How to Build a Business Rules Engine

Extracting Column Data from a Data Modeling Tool

As with table data in the previous chapter, we will base our example on Computer

Associate’s ERWin tool. Again, we will be using its report generator. Other data

modeling tools and data dictionaries have similar report interfaces, so the mechanism

we use to extract metadata from ERWin may be applicable—in a general way—in

these other environments. Ideally, readers will be able to adapt what follows to their

particular circumstances.

Two versions of ERWin are commonly used, Version 3.5.2 and Version 4.1 (also

known as AllFusion ERWin Data Modeler). The approach required for each is some-

what different, ...