Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 : The MorphX Tools - Visio Reverse Engineering Tool

The Reverse Engineering tool can generate a Unified Modeling Language (UML) data model, a UML object model, or an entity relationship data model, including all elements from a private or shared project. To open the tool, right-click a project or a perspective, point to Add-Ins, and then click Reverse Engineer. You can also open the tool by selecting Reverse Engineer from the Development Tools menu. In the dialog box shown in Figure 1, you must specify a file name and model type.

When you click OK, the tool uses the metadata for all elements in the project to generate a Visio document that opens automatically in Visio. You can drag elements from the Visio Model Explorer onto the drawing surface, which is initially blank. Any relationship between two elements is automatically shown.

UML Data Model

When generating a UML data model, the Reverse Engineering tool looks for tables in the project. The UML model contains a class for each table and view in the project and its attributes and associations. Figure 2  shows a class diagram with the CustTable (Customers), InventTable (Inventory Items), SalesTable (Sales Order Header), and SalesLine (Sales Order Line) tables. To simplify the diagram, some attributes have been removed.

Figure 2. UML data model diagram

The UML model also contains referenced tables and all extended data types, base enumerations, and X++ data types. You can include these items in your diagrams without having to run the Reverse Engineering tool again.

Fields in Dynamics AX are generated as UML attributes. All attributes are marked as public because of the nature of fields in Dynamics AX. Each attribute also shows the type. The primary key field is underlined. If a field is a part of one or more indexes, the names of the indexes are prefixed to the field name; if the index is unique, the index name is noted in brackets.

Relationships in Dynamics AX are generated as UML associations. The aggregation property of the association is set based on two conditions in metadata:

• If the relationship is validating (the validate property is set to Yes), the aggregation property is set to shared. This is also known as UML aggregation, visualized by a white diamond.

• If a cascading delete action exists between the two tables, a composite association is added to the model. A cascading delete action ties the life span of two or more tables and is visualized by a black diamond.

The end name on associations is the name of the Dynamics AX relationship, and the names and types of all fields in the relationship appear in brackets.

UML Object Model

When generating an object model, the Reverse Engineering tool looks for Dynamics AX classes, tables, and interfaces in the project. The UML model contains a class for each Dynamics AX table and class in the project and an interface for each Dynamics AX interface. The UML model also contains attributes and operations, including return types, parameters, and the types of the parameters. Figure 3 shows an object model of the most important RunBase and Batch classes and interfaces in Dynamics AX. To simplify the view, some attributes and operations have been removed, and operation parameters are suppressed.

Figure 3. UML object model diagram

The UML model also contains referenced tables, classes and tables, and all extended data types, base enumerations, and X++ data types. You can include these elements in your diagrams without having to run the Reverse Engineering tool again.

Fields and member variables in Dynamics AX are generated as UML attributes. All fields are generated as public attributes, whereas member variables are generated as protected attributes. Each attribute also shows the type. Methods are generated as UML operations, including return type, parameters, and the types of the parameters.

The Reverse Engineering tool also picks up any generalizations (classes extending other classes), realizations (classes implementing interfaces), and associations (classes using each other). The associations are limited to references in member variables.

Entity Relationship Data Model

When generating an entity relationship data model, the Reverse Engineering tool looks for tables and views in the project. The entity relationship model contains an entity type for each AOT table in the project and attributes for each table’s fields. Figure 4 shows an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) with the CustTableInventTable (Inventory Items), SalesTable (Sales Order Header), and SalesLine (Sales Order Line) tables. To simplify the diagram, some attributes have been removed. (Customers),

Fields in Dynamics AX are generated as entity relationship columns. Columns can be foreign key (FK), alternate key (AK), inversion entry (IE), and optional (O). A foreign key column is used to identify a record in another table, an alternate key uniquely identifies a record in the current table, an inversion entry identifies zero or more records in the current table (these are typical of the fields in nonunique indexes), and optional columns don’t require a value.

Relationships in Dynamics AX are generated as entity relationships. The EntityRelationshipRole property of the relationship in Dynamics AX is used as the foreign key role name of the relation in the entity relationship data model.