What's New In ERwin R8.1

So ERwin 8.1 is now available for download. What are the new features and what considerations are their with the upgrade.

Firstly, the above linked download 8.1 release does not include a Crystal Reports installation component. So if this is your initial install, be sure to install the 8.0 release with Crystal reports and then run the upgrade using the 8.1 install (it will automatically run as an upgrade). Of course, if you already have any ERwin 8.0 version installed, you simply execute the latest install package (either from a CD or the downloaded exe).

After your ERwin upgrade you will need to connect to your Model Mart to upgrade that to the latest version, as well. This takes only a few moments as the upgrade to the Mart is minimal. Have your Mart administrator upgrade their ERwin version to 8.1. Then have them navigate to the File | Mart | Initialize Mart... (don't worry, you will only be upgrading).

The admin will be prompted to connect as the same user that created the mart. After connecting, the initialization screen will only have an option for UPGRADE. Select Upgrade to complete the process.

Now, let's move on to the new features:

Fit to page printing

This may be the most demanded fix in the release. It simply allows the user to automatically fit the design into a single page, no matter the paper size. This feature is invoked through the actual Print editor.

Multiple diagram pictures

Personally, perhaps my most desired feature is the ability of generating multiple diagram picture reports at once. This was limited in the R8 release. This is most readily noticeable from the Tools | Diagram Picture | Generate Diagram Pictures menu item. Once the editor is invoked, you can easily select which diagrams in the current model you would like to generate images for and to which folder to publish them.

Lasso selection tool

The lasso selection tool works differently now, in that you will first lasso the objects that you would like to zoom in to (regardless of current magnification) and then click the Zoom to Fit Selection button in the Zoom Toolbar.

This is also available as an option from the View | Zoom menu items.

Preserve diagram layout enhancements

This is another nice fix. If you ever tried to copy and paste your design from one diagram to another (or between models) you noticed that the coordinates of the objects were lost. Now, they are preserved by default. This is going to save you a lot of time, laying out your design.

Similarly, when you derive a diagram based on an existing diagram, your layout will also be preserved.

Layout in Place

One of the great features of the ERwin r8 release is the ability to select only a subset of all the diagram objects and lay them out to one of the default layouts. This selective layout is a great time saver but in the 8.0 release the selected objects would move to a default location on the screen and would need to be moved again. This required extra work to achieve the desired result.

With r8.1 the layout now occurs within the context of the selected area so there is no need to move the objects again. This feature is the default and is automatically enabled. But it can be disabled from the Diagram | Layout menu items.

Copy objects enhancements


Another copy enhancement is that objects copied between from one diagram to another (in the same model) will simply create the drawing object with the preserved coordinates. You will no longer get duplicate tables, for example, if the tables already exist in the model.

ODBC Table Changes


The last topic I'll cover in this post is the addition of a new table to the ERwin ODBC client, DIAGRAM. If you have played with the ODBC reporting, previously, you may have noted the CURRENT_DIAGRAM table. Querying this table allowed the creation of a graphical report of the current diagram. With the additional support for multiple diagrams the DIAGRAM table was added to allow ODBC reporting against multiple graphical reports.

For much more information on this functionality, sign up for my Advanced ODBC Erwin Reporting Webinar.

Do you think these changes will help you with your modeling endeavors? Feel free to leave your comments and questions.