Visualizing nHibernate model.

Question

Hello, I'm designing a data model using Fluent nHibernate and I'm wondering how to visualize entites, relations and stuff for documentation purposes.

This is my first project using Fluent nHibernate. My previous projects were build on Linq2Sql but recently I was a bit annoyed about some L2Q concepts and finally I decided to do a switch to different ORM.

There is at least one feature I'm missing in Fluent - the possibility to prepare a nice looking diagram of all entites and relations in model. Having a sheet of paper near monitor with current datamodel helps a lot. This feature in 'out-of-the-box' when using L2Q.

Are there any free and quick solutions to prepare graphical visualization of entity model?

Answer 1

I would think you could use the diagramming tools that come with SQL Server, though they are pretty lame, IME.

Answer 2

I've heard of people using a product called sculpture. googling found: http://www.codeplex.com/Sculpture and http://www.dawliasoft.com/

Answer 3

Visual NHibernate provides this feature. It's a commercial product, but has a free trial.

Answer 4

A pretty cool wee tool I used recently for drawing entities in a project I was involved in (that used the NHibernate ORM) is yuml. Its also very handy if you need to display diagrams on the web.

Its pretty lightweight but good for putting together simple UML diagrams.