SqlDBM projects allow users to configure project settings and personal project preferences from a single menu.
This article covers the following features that can help modelers maintain consistent and uniform naming standards and fine-tune their project menu:
Case standards - affects case (e.g., upper, lower, pascal) for project objects.
Name mapping - controls the naming pattern (e.g., prefixes, suffixes) of object names
Glossary - automated naming translation, like abbreviation, replacement, or expansion of business terms.
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Project settings - control which menu items appear in the project.
These settings are available for logical and physical projects.
Other "Settings and conventions" settings are covered in separate articles, linked below.
Aside from "Project settings," which is a user-level setting, all other configurations apply to the entire project and affect all its users.
Access the settings
Naming conventions, case standards, and a glossary can be accessed from the "Settings and connections" menu, which is located in the main SqlDBM project menu.
Click "Settings and conventions" to bring up the pop-up or select an individual option from the context menu on hover for direct access.
Case standards
Control naming case standards using the following settings.
Please note that Cases Standards rules affect the names of all object types. These can be fine-tuned using the provided delimiter settings.
Physical
None — no rules. The feature is disabled
UPPER_CASE — all letters are capitalized, words are separated with underscores
lower_case — all letters are lower case, words are separated with underscores
Title_Case — words are separated with underscores and start with a capital letter
camelCase — the first word begins with a lower case letter, the remaining words are capital letters. All words are combined together without underscores
PascalCase — all words begin with capital letters and no spaces, underscores, or hyphens allowed. All words are combined together
Logical
None — no rules. The feature is disabled
UPPER CASE — all letters are capitalized, words are separated with spaces
lower case — all letters are lower case, words are separated with spaces
Title Case — words are separated with spaces and start with a capital letter
Sentence case — the first word begins with a capital letter and subsequent words are lower case, separated by spaces.
Settings
SqlDBM allows users to set delimiter options to fine-tune how case standards are applied. Delimiters, like those in Excel's “Text to Columns,” affect how words are split, while case standards determine how they are reassembled. Unselecting any of these options will result in terms not being split accordingly (see examples below).
Delimiter settings are configured in two independent columns — Physical and Logical — so each name type can have its own word-boundary rules. This lets physical names be normalized to valid database identifiers while preserving meaningful special characters (e.g., R&D, Sales & Budget, Cost/Revenue) in logical names.
Defaults: Physical has all five options checked; Logical has all checked except “Other special characters.”
Note that delimiter settings are only applicable when a case standard is applied (i.e., not “None”). Also note that these settings will affect any Glossary term translations applied, as the two settings work in concert.
The following options are available in both columns. The examples below assume the relevant case standard is set and only the individual option in question is unchecked.
- Space - project id becomes PROJECT ID
- Underscore - project__id becomes PROJECT__ID (note, double underscore)
- CaseChange - projectId becomes PROJECTID
- Number - address2 becomes ADDRESS2
- Other - when unchecked, special characters (&, /, +, #, %, etc.) are not treated as word boundaries and are preserved in the output. Example (Logical, Title Case): Sales & Budget remains Sales & Budget. When checked, special characters are treated as boundaries and stripped — Sales & Budget becomes Sales Budget.
When Global Standards is in use, the asterisk that flags overrides applies independently to the Physical and Logical delimiter sets, so a non-default setting in only one column is flagged on that column alone.
Name Mapping
You can add prefixes and suffixes to the names of different object types. This way, new instances of this object will automatically inherit the prefix or suffix.
If you want to add or delete a prefix, type it before the dollar sign (“$”). Or if you need to add a suffix, type it after the closing brace (“}”).
example:
- index rule: ind_${IdxName}_poc
- new index name: "CUSTOMER_DEPT"
- index name with the rule applied: "ind_CUSTOMER_DEPT_poc"
Name mapping are not affected by Case standards, so you have more flexibility for creating the rules. Let’s say, you set UPPER_CASE in case standards and added pre_${TableName}_sffx, after saving the rules, the new table object will have a “pre_TABLE_1_sffx” name.
Expressions
Expressions allow for more precise and dynamic object naming. For objects with related properties (e.g., related table and columns for a primary key) the properties can now be referenced in the object naming pattern.
Not all object names will offer expressions.
To edit expressions, press the pencil (edit) icon next to the object name mapping. Drag the desired available expressions onto the text area and edit accordingly.
Glossary
Use the Glossary for bulk renaming of individual fields or auto-expansion of naming abbreviations. Glossary rules can be set separately for Logical and Physical names.
For disabling or documenting legacy translation rules, a term can be set to "Not used".
To avoid inconsistencies, duplicate terms and transitive rules (i.e., A->B, B->C) are not allowed. Uniqueness is determined by the Term and what it applies to.
Excel import and export
Users can also maintain the Glossary via Excel upload and download. Similar to the Data Dictionary, download the existing Glossary to Excel, make changes, and upload back into SqlDBM.
Exclude from naming rules
Object naming can be excluded from Case standards, Name mapping, and Glossary via the Object property editor by setting "Exclude from naming rules." When this option is enabled for an object, the listed settings will not change its name, including those defined in the mapped Global Standards project.
- The option can be applied to any supported object type, including tables, views, columns, and constraints.
- When applied to a table (regular, Iceberg, Dynamic, or Hybrid), the setting is automatically inherited by all related table objects — such as columns, indexes, and constraints.
- The "Exclude from naming rules" checkbox on the dependent objects is then checked and disabled, indicating that the exclusion is controlled at the table level and cannot be modified individually.
- To allow naming rules for the table’s related objects again, clear the checkbox on the parent table.
Checking 'Exclude from naming rules' prevents future naming changes but does not reverse previous naming rule applications.
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Project settings
This screen controls the menu items that are visible on the project screen. Unused features can be disabled here to declutter the menu. The selection is specific to each user and will not affect what others see.
Note that consumers have many of these settings disabled by default, and can enable them here.
Validate on project save
After you are done setting the naming conventions, save the rules by clicking the “Save Settings” button — all new objects you created will have names matching the established rules.
You can also apply naming conventions to your existing database model. In order to that, you need to click the “Apply to existing objects” button, all object names which don’t follow naming conventions will be changed. Pay attention to these objects as they will be considered as changes for Compare Revisions and Alter script features.
We recommend you set up the rules at the very beginning of the project.
Validate Changes
You or your team do not need to remember the established rules. Just mark the “Validate when saving” checkbox, and after each saving, SqlDBM will offer to rename objects that don’t follow the naming conventions you have in place.
See also