I have been using ERD programs for a while now to: generate to, or reverse engineer from, my database.
However I recently learned the UML syntax equivalent, and am looking for an "IDE" that can generate SQL (and reverse-engineer from) my db. I am using Oracle 11g.
Preferably a free tool, if you know of one.
Related
I'm working on a database heavy project, where the Microsoft SQL databases are very mature (16 or more years-old mature), and an old product uses VB6 and ADO to generate sql which interacts with the database. I've been given the task of porting/re-writing the ancient version with a new .NET version.
I'd love to use LINQ-to-* to ensure easy maintainability, but having tried for the last several weeks I feel like LINQ-to-SQL isn't flexible enough, LINQ-to-Entities has too much overhead, and LINQ-to-Datasets is pointless since I would be just as happy using Ado.Net.
The program operates on two databases at once: one is a database with a very consistent schema containing meta-data, and the other a database which has a varying schema, is tightly coupled to the meta-database, and dictates what information from the meta-database you are interested in at any given time. Furthermore, I need non-LINQ information from both databases (such as system-stored procedures, and system-tables).
Is there any way to use LINQ intelligently here? I'd love the static typing, but if I can't have it I don't want to force my square app into a round framework.
Just an FYI, you can get access system tables (and sys stored procs too?) using LINQ. Here is how:
Create a connection to the server you want.
Right-click the server and choose Change View > Object Type.
You should now see System Tables and User Tables. You should see sysjobs there, and you can easily drag it onto a .dbml surface.
Above was stolen from this post.
The best answer seems to be to use ADO.NET completely. I have the option of using Linq-to-Sql over the metabase and ADO.NET for any other database access, but that would make the code feel too inconsistent for me.
I would like to know if there is any tool able to extract the design from an existing Oracle database.
I have a read access to it and I would like to have the design. Or simply export it to a *.sql and then read it with any tool able to create the design with the links between the tables.
Something like that
(source: fileguru.com)
Thank you very much.
There are a number of tools which do reverse engineering from an Oracle database, but most require a license.
Oracle has its own Data Modeller. Previously Oracle tried to charge an exorbitant licence fee but obviously they had few takers because it is now free. It is not a great product but it does a decent job on reverse engineering.
If you are a site which uses TOAD then you should definitely consider Quest's TOAD Data Modeler. The additional cost is not a great stretch from the basic TOAD fee.
There are not many other free tools left on the market but SQL Power offer a community edition of their SQL Architect tool which does reverse engineering. Check it out.
Oracle SQL Data Modeler answered to all my questions.
It has a reverse engineering tool that creates the logical and physical model from the database.
What are the option in terms of applications that help build SQL statements against a SQL Server database?
We have some users that need to build SQL statements, preferably through drag and dropping or linking up tables etc.., against a SQL Server databse who don't have any experience in this area.
Any Ideas?
Visual Studio 2008 / 2010 have this featue and works well. I mean LINQ to SQL or Entity Framework, but in bigger projects I dont prefer Entity Framework.
The Sql Query editor in sql server 2005 and above is very good for that sort of operation. I found that the combination of drag and drop columns with the sql instructions below helps non-sql developers learn a little about sql and tends to wean them off of the editor.
I actually just ran into this problem in my own project.
One option is to purchase a tool that does precisely what you're looking for. If you do something like that, you're more likely to get something that's full-featured, well-supported, and has a lot of nice bells and whistles to make your job easier.
However, as both Svisstack and george9170 pointed out, there are already tools within the Visual Studio development environment. Here is how I'm proceeding:
I use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio's Diagram editor to perform the dragging and dropping of tables. This works fairly well, although it's a bit more cumbersome to work with than some of the tools I investigated. (For the record, the reason I didn't use the tools I investigated was the cost.)
Once I develop the tables in the diagram, I tell MSSMS to generate the tables.
I then use the Database Publisher (it comes with VS2008 and VS2010) and I connect with the database. Using LINQ to SQL, I let the magic work behind the scenes so that I can utilize the various objects which will interact with the database.
If I'm not explaining this well, check out the two links below. It should make things more clear.
Using Database Projects for Visual Studio
NerdDinner - An ASP.NET MVC tutorial, but with good information on LINQ to SQL.
By using LINQ to SQL (as described in the second link), your users should be able to build queries against the database fairly easily. It's not drag and drop, but it's very simple and straightforward.
First, I hope they are not doing their queries against a production database!
For regular non developers, try using excel, for these reasons:
1) most generic users might have it on their PC already.
