Tools for graphicaly representing database structure.

Question

I have been asked to create a graphical representation of our database, I have looked at tools such as, lucidcharts. Are there any good tools that I can use to graphically represent the database and it's relationships?

Answer 1

If you're using MySQL then MySQL Workbench will create Entity Relationship Diagrams from a database.

If you're using "Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and other databases that are compliant with Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)" then Visio Professional will do this. (Note - Visio Standard doesn't do this.)

Answer 2

Some commercial tools will do this. Personally, I only know Enterprise Architect from Sparx Systems. For feeware I can recommend SQuirrel SQL client. You might also want to look at the data base support of OpenOffice.

Answer 3

I have used Enterprise Architect and found it to be very helpful. Take a look at http://www.sparxsystems.com I believe they have a free trial. It's powerful, but gets out of the way so you can take your whiteboard drawings and quickly put them into a version controlled system, create .pngs, etc. They do reverse engineering of code and databases to generate models.

Answer 4

It depends on the database brand, for example, the SQL Management Studio has a means to generate a graphical representation of SQL Server databases, MySQL workbench will do it for MySQL and so on. Among the paid generic alternatives I've liked EMS tools (which has a version for SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Firebird) and Dezign (which supports 12 databases)

Answer 5

What about Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Express?

Cheers

Answer 6

Sybase Power Designer is what i use. It is most complete by my opinion but it is expensive.