Modeling tool or just a visual tool for drawing. In fact I only need to draw and later I'll transform the picture into sql by hand to better control the process.
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174answers:
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SmartDraw - For ER diagrams, Its one of the best I have seen so far.
Webbisshh
2010-03-12 10:52:24
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Enterprise Architect from Sparx System. It is single point OOAD and DB-schema designer for me.
Kangkan
2010-03-12 10:54:02
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I have good results with FabForce DBDesigner 4
- GPL License
- works on Windows/Linux
- Reverse engineering (from any ODBC source)
- Save as SQL script
The only drawback is that DBDesigner isn't too good for printing large database drawings. You need to screenshot & jigsaw the screens in an external program to get a clean printout.
HED
2010-03-12 10:56:20
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Microsoft Visio is pretty good. You can generate an ERD diagram from an existing schema in the database.
Neal Donnan
2010-03-12 10:56:32
@Neal Donnan Explain please how you draw diagrams in Visio. I can't figure it out. I chose "Entity Relatioship" on the left and I don't even understand how to define a foreign key. And it all looks awful.
EugeneP
2010-03-12 11:00:03
@EugeneP Have a look at the following tutorial from MS http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/HP010181611033.aspx. There are also videos on YouTube I saw in a google search
Neal Donnan
2010-03-12 11:08:38
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Actually I just use either a pen and a bit of paper or, if I'm feeling really adventurous, gVim.
Then I just build the SQL out of that with some ad-hoc macros. Yes, I know I'm a luddite but I've never really found any advantages to database designer tools to justify the pain of learning them. There's plenty of other things to learn where the return on investment is better and more immediate.
But then again, I always opt for simplicity in the schema design to make my job a lot easier. I only worry about using advanced features of SQL or the DBMS if performance becomes a measurable problem.
Maybe it's because I was burnt badly by Rational System Architect in my "youth" :-)
paxdiablo
2010-03-12 11:05:21
Agreed. It's pretty rare for me to design a significantly large portion of the system at once anyway; it's step by step (at least this is my approach) so it's pretty trivial when do you it like that, and thus paper is fine. Even when it gets "complicated" paper is still the best, IMHO.
Noon Silk
2010-03-12 11:08:37
I completely agree with you, paxdiablo. In fact the documentation is required by the management in many IT companies, so those are not developers who are interested in drawing those schemes but our management.
EugeneP
2010-03-12 11:33:45
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SQL Developer Data Modeler is good one. We used it sometimes to share ideas. Otherwise I just scribble.
Padmarag
2010-03-12 11:06:56
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If MS Visio was already suggested, take a look at free-of-charge alternative ARIS Express (http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express). It has ERM diagrams.
ARIS Community
2010-03-12 14:12:01
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Why don't you use MySQL Workbench which is free and very good tool to plan and create database model. I like it. Besides it allows synchronize you model with DB or vice versa. I haven't met any good tool like MySQL Workbench.
Bakhtiyor
2010-04-08 16:13:45