Setting Data Profiling Constraints

PowerDesigner allows you to define data profiling constraints to control the range and format of data allowed in your database. You can specify constraints on the Standard Checks and Additional Checks tabs of table columns in your PDM, entity attributes in your CDM or LDM, and domains. You can also specify data quality rules on the Rules tab of PDM tables and columns, CDM/LDM entities and attributes, and domains.

The following constraints are available on the Standard Checks tab of PDM columns, CDM/LDM entity attributes, and CDM/LDM/PDM domains:

Property	Description
Values	Specifies the range of acceptable values. You can set a: Minimum - The lowest acceptable numeric value Maximum - The highest acceptable numeric value Default - The value assigned in the absence of an expressly entered value. For the PDM, you can enter a default value or select a keyword from the list, which is defined in the `Script\Sql\Keywords\ReservedDefault` entry of the DBMS definition file.
Characteristics	Specifies the shape of acceptable data. You can choose a: Format - A number of standard formats are available in the list and you can create your own format for reuse elsewhere or simply enter a format in the field. Unit - A standard measure. This field is informational only and is not generated. No space - Space characters are not allowed. Cannot modify - The value cannot be updated after initialization.
Character case	Specifies the acceptable case for the data. You can choose between: Mixed case [default] Uppercase Lowercase Sentence case Title case
List of values	Specifies the various values that are acceptable. If you have specified a non-automatic test data profile, you can use the values defined in the profile to populate the list by clicking the Update from Test Data Profile tool. Select the Complete check box beneath the list to exclude all other values not appearing in the list.

Note: When specifying strings in the list of values, quotation marks will be added around the values in the generated script. However, quotation marks will not be added if you surround the value by tilde characters, if the value is a keyword (such as NULL) defined in the DBMS, or if PowerDesigner does not recognize your data type as a string. Additional quotation marks will not be added if you have supplied them. The generation of single or double quotation marks depends on the target DBMS. The following examples show how various string values will be generated for a DBMS that uses single quotation marks:

Active - generates as 'Active'
'Active' - generates as 'Active'
"Active" - generates as '"Active"'
~Active~ - generates as Active
NULL - generates as NULL

Specifying Constraints Through Business Rules
In addition to the constraints specified on the Standard Checks tab, you can specify business rules of type Validation or Constraint to control your data. Both types of rule contain SQL code to validate your data, and you can attach them to tables and table columns in your PDM, entities and entity attributes in your CDM or LDM, and domains.
Creating Data Formats For Reuse
You can create data formats to reuse in constraints for multiple objects by clicking the New button to the right of the Format field on the Standard Checks tab. Data formats are informational only, and are not generated as constraints.
Specifying Advanced Constraints
The Additional Checks tab is initialized with PowerDesigner variables to generate the data profiling constraints specified on the Standard Checks tab and the validation rules specified on the Rules tab. You can edit the code on this tab by entering an appropriate SQL expression to supplement, modify, or replace these constraints.

Parent topic: Columns (PDM)