Relationship management for data modeling in an integrated development environment

A method of managing relationships between program code files in an integrated development environment executed on a computer, comprising:

• modifying a relational schema according to a change in one of the program code files, the relational schema comprising at least two related tables with symbols from the program code files based on a framework for models in the integrated development environment, wherein the change is one of “add”, “remove” and “update”, and wherein the at least two related tables comprise a public symbols table and a referenced symbols table;
• determining a relationship between the at least two related tables in the relational schema;
• modifying a definition set according to the change to include definitions from the changed program code file for symbols therefrom in the relational schema into the definition set, the definition set retaining symbol definitions for the program code files;
• and
• producing proxy definitions for use with the definition set for each symbol in the changed program code file without a definition in the definition set.

A system for incorporating a program code file into an integrated development environment comprising:

• a central processing unit (CPU);
• a memory;
• a save mechanism for modifying a relational schema according to a change in one of the program code files, the relational schema comprising at least two related tables with symbols from the program code files based on a framework for models in the integrated development environment, wherein the change is one of “add”, “remove” and “update”, and wherein the at least two related tables comprise a public symbols table and a referenced symbols table;
• a validation mechanism for determining a relationship between the at least two related tables in the relational schema;
• a dependency set mechanism for modifying a definition set according to the change to include definitions from a changed program code file for symbols therefrom in the relational schema into the definition set, the definition set retaining symbol definitions for the program code files;
• a proxy mechanism for producing proxy definitions for use with the definition set for each symbol in the changed program code file without a definition in the definition set;
• a database for retaining the relational schema, the relationship between the at least two related tables and the definition set;
• and
• a controller for coordinating the save mechanism, the validation mechanism, the dependency set mechanism, the proxy mechanism and communications with the database.

A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for managing relationships between program code files in an integrated development environment, comprising:

• detecting a change in one of the program code files as being one of “add”, “remove” and “update”;
• removing symbols in the changed program code file from a relational schema if the change is one of “remove” and “update”, the relational schema comprising at least two related tables with symbols from the program code files based on a framework for models in the integrated development environment, wherein the at least two related tables comprise a public symbols table and a referenced symbols table;
• incorporating symbols from the changed program code file in the relational schema if the change is one of “add” and “update”;
• validating a relationship between the at least two related tables in the relational schema;
• removing definitions from a definition set for symbols from the changed program code file that were previously removed from the relational schema, the definition set retaining symbol definitions for the program code files;
• adding definitions to the definition set from the changed program code file for symbols previously incorporated into the relational schema;
• and
• producing proxy definitions for use with the definition set for each symbol in the changed program code file previously incorporated into the relational schema without a definition in the definition set.

A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for managing relationships between program code files in an integrated development environment, comprising:

• modifying a relational schema according to a change in one of the program code files, the relational schema comprising at least two related tables with symbols from the program code files based on a framework for models in the integrated development environment, wherein the change is one of “add”, “remove” and “update”, and wherein the at least two related tables comprise a public symbols table and a referenced symbols table;
• determining a relationship between the at least two related tables in the relational schema;
• modifying a definition set according to the file change to include definitions from the changed program code file for symbols therefrom in the relational schema into the definition set, the definition set retaining symbol definitions for the program code files;
• and
• producing proxy definitions for use with the definition set for each symbol in the changed program code file without a definition in the definition set.