The Entities Tab

The Entities tab enables you to configure the entities that will be included in your model. These entities represent objects or events, which may have properties associated with them, and these properties can be stored in your model as well if you choose to include it. Entities are linked to each other via relationships, which you will establish on the Relationships tab.

  1. Enter the name of your model in the Model field.
  2. Click the ID drop-down and select the field whose data you want to use to generate the entities for your model.
  3. If the entity's type is contained in its own field, check the Type in separate field box and select the appropriate field in the Type drop-down.
  4. The Internal Index grid includes a list of fields that are generated by the Import to Hub stage. The _stp_id field is always indexed; the _stp_label and _stp_type fields are optional. These fields can be indexed with or without case sensitivity.
  5. The Field Name grid includes all the fields from your entity input file. Select the fields whose data you want included in the model by clicking the Include box for those fields.
  6. Select which fields you want to be indexed in your model by clicking the Index box for those fields. Selecting which fields to index, rather than indexing all fields in your model, results in faster performance when writing to a model. However, if you later attempt to query fields in your model that were not indexed, the response time will be slower. For example, the Specify starting entity option in the query tool for the Relationship Analysis Client works only on indexed properties. You can query non-indexed properties using conditions, but the performance will be slower.
  7. In the Index Type column, you can choose whether the data should be indexed with or without case sensitivity. Selecting Case Insensitivity typically results in greater response to a search. You cannot change the Index Type for an existing property unless it has zero counts within the model. In other words, if your model contains a property but none of the records that make up the model uses that property, you can change the index type. If one or more records uses the property, you cannot change the index type.
    Note: The _stp_id, _stp_type, and _stp_label properties are internal properties and will always appear in the list of indexed fields. You can deselect _stp_type and _stp_label, but _stp_id must be indexed; however, you are able to designate whether its index type should be exact or with case insensitivity.
  8. Click the Relationships tab to continue creating your model.