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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.

EugeneP
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10 Answers10

35

Paper and Pencil

Community
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AJ.
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8

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 you to synchronize your model with the DB or vice versa. I haven't met any good tool like MySQL Workbench.

Instant Breakfast
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Bakhtiyor
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4

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
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  • 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 Mar 12 '10 at 11:08
  • 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 Mar 12 '10 at 11:33
3

I have used Dia, which has a companion dia2code to generate code for both SQL and any number of programming languages.

Teddy
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2

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
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1

SmartDraw - For ER diagrams, Its one of the best I have seen so far.

RubyDubee
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1

Enterprise Architect from Sparx System. It is single point OOAD and DB-schema designer for me.

Kangkan
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1

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
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Microsoft Visio is pretty good. You can generate an ERD diagram from an existing schema in the database.

Neal Donnan
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  • @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 Mar 12 '10 at 11:00
  • @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 Mar 12 '10 at 11:08
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SQL Developer Data Modeler is good one. We used it sometimes to share ideas. Otherwise I just scribble.

Padmarag
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