The Analysis - screenshot attached.

1) Any WinDev project you develop, whether for desktop, mobile or web, will probably require a database. That database is defined and designed in what WD calls the Analysis. The analysis allows you to define the tables that will be in your database; the table structures and properties, indices, etc.

2) The various tables are represented by boxes whose appearance (e.g. colours and size) you can set. I have chosen some colouring to group related tables in my project together. I made my boxes small but you can resize them which would show fields and keys.

3) The Analysis window can be zoomed in/out so that you can clearly read the boxes and their contents. The screenshot shows a total overview but at the expense of readability. You can zoom in/out using the mouse wheel or the menu system or the toolbars of the IDE.

4) Besides holding all the table definitions it also allows you to specify all the table integrity rules and links. You do this by simply dragging lines between the key fields of tables and then specifying the rules; one to one, one to many, etc. Any relational database rule can be defined between any group of tables and WD will then manage and enforce that for you. My screenshot does not show any such lines as this is a relatively new project and have not yet specified them.

5) An analysis can be shared amongst several projects.

6) When you make a change to a table and save the analysis then WD will ask you whether you want to apply those changes to an existing database – automatic database maintenance. Furthermore, these changes are automatically applied to your end-users database when they run the program with the new analysis.

6) There are many tools for managing the analysis from backup, to repairing, to compiling it, generating it, applying it to an existing database etc.

7) The analysis immediately reflects in your Intellisense so that when a function or program line requires a table, it is suggested as you type. When you require a field, a list is presented as you type.

8) The analysis enforces the correct usage of field types in your code and can update field name changes throughout the project.

9) The analysis allows you to import external database structures including VFP files. It can also import the data. This saves you having to manually redefine tables and fields.

10) You can add external files, such as VFP files, into an analysis without converting the file. So it can remain a VFP file, for example, but still have its definition in the analysis.


WD Help Links:

I just include a single link here but the See Also button will link you to further reading.

http://doc.windev.com/en-US/?2011022&name=analysis_associated_with_project&productversion=XXA170078P&verdisp=170