How to Derive Data Dictionary from Textual Analysis?

In Visual Paradigm, there is a glossary grid which act as a data dictionary for recording important terms that appear in project. In this tutorial, we will start from filling in a problem description with the textual analysis tool, and extract terms from the description. Finally, we will generate a PDF report to list the terms and show the problem description.

January 4, 2010
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Compatible: Enterprise, Professional, Standard, Modeler
  1. Download otv.txt. You can also find this file at the bottom of this tutorial.
  2. Open the downloaded file and read it once. The content is as below. It describes the operations of the company OTV (Online Television).
    Problem statement
  3. Create a new project by selecting Project > New from the application toolbar. In the New Project window, enter OTV as the project name and click Create Blank Project.
  4. Select Diagram > New from the application toolbar.
  5. In the New Diagram window, select Textual Analysis and click Next. Leave the diagram name unchanged and click OK to create a Textual Analysis diagram.
    New Textual Analysis
  6. Click the Import File button above the textual analysis editor.
    Import file
  7. Select the downloaded file otv.txt. You will need to select Text Documents as the file type in the file chooser to see the file. After importing the file, you should see the problem description appear in the textual analysis editor.
    Problem statement imported
  8. Start by identifying the key terms from the problem description. Right-click on the first keyword, OTV, and select Add "OTV" to Glossary from the popup menu.
    Identify term
  9. You should see a message appear on the status bar indicating that the term OTV has been added to the glossary grid. Click on the glossary grid link to go there. If you miss it, don't worry. You can open the glossary grid by selecting Modeling > Glossary > Glossary Grid from the application toolbar.
    Open glossary grid
  10. The glossary grid is where glossary terms are listed. You can check the terms and their definitions in the grid. You can also create and manage terms using the function buttons on the toolbar at the top of the glossary grid. Now, let's describe the term OTV. Right-click on the term and select Open Term Editor from the popup menu.
    Open term editor
  11. Enter the definition of the term in the Definition field: A company that delivers both paid and free online broadcasting services.
    Entered term definition
  12. You can use different texts (via aliases) to refer to the same term. This helps to avoid redundancy when creating multiple terms with the same meaning. Let's add an alias called "Online Television." Click Add on the right side of the Aliases section (located at the top of the term editor).
    Add alias
  13. Enter Online Television in the input window and confirm. Online Television is now an alias for the term OTV.
    Alias added
  14. Add another alias, Online TV.
    Aliases added
  15. Go back to the glossary grid by selecting Modeling > Glossary > Glossary Grid from the application toolbar. You can see the aliases and description (i.e., definition) there as well.
    Term in glossary grid
  16. Now, let's identify the following terms from the textual analysis editor:
    Term Aliases Documentation
    general member general membership The person who owns the free membership and is allowed to watch free programs.
    archived TV programs archived programs A program that was first broadcast at least 3 months ago.
    premium member premium membership The person who owns the premium membership and is allowed to watch both free and paid programs.
    video panel video pane The panel for playing a program.
    discussion topic   An opinion posted by premium members that discusses the program.
    monthly newsletters newsletters An email sent to users every month to provide information about the company and to list recommended programs for the next month.
    administrators admin The person who has the right to manage the upload and removal of programs and memberships.
    program schedule program timetable The timetable of TV programs.
    update the program   To update the list of programs on the programs page.
    archive programs   To mark a program as archived.
    monitor the delivery of the newsletter   To ensure that the newsletter is delivered. Failed deliveries should be checked, and a re-send action should be taken.

    Up to now, the glossary is complete:
    Glossary updated
  17. Open the textual analysis, and you will see that those terms are highlighted.
    Textual Analysis done
  18. Let's export the glossary grid as a document. Select Tools > Doc. Composer... from the application toolbar.
  19. Click on Build Doc from Scratch.
    Select 'Build from Scratch'
  20. You are now presented with the Diagram Navigator, the Template Pane, and an empty document (editor). Let's create content in the document. Select the glossary grid in the Diagram Navigator. Then, drag the Grid Diagram template from the Template Pane and release it onto the document to create the content. You should see a table of glossary terms created in the document.
    Create content in Doc. Composer
  21. Click on Export > Word Document... at the top right of Doc. Composer.
    To export Word document
  22. In the Export Word Doc. window, provide the output path for the .docx file to be exported and then click Export at the bottom right.
    Export Word Doc window
    Open the Word file to take a look. You should see the glossary terms listed in the document.
    Exported Word document
  23. Save the project. This is the end of the tutorial.
Resources
  1. otv.txt
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