Profiling allows you to view a summary of the data in a database. You can use profiles to quickly learn the characteristics of data in an unfamiliar database. You can also use profiles for activities such as database optimization and data migration. When you create a profile, the results are saved as part of the Power*Architect project.
Note: Power*Architect contains two different menu items related to profiling. Use Profile » Profile only when you want to create a new profile. If you want to view existing profiles, use Window » Profile Manager. (The profile manager window is similar to the download manager window in a web browser.)
You can select the mode used to create a profile.
Select File » Project Settings.
In the Profile Creator Mode list, select one of the following options:
Remote Database - This mode sends a query to the database and the database calculates all of the statistics. This system works well over a large network because very little data is transferred.
Warning: Profiling moderate-to-large tables (for example, with over 250,000 rows) remotely will put a significant demand on the database server's resources and may impact the database performance for other users.
Local Reservoir - This mode transfers all of the data to the local computer and then samples and processes the data there. This works well over a fast network. This option is still experimental and may cause an out of memory error when profiling large tables.
Click OK.
To create a profile:
Connect to the database you want to profile. For more information, see the section called “Setting up Database Connections” .
In the database tree, select the tables you want to profile. (You can also select a column. If you do, a profile will be created for the entire table.)
Click
in the top toolbar.Alternate methods:
Select the tables you want to profile, then select Profile » Profile.
Right-click a table in the database tree, then click Profile.
The Table Profiles window opens. The new profile is listed in the window, along with previous profiles you've created for the project.
You can view details about each profile in the Table Profiles window. For more information, see the section called “Viewing Profile Details” .
Note: To create a new profile of the same table, select the
table in the Table Profiles window and click 
. The previous profile will be retained as
well. (Power*Architect will connect to the source database to create
the new profile, regardless of the profile mode you're using.)
To view profile details:
If the Table Profiles window is not already open, select Window » Profile Manager.
You can use the Search box and Order by options to find a profile.
To view details for all profiles, click View All.
To view details for some profiles only, select one or more profiles in the window, then click View Selected.
You can view the profile details as a graph or table. For more information, see the section called “Using Profile Graph View” and the section called “Using Profile Table View” .
To view the profile results in a graph:
Click the Graph View tab.
On the left side of the window, select a column.
The column statistics are shown in the centre of the window. The most common values and their frequency within the table are also shown.
The pie chart on the right side of the window shows the frequency of the most common values in the column.
Note: You can set the number of common values to include in the comparison. For more information, see the section called “Defining Project Settings” .
To save the profile results in CSV, PDF or HTML format, click Save.
To view the profile results in a table format:
Click the Table View tab.
To narrow the results, use the Search box in the top-right corner.
To sort a column in ascending or descesending order, click the column header.
In the Most Frequent column, hover over a cell to view the value and frequency of the most common items in the column.
To save the profile results in CSV, PDF or HTML format, click Save.
To delete a profile:
If the Table Profiles window is not already open, select Window » Profile Manager.
To delete a profile, click
beside the profile or press delete.To delete multiple profiles, use CTRL to select all the profiles you want to delete, then press delete.
To delete all the profiles, click Delete All.
You can easily create a PDF document that presents your profile results in an attractive format.
Create one or more profiles (see the section called “Creating a Profile” ).
Select Window » Profile Manager.
In the Table Profiles window, select the profiles you want to include in the PDF, then click View Selected (see the section called “Viewing Profile Details” ). Or click View All to include all of the profiles in the PDF.
Click Save.
Select PDF as the file type and enter a filename, then click Save.