Data Modeling
-
William,
A lot of people don't use FKs in their databases. They stick IDs from other tables in their tables (which isn't quite the same thing) and then rely on the application to handle any referential integrity issues. This isn't the best way to do things, but I've seen it done before in several apps.
With the IDs added to other tables, you can still do your joins and stuff, you just don't have anything protecting you on the back-end from junk data inserts or deletes.
-
I'm probably going to have to do a lot of manual work, no matter what modeling application I use.
I'm not sure why the decision was made to not use foreign keys...I inherited it.
The Redneck DBA
-
I've used Visio (uh-huh...), Apex SQLEdit (good for writing SPs etc, so-so for diagramming and so on), Enterprise Architect from Sparx (which I love), EMS SQL Manager for SQL Server (best tool for MySQL, a bit average for SQL Server), and dear old Enterprise Manager.
On the whole, Enterprise Architect wins on bangs for bucks. I've not used ERWin, but I pay for my own kit and I'm not even going to tempt myself there.
Now, with all due respect, wtf is going on with settling for it being OK to not use FKs?
Never mind inheriting the situation, see if you can refactor to use them. What's the point of using a full-blown RDBMS unless you get to grips with a bit of set-theory and best practice. I've spent the last twelve years making a great living out of rebuilding "databases" started by someone's neighbour's nephew who's a second-year IT student, and I could weep at the waste of effort. SQL Server's inner workings will do a much better job of taking care of data and relational integrity than any amount of fiddling around in the UI or business rules. -
I like Visio. I haven't used Visio 2007, but I hope that they decreased the install size. I'm not talking about just Visio. When I installed it a year or two ago, I had to install about 2-3gb of other stuff. Yes, I said 2-3gb. 2-3 gigabyte of extras for something that shows up in Add/Remove Programs as 180mb install. I don't remember everything that I had to install, but it was a pain. Maybe they got it under control in 2007.
It worked great after the painfull install process. I actually used it to map out my basement remodeling project. One big complaint that I had was that it was very limited in the number of 'objects' that it had to make your diagram.
In summary, good product. All of my contractors that I used were very impressed when I showed them my plans.
Live to Throw
Throw to Live
Will Summers
Viewing 4 posts - 16 through 18 (of 18 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply