DB2 Universal Database (DB2 UDB) Version 8.2 became generally available in September 2004. This release includes lots of enhancements for developers: a Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) certified and redistributable JDBC Type 4 driver, support for CLR-based stored procedures, WSDL generation in support of Web services with mere clicks of a button, and more!
Another key feature for development, yet not so well known, is the DB2 UDB modeling enhancements in the IBM Rational eXtreme Development Environment (XDE) to aid in schema development and data modeling. In this article, I briefly cover some of the key database-specific features that developers who follow the Rational Unified Process (RUP) can leverage when working with the data model. The Rational XDE supports the modeling of an application, and when combined with the data modeling feature creates an ecosystem where the application development group and those charged with administering the data environment can work in tandem, on a common data model, which ultimately leads to corporate efficiencies.
With the Rational XDE, here are some of the activities you can perform with the data model:
- Creating the base data model
- Modeling the logical-to-physcial storage design model (table spaces)
- Modeling business rules for data deployment (domains)
- Modeling views
- Generating business logic in the data model (stored procedures, triggers, and so on)
- Generating an object model from the data model
- Generating a data model from an object model
- Reverse engineering a database into a data model
- Forward engineering a data model into a database
- Synchronizing changes between the data model and the database
Using the Rational XDE
The tools provided in the Rational XDE are available for developers via plug-ins into Microsoft Visual Studio.NET (VS.NET), WebSphere Studio Application Developer, and on their own in an Eclipse-based environment. In this article, I illustrate some of the database-specific functions using VS.NET.
When you install the Rational XDE add-in for VS.NET, the installation program automatically registers the plug-in for use with this IDE. From here, you build the data model by adding a Rational project as you would with any VS.NET-based project.
