This discussion shows how to reverse engineer a database produced in MS SQL Server 2005 and use it in Entity Modeler and Web Objects. The model of the database is shown below.
In OS X Leopard and non OSX platforms, Web Objects development is conducted in Eclipse using the WOLips plug-in and typically includes community frameworks such as Hoodah, LEWOStuff and WOnder. Amongst the tools that come with WOLips is a database modeler called Entity Modeler. While an entire description of Entity Modeler is beyond the scope of this tutorial, the steps needed to reverse engineer a MS SQL Server database is what this tutorial is about.
The first step in using Entity Modeler is of course to acquire WOLips, which may be downloaded with Eclipse from M-Dimension (http://wiki.objectstyle.org/confluence/display/WOL/Installing+WOLips), may be installed via the Eclipse update manager (http://wiki.objectstyle.org/confluence/display/WOL/Install+WOLips+with+Eclipse+Update+Manager), or from its Subversion source. It may also be installed on MS Windows systems as well as demonstrated by Lachlan Scott (http://wiki.objectstyle.org/confluence/display/WOL/Installing+WebObjects-WOLips+on+Windows).
Once WOLips is installed, the next step is to install and include the MS SQL Server JDBC driver. Most people include this in the project itself to ensure consistency from development to deployment. After copying the driver into the Library directory, the developer should edit the build configuration to include both the directory and the JDBC driver itself in the build and export path. Once this done, the developer may use Entity Modeler to reverse engineer the database.
Next Step: Reverse Engineering a MS SQL Server Database with Entity Modeler.