Vertabelo has a built-in mechanism of live validation that checks your model all the time and gives you hints on how to improve it. Every error, warning or tip is flagged by a dedicated icon that you cannot fail to notice. Within your workspace, the problems are indicated in two places. In the left panel you can review all problems found in your model, while on the right side you’ve got information on problems detected in the currently selected object only.

Do you know the quickest way to find a single table even in the largest diagram you can imagine? The answer is to double click the table’s name in the navigation tree! In the Model structure panel on the left, you’ve got a navigation tree with groups of all elements used in your diagram, including database objects such as tables, references and views, as well as other subsidiary elements like subject areas and text notes.

Sometimes you may want to export your database model to a PDF file, especially for documentation purposes. It often happens that your diagram is larger than the default page size set in Vertabelo. If that's the case, you should configure the printout options in the Format section. Make sure that no element in your diagram is selected. Go to the Model properties panel on the right and expand the Format section which provides some basic formatting parameters.

If you need to automatically download SQL script from Vertabelo, for example, for the purposes of your build system, you definitely should check out our Vertabelo API. It allows you to download an SQL or XML of your model by a simple HTTP request. In the command line, it may look like this: VERTABELO_API_TOKEN=put-your-api-token-here MODEL_ID=put-your-model-identifier-here curl -u $VERTABELO_API_TOKEN: \ https://my.vertabelo.com/api/sql/$MODEL_ID create-database.sql To learn more about Vertabelo API, go here.

In our previous Tip #16 and Tip #17 you could have learned that using table shortcuts makes it easier to create a well-laid-out database model. Do you know that references between shortcuts may be shown in the diagram too? Let’s go back to our example from Tip #16. Assume that we have already created all necessary subject areas. Now, we want to put shortcuts of all purchase-related elements in the Purchase subject area.

In our previous Tip #16, we showed you how to create shortcut tables using copy and paste. But did you know that you can create a shortcut of a table with only one move of your mouse? Just find the table in the navigation tree and then drag and drop it in the desired place in your diagram. Let’s assume that you want to create a reference line between two tables that are located quite far away from each other in your database diagram:

Yes, you can! Shortcuts combined with subject areas might completely change your approach to database modeling. They allow you to make your diagram much more structured, logically divided and readable. Let’s look at an example. At the beginning, we have a really standard database model for a shop. Open your database model in Vertabelo: Now, we’re going to use subject areas in the model. To start, let’s put the whole model in a subject area:

Large models often happen to be quite messy. Using subject areas, you can improve the readability of your model and make it easier to work with. The idea behind subject areas is to group tables inside them according to their purposes – it allows you to create some logical structure in your model and makes navigation through it more natural. Open your database model in Vertabelo: To create a subject area, choose Add new area from the toolbox or press 7 on your keyboard:

When it comes to sharing things like documents or photos with other people, sending files to each other is becoming less and less common – we usually prefer to send links. They are quick, convenient and neither use up disk space nor make a mess in our file system. At Vertabelo, we know how inconvenient it can be to send files and that’s why we created public links for models.

Probably you have already generated a PNG image for your model, but did you know that the image may be generated for chosen elements only? Open your database model in Vertabelo: Select the desired objects with Ctrl + Click or using Select area from the toolbox: Click Export model as PNG image in the top toolbar: And this is your PNG image: