Visual Model

Visual Model editor provides the visual, no-code experience for building and enhancing the data model of your semantic layer from within your web browser.

Unlike the code-first data model editor, Visual Model allows non-technical users to participate in data modeling without writing code. However, it does not support some advanced data modeling features listed as known limitations.

Prerequisites

Visual Model integrates with the development mode, environments, and continuous deployment in Cube Cloud.

Once you start editing the data model in Visual Model editor, you will automatically enter the development mode, so you can safely make changes and test them in Playground without affecting your production deployment.

When you are ready to deploy your changes, it is recommended to create a pull request, which should be reviewed before merging to the production environment.

Working with cubes

You can see cubes on the Cubes tab of Visual Model.

Cubes are represented as rectangles on the canvas with joins between them as an entity-relationship diagram (opens in a new tab) (ERD). You can pan and zoom the canvas and search cubes using the input box.

Adding cubes

To add a cube from scratch, click the + Add Cube button.

You can also generate the data model for a new cube based on the database schema. To do so, click the + Generate Cube button. It will bring up the modal window where you can select a table from your data source:

Editing cubes

To edit a cube, click it on the canvas. Then, in the sidebar, click the Edit button. This will bring up the modal window where you can edit the cube's details:

Yu can also click + Add → Dimension, + Add → Measure, or + Add → Access Policy to quickly add respective members to the cube.

Working with joins

You can add or edit joins via the Relationships tab while you're editing a cube.

You can also add joins visually by dragging a line on the canvas from the side of one dimension to another:

Working with views

You can see views on the Views tab of Visual Model.

Views are represented as rectangles on the canvas. Cubes that are involved in a view and provide members for it, are shown to the left of the view.

Adding views

To add a view, click the + Add View button. It will bring up a dialog where you can choose the base cube, set the view details such as name and title, and add join paths.

Editing views

To edit a views, click it on the canvas. Then, in the sidebar, click the Edit button.

YAML mode

All modal windows mentioned above provide the option to use the YAML mode which can be entered by clicking the Edit with YAML button.

In this mode, you can see and edit the data model represented using the YAML syntax. That allows you to work around known limitations and use all data modeling features while staying in Visual Model editor.

Limitations

Visual Model does not intend to support all available data modeling features. You always have options to use the YAML mode in Visual Model or switch the code-first data model editor.

Currently, Visual Model does not support the following features in its UI:

• Editing of meta information for cubes, views, and their members.
• Editing segments, hierarchies, and refresh keys in cubes.
• Editing folders in views.
• Adding subquery dimensions and time dimensions with custom granularities in cubes.
• Adding drill members and rolling window measures in cubes.
• Adding pre-aggregations.
• Removing cubes and views.

Cubes and views using these data modeling features will still be displayed in Visual Model. However, those features can only be edited via the YAML mode or in the code-forst data model editor.

Additionally, Visual Model only allows editing of cubes and views that are defined using the YAML syntax (not JavaScript). Also, it does not allow editing of dynamic data models or models which use Jinja.