Hi !

Im looking for an application that can display relations between entities in a schematic diagram.
The application must be able to show thousands relations at a time.

Thank you ,

Ishai

I suppose it depends on what db you are using, assuming of course you want to commit your design to the db and / or reverse engineer the current db

in terms of freeware if you can track down fabforces DbDdesinger, thats worthj a look - seems to work OK with MySQL 3 & 4 & MS SQL server 2000

after that I'm not aware of any other worthwhile contenders

dbDsigner is a bit dated, its being replaced by mySQL workbench whgich will be targettign specifically MySQL db's, but in nay event is no the finsihed article (you can design all you like, you