Flowcharting a sql statement
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Hello, I am trying to figure out how to flowchart one of my stored procedure. My boss, while he understands sql, would like to show it as a flow chart to his bosses, who do not understand sql. Any Ideas?
Thanks,
Matt
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What does he want to see exactly?
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Someway to show the joins and the isnull statements. In the sql statement I am using a leftouter join and if the value if.. here it make more sense with a statement.
Table_1: name_id,name
Table_2: address_id,name_id,address
select a.name_id,a.name,isnull(b.address,'No address found.') as address from table_1 a
left outer join table_2 b on a.name_id=b.name_id
he would like that statement displayed as a flowchart.
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Show him the execution plan of query analyser... can't get much better explanation than that.
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Questions like that are, in my experience, a Catch-22. If the non-technical person can understand them, they aren't technical descriptions. If the descriptions are accurate, the non-techie will not understand them.
You're already starting off in the hole if you have to diagram out what a JOIN is. If forced, I'd use Venn diagrams.
The best thing to do with a non-technical manager is confuse him so much that he never asks for a blow-by-blow description again.
[RANT mode ON]
I can't count the times I've been asked to define database objects in a "simple" manner -- meaning, to a non-techie, no joins, everything in one table. I usually respond that it isn't the database design that's complicated; it's the real world situation that the database design is trying to model that's complicated. If the database doesn't reflect the same complexity that it's trying to model, then the coders will have to reflect that complexity in their code, every time they write a query. Either way, the complexity isn't going away until the real world scenario is simplified.
What other profession has to deal with these sorts of stipulations? "Uh, Doctor, I want you to give me that heart bypass in a 'simple' manner -- nothing too hard for me to understand, got it?"
[RANT mode OFF]
Ah! Feeling much better.
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The best thing to do with a non-technical manager is confuse him so much that he never asks for a blow-by-blow description again.
I like this idea.
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This is one for Steven Covey - lose-lose ...
Just a question, if your boss 'understands' SQL (that implies he's technical) then why hasn't he delivered you better criteria ?
It sounds as if your boss is in trouble since he has to explain stored procedures and joins to his bosses ... it just doesn't make sense ...
my advice is to run the following script:
exec sp_update_resume
exec sp_distrubute_resume
go
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
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Believe me those procs are usefull to have
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I think I will start running those procs. -
Make sure you can't work there before jumping ship...
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get visustin
sql to flowchart
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