January 8, 2003 at 12:09 pm
I am in the process of developing some documentation for a previously undocumented database with some very complex relationships. The idea is to give the users something that will help them understand the DB better so they can run ad-hoc queries.
Basically, I want to produce some diagrams, table descriptions, and keys on each table. Any suggestion for a way/tools to do this without a large amount of manual work?
Thanks
January 8, 2003 at 1:13 pm
Use AllFusion Data Modeler (formerly ERwin) from computer Associates. In particular, you need the Reverse Engineer feature. Unfortunately, you must spend about $2K to get one user license.
I will provide you with tool to document the entire structure of the database down to all the details. Only thing it does not support is user-defined functions. It has great diagraming tools. complete/compare of two databases (or DB contents to SQL script) and reporting capabilities.
Another tool from the same source, Data Validator, will analize your database and report what is wrong with the design. You might be overwelmed by the report if design is... not clean. It is very good. I recommend it. Of course, it is another ~$1.5K. Check on the Web.
Michael
January 8, 2003 at 1:26 pm
Many thanks to mromm for the initial reply.
Perhaps I should clarify. I am not really interested in spending $$ on a tool. Worst case I can use the diagrams in SQL Server and do the document with MS Word...
But there must be an easier way?
January 8, 2003 at 2:31 pm
You can write a report generator yourself. You just query system tables (sysobjects, etc.) and output data in the format you wish. You can output to XML, Word or any other format. I have done this before.
January 8, 2003 at 2:36 pm
As have I, and it was easy enough to get the basic information, but an awful lot of work to make it look purrrrty.
Plus there are the diagrams and key contraints.
I have been looking at this UML product called Enterprise Architect (free demo). Looks like I can reverse engineer with that reasonably enough, though I have never used it.
January 8, 2003 at 2:50 pm
Visio can reverse engineer as well which if Ent Arch is MS product then they are related. Much of the other stuff can be done using DMO (VB, VC or other programming language DMO is a set of objects and collections to use for details in SQL), but that is not something I have done much with as of yet. Andy Warren has a few articles on DMo in General and is probably best suited for more details.
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