Aug 16, 2026 · ishimoto

The Entity Editor

The Entity Editor

In the Project Layout post we saw the resources folder holds an .eomodeld — the EO Model. This post is about the editor you use to work with it.

An EOModel is TreasureBoat’s object-relational mapping: it describes your entities (tables), their attributes (columns), and the relationships (joins) between them — declaratively, as data, not as annotations in your Java code. Open an .eomodeld and the plugin gives you a visual Entity Editor instead of raw plist files.

What an EOModel is

An .eomodeld is not a single file — it is a bundle (a folder) of plist files in NeXTSTEP format:

  • index.eomodeld – the model metadata (connection info, naming conventions)
  • one .plist per entity – that entity’s attributes, relationships and fetch specs

You never have to edit those plists by hand. That is what the editor is for.

Overview

Editor Layout

The editor has two panels: the tree on the left and the property panel on the right.

Entity Tree (left)

The tree shows the whole model structure:

  • Model – the .eomodeld bundle (root)
    • Entity – each entity in the model
      • Attributes – the columns
      • Relationships – the joins to other entities
      • Fetch Specifications – predefined, named queries
      • Indexes – database indexes

Right-click a node to add or delete entities, attributes, relationships, fetch specs and indexes, or to create a subclass of an entity.

EntityTreeRightClick

Also you can create following files when needed:

  • Create REST Controller…
  • Create Sangria Rules…
  • Create Sangria Delegate…

Property Panel (right)

Select any node and the right panel shows its properties for editing — the attribute’s column and type, the relationship’s destination and delete rule, and so on.

Layout

Toolbar

Button What it does
Save Write all changes back to the .eomodeld plists
Add Attribute Add a column to the selected entity
Add Relationship Add a join from the selected entity
Generate Migration Create a migration file for the model changes (see below)
Generate EO Generate the Java classes from the model
Verify Check the model for consistency errors before you save
Select in Project View Jump to the .eomodeld folder in the Project View
Template Path Choose the Velocity templates used by Generate EO
Help Open this editor’s built-in help

Toolbar

The properties that matter

Entity

Property Description
name The entity name (maps to a Java class)
tableName The database table
className The fully-qualified Java class name
parentName Parent entity, for inheritance
isAbstractEntity Abstract entity — no table of its own

Basic Panel

Basic

Advanced Panel

Advanced

Localization Panel

Localization

Attribute

Property Description
name The attribute name (maps to a Java accessor)
columnName The database column
isPrimaryKey Part of the primary key
isClassProperty Whether it is exposed as a Java property
allowsNull Whether the column accepts NULL
prototype The database prototype.

Good to know: only attributes marked isClassProperty get a Java accessor. A column that exists in the table but is not a class property (a raw foreign-key column, for example) stays in the model but never shows up as a method on your EO.

What is a prototype? A prototype is a named template that bundles a column’s database type, Java value type and width together. Instead of setting each of those by hand, you pick a prototype (uuid, varchar255, date, …) and the attribute inherits all of it. One gotcha worth remembering: the uuid prototype defaults the column name to uuid, so for a uuid primary or foreign key you must set columnName = id explicitly — otherwise the generated SQL fails with “column uuid does not exist”.

Basic Panel

Basic

Advanced Panel

Advanced

Documentation Panel

Documentation

Relationship

Property Description
name The relationship name
destination The target entity
isToMany To-one (a single object) or to-many (an array)
deleteRule What happens to the other side on delete: Nullify, Cascade, Deny, No Action

Basic Panel

Advanced Panel

Basic

Advanced

The Entity Hash

The toolbar shows a small hash for the selected entity. It is a fingerprint of the entity’s structure — its attributes, relationships and types. Its colour tells you whether the structure has changed since the last saved migration:

  • Gray – matches the saved hash (no structural change)
  • Orange – differs from the saved hash (structure changed — you probably need a new migration)
  • Blue – new, no saved hash yet

Click the hash to copy it to the clipboard.

Hash

Good to know: the hash is your reminder to keep the database in step with the model. When it turns orange, that is the cue to press Generate Migration.

From model to code — Generate EO

Generate EO turns the model into Java, using the Velocity templates set by Template Path. This is what fills the generated/ folder from the Project Layout post: for each entity it writes an underscore base class (_MyEntity.java) with the KVC accessors and relationships. You never edit those — regenerating overwrites them. Your business logic goes in the matching MyEntity.java subclass under java, which extends the generated base.

So the everyday loop is:

  1. Edit the entity in the tree.
  2. Watch the hash go orange.
  3. Generate Migration to bring the database along.
  4. Generate EO to bring the Java classes along.
  5. Save.
  • Project Layout — where the .eomodeld lives
  • The Migration Editor — editing the migration files this editor generates (next post)

#IntelliJ

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