---
title: "Source Editor (detailed information)"
canonical: "https://docs.vaultspeed.com/space/VPD/3013640220/Source%20Editor%20(detailed%20information)"
format: markdown
---
The Source Editor is a graphical interface where you can prepare your source model to make it fit for integration in a Data Vault model.

Here you can set your object types, assign business keys, add relations, and many more.

> Macro (toc)

If you want detailed information on how to handle certain things you can visit one of these pages:

> Macro (children)

# General Overview

You always start with a blank canvas.  On this canvas, you can add objects one by one, or multiple objects at once using the 'depth' option.  This is done to support large data models.  Creating a full graphical model of a source with hundreds of tables would become unclear.  That’s why we give you the possibility to work on just the part of the model you are interested in.

Next, we will describe all the individual elements of this editor

## Editor Toolbar

![image](media://bb81a7f3-0e88-4bbc-a83c-a629a4cb29ca)

Some of the key editor actions are placed inside a toolbar. The toolbar contains actions such as:

1. Clearing the editor window
2. Zoom in the editor view
3. Zoom out the editor view
4. Removing a selected item from the editor (it’s just removed from the screen, not deleted from the model)
5. Fitting and cantering objects inside the editor window
6. Resizing the objects to fit the names of the attributes
7. Changing objects layout to vertical
8. Changing objects layout to horizontal
9. Find the shortest path between two objects
10. Fullscreen mode
11. a dropdown list where you can choose which labels to display for the objects: the full name, short name or abbreviated name.
12. Option to remove all objects with the completion toggle set to YES from the canvas.
13. button to go to the Source Editor (where you are by default)
14. button to go to the Source Data Vault Visualizer (details see: [https://vaultspeed.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VPD/pages/3013279786](https://vaultspeed.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VPD/pages/3013279786))
15. button to go to the Source Graphical Overview.
16. A link to the official documentation (this page).
17. button to go to the Mass update functionality (see: [https://vaultspeed.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VPD/pages/3013214260](https://vaultspeed.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VPD/pages/3013214260))
18. Extra actions such as:
  1. Uploading short and abbreviated names
  2. Downloading the Object names
  3. Downloading the Attribute names
  4. Opening a tabular view of ignored objects
  5. turning the grid background on/off

## Selection Pane

![image](media://1366e413-3958-45e1-8b32-461f13c407b3)

The selection pane is the main entry of adding objects to the editor. It allows choosing the source by the dropdown box, setting a depth of the relationships between objects to be loaded and it contains a list of objects. An item from the selection pane can be added to the editor by simply clicking and dragging it to the editor window. Based on depth value, either one (if depth=0) or multiple objects will be loaded to the canvas. Use the search input to filter the items in the selection pane.

> ℹ️ In order to maintain good performance, there is a maximum of 30 objects that can be shown on the source editor at one time.

If you have any objects that still have an error (based on the checks VaultSpeed performs), they will be shown at the top of the list with an error symbol indicating that something is wrong.  If you hover over the exclamation mark you get a tooltip with the error message.

## Properties Pane

The properties pane, as the name suggests, is used to show all relevant properties of the selected item in the editor. Objects, their attributes, relationships and relations can be selected to show more details. The properties window will automatically adapt to show Object, attribute, relationship or relation properties when selecting them in the editor. In addition to viewing the properties, they can also be updated by using the Edit button at the top right on the properties pane. After the changes are made, press the Save button at the top of the pane.

## Editor Outline

In addition to the main view of the objects, there is also a minified version of it to help navigate inside the editor window. You can find the editor outline at the bottom right of the screen:

![image](media://726792c9-304f-4e03-b329-f2b51a386db3)

## Editor Objects

An object which can be added to the editor contains the key object and attributes information such as object name, object type, indication if there are errors, and a list of associated attributes. Each attribute contains an indication of its type, a name, and a data type.

#### Object type

The object type might be one of the VaultSpeed supported objects such as Reference, Hub & SAT, Many-to-Many Link, and others.  This is always indicated in the title bar of the object, below the name of the object.

#### Attribute type

Attribute types are indicated with short abbreviations like PK (primary key), BK (business key), UK (unique key), UI (unique identifier), SA (subsequent attribute).  These can always be found just before the attribute name.  Business key attributes are always shown in a distinct color so they are easily recognisable.

#### Attribute Data Types

The attribute data type is shown after the name of the attribute in a symbol representation.  
The possible values are:

- **““** - CHAR
- **#** - NUMBER
- 🕐 - DATE, TIME or TIMESTAMP
- **?** - OTHER

#### Filtering Attributes

In case an object contains many attributes, they can be filtered using the search field found in the object.