Number(4,0)) and maybe a generic icon to represent each (A icon -> character, 789 icon -> number, a small calendar icon -> date, etc). Similar to the key that is used to show PKs, Some type of icon for each datatype would be helpful just to maximize the real-estate space on the ERD. The attached pic shows icons for PK column, null/notnull, generic datatype (char, num, date). This is from my beloved Oracle Designer that is no longer being supported ;-( Thank you for your consideration.
Please put your suggestion into the Idea Pond so we can measure how many users would find this feature useful.
By the way, there is a lot of data types and many of them are specific to certain database platforms. Are you thinking of creating icons for most common data types, or all of them? The latter would prove quite difficult seeing as we would need to create a large number of data type icons that can be easily distinguished.
If the icons would be tricky, how about a short-hand version of each datatype name e.g. VC for varchar. I know that PowerDesigner has a shorthand notation for datatypes and it definitely helps the available real estate.
Potentially you could also allow the short-hand name to be user configurable so that people could setup short names they were comfortable with.
there already is a possibility how to shorten the data type specification in graphics.
Click Settings | Options and in section Graphics specify Max number of characters for displayed data type.
Other settings can be set on Workspace or Object level. For default settings for the workspace, right click the workspace area and choose Workspace Format...
Then make additional corrections to get desired result.
The same can be done for individual object on a workspace. Entry point: right click the object and choose Format...
