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dcwebman
Starting Member
11 Posts |
 Posted - 2008-07-10 : 16:57:13
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| We have been using Erwin for our database diagrams and forward SQL generation, but since that's what we mostly use it for, we want to find something else that's pretty much free for us. Right now that's either SQL Server 2005 or Visio 2007.Visio 2007 can create nice looking diagrams but unfortunately MS has decided not to create a newer Enterprise Architect version than 2003 so there is no forward engineering.This is the first time I have tried SQL Server database diagrams and they look pretty bland. The best I can get them to look is to use the Table View of Custom but I cannot find a way to have foreign keys displayed. Plus it would be nice to have the primary keys always displayed at the top of the tables in addition to being able to resize the tables easily without the scrollbars appearing. Am I missing something with SQL 2005 diagrams or is this the best they can look? Any other free solutions out there?Thanks,Jeff |
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sodeep
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
7174 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-10 : 17:03:39
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quote:
Originally posted by dcwebman
We have been using Erwin for our database diagrams and forward SQL generation, but since that's what we mostly use it for, we want to find something else that's pretty much free for us. Right now that's either SQL Server 2005 or Visio 2007.Visio 2007 can create nice looking diagrams but unfortunately MS has decided not to create a newer Enterprise Architect version than 2003 so there is no forward engineering.This is the first time I have tried SQL Server database diagrams and they look pretty bland. The best I can get them to look is to use the Table View of Custom but I cannot find a way to have foreign keys displayed. Plus it would be nice to have the primary keys always displayed at the top of the tables in addition to being able to resize the tables easily without the scrollbars appearing. Am I missing something with SQL 2005 diagrams or is this the best they can look? Any other free solutions out there?Thanks,Jeff
You should be able to. |
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dcwebman
Starting Member
11 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-11 : 09:44:58
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| I would think so too. Any idea on how? |
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sodeep
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
7174 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-11 : 16:43:29
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| You can right click design pane and Put annotation and modify however you like to. |
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dcwebman
Starting Member
11 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-14 : 09:09:51
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quote:
Originally posted by sodeep
You can right click design pane and Put annotation and modify however you like to.
Thanks for the reply. Unless I'm missing a feature of annotation, that's just letting you display whatever text you want in the pane. It's not letting you show the foreign key in the table itself. |
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sodeep
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
7174 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-14 : 11:04:09
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quote:
Originally posted by dcwebman
quote:
Originally posted by sodeep
You can right click design pane and Put annotation and modify however you like to.
Thanks for the reply. Unless I'm missing a feature of annotation, that's just letting you display whatever text you want in the pane. It's not letting you show the foreign key in the table itself.
You can use show relationships Level in design pane. |
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maninder
Posting Yak Master
100 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-14 : 11:40:54
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| Beware, if you save your diagrams in the Database, and your Diagram have tons of info, your Databse can get pretty heaftier.ManinderSQL server Architect / Admin (DEV&PROD) |
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dcwebman
Starting Member
11 Posts |
Posted - 2008-07-15 : 08:37:32
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quote:
Originally posted by sodeepYou can use show relationships Level in design pane.
I think you mean Show Relationships Labels and yes, that will work if I go through and rename all the labels instead of using the default given when the relationship is made. Other programs make it fairly easy to see by simply putting a FK near the foreign key. Basically I take it that SQL 2005's database diagram use is really basic and can hurt performance if there's a lot of diagrams.I wish MS decided not to abandon the Visio Enterprise Architect version. All we really need is a simple way to create diagrams that can do forward engineering of the changes and the diagrams be documented in a Word doc spec so other developers can see the schema. Too bad there doesn't seem to be a free or very low priced (<$100) product out there that works well. |
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Better looking database diagrams?