2) drag and link tables. There is a little GUI for simple drag and link tables in there.
3) Support. When they get into trouble, they can e-mail me the file and I can see what they have so far. I'll end up writing views or procedures for them to use.
4) They can use the results data using familiar excel interface and functions, which helps since their SQL ability is so limited.
For developers these GUI tools are extremely limited in what you can do with your queries. I've never found one that can do UNIONs, derived tables, or CTEs. I'm not sure if any can even do OUTER JOINs. For simple tasks, they might be ok, but to switch back and forth all day would be a pain, so I just type them up.
You can use Access databases as well. They let you form your own queries by dragging and dropping in Access 2010. However, if you are looking for easy to access data without the worries of SQL syntax, you might want to look at using Ruby ActionViews. If you are talking about live editing of the entire database if the database is of any importance (you can easily delete or clear an entire database on accident), I would do it in pure SQL, or better yet, not do this at all. If you are using MySQL, you should look at the possibility of using phpmyadmin for maintaining your database. It is a web based tool that makes database administration easy and can help you form your queries.
Is there a program that converts a SQL Server database diagram to er model, or create er model of a database from SQL Server server?
Within SQL Server, there's the "Database Diagram" feature in each database, in Management Studio.
You can create a new diagram from that, and include all (or some) of your tables, so showing where the relationships are, and what the tables are.
I've used Erwin for 10 years and it works great! Unfortunately it is a bit pricey. Hopefully someone will come out with a less expensive tool to accomplish this, I've heard Visual Studio 2010 may have some tools in this area.
Try Microsoft Visio. Visio professional has a reasonably good database reverse engineering feature, and it is easy to retrofit relationships logically present in the data but not physically manifested in the database. It is also easy to make multiple diagrams from the same reverse engineered model (on separate pages in the .vsd file).
These two features make Visio a very useful tool to help understand and document third-party databases, and Visio Pro isn't all that expensive.
However, there is a serious caveat in that it has no facility to generate a SQL file from the schema unless you buy the enterprise architect version, which is only available with EA versions of Visual Studio. As far as I know, there's no EA version of Visio past 2002/2003, so this product is obsolescent.
In Visio 2003 Architect version I can generate a SQL Server Database on the fly from UML ER diagram. But there is no such a way by using Visio 2007. My question is: Any other good and latest tools can support ER-> DB or DB->ER very well for SQL2005/2008?
I think Enterprise Architect can do that too.
http://www.sparxsystems.com.au/
You can do the ER diagram on Visual Studio creating a dbml file and then export to a Sql Server script using the huagati plugin. http://www.huagati.com/dbmltools/
If you're looking for a free/open source tool to achieve this, you could try:
DBDesigner
From the website:
DBDesigner 4 is a visual database design system that integrates database design, modeling, creation and maintenance into a single, seamless environment.
It combines professional features and a clear and simple user interface to offer the most efficient way to handle your databases.
DBDesigner 4 compares to products like Oracle's Designer©, IBM's Rational Rose©, Computer Associates's ERwin© and theKompany's DataArchitect© but is an Open Source Project available for Microsoft Windows© 2k/XP and Linux KDE/Gnome. It is release on the GPL.
And it supports the following features:
Available on Linux / MS Windows
User Interfaced based on industry standard layouting software
Design Mode / Query Mode
Reverse engineering MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL and any ODBC databases
Userdefined schema-generation
Model-To-Database syncronisation
Index support
Automatic foreign key placement
Weak entity support
Standard Inserts storing and sync
Full documentation capabilities
Advanced model printing
Output as image
All MySQL datatypes with all options
User defined datatypes
Database storage, ability to save model within database
Network-/Multiuser access through database storage
Version control*
SQL Query Builder
SQL Command History
SQL Command storage within model
Plugin interface
I think the bolded ones above (my own emphasis) should give you what you require (i.e. effectively two-way database/model synchronization).
I have used the tool in the past to reverse engineer an existing database to an ER diagram. From what I remember, it wasn't the most stable software I'd ever used (I seem to recall it crashed a couple of times) however, this was a little while ago so it may be more stable now.
I remember that in Visio 2003 that was only possible, I believe in the Enterprise Edition. Could that be your issue with 2007?
Most of the tools don't handle SQL 2005/2008 correctly. But CA ERwin® Process Modeler does the best job (at a cost though).
There is a community edition but it is limited to 25 objects per model.
Give it a try and let us know.