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Entities in Negroni

An entity is the fundamental unit of a CDM data model. It represents a specific business concept, process, event, or object — for example, a Customer, an Order, or a Product. Entities are defined within manifests and are composed of attributes and relationships.

Entity Structure

Each entity consists of:

  • Attributes — typed fields that describe the properties of the entity (name, date, amount, etc.)
  • Relationships — references to other entities that define how they connect (one-to-many, many-to-many, etc.)
  • Primary key — an auto-managed identifier attribute. Negroni enforces that each entity has a primary key of type integer or string.

Entities are metadata-driven: their definitions are stored in the manifest file and can be versioned and tracked over time.

Entity Types

Negroni supports several entity categories:

Type Description
Core entities Pre-built entities from Microsoft's CDM library. Ready to use with standard attributes.
Custom entities Entities you define from scratch within a manifest.
Extended entities Entities that inherit attributes from a core entity and add custom attributes on top.
Template entities Entities used as reusable templates that other entities can be based on.
Exclusive entities Entities that belong exclusively to a specific manifest.
Associated entities Entities linked to another entity through a relationship attribute.

Managing Entities

Creating a Custom Entity

  1. Open the manifest where the entity will be created.
  2. Click the New Entity icon on the toolbar.
  3. Select the Create Custom Entity tab or choose an existing entity as a starting point.
  4. Enter the entity name.
  5. Click Next, select the target manifest, and click Finish.

For a step-by-step walkthrough, see Creating an Entity.

Adding a Core Entity

Core entities are sourced from the Microsoft CDM library and Negroni's standard model set.

To add one:

  1. Right-click on the target manifest in the Navigator.
  2. Select Add Entity.
  3. In the Choose Existing Entity tab, enable Show Core Entities.
  4. Filter by Path or Folder to find the entity you need.
  5. Select it and click Finish.

Extending an Entity

You can extend a core entity to inherit its attributes and add your own on top:

  1. Open the entity you want to extend.
  2. Click the Extend Entity button.
  3. Select a core entity to extend from.
  4. Click Apply.
  5. The Extended Attributes tab appears showing inherited attributes.

Extended attributes are read-only to preserve data consistency. You can still add custom attributes alongside them.

Associated Entities

Associated entities are linked to a parent entity through a relationship attribute.

To create one:

  1. Open the parent entity in the Project Navigator.
  2. Navigate to the Relationships tab.
  3. Click the Add Relationship button.
  4. Enter the Foreign Key Type Name Attribute.
  5. Select the Associated Entity.
  6. Select the Target Entity Attribute.
  7. Select the Data Type.
  8. Click Finish.

Associated entities can be edited by selecting the relationship row and modifying its properties in the right-side Properties sidebar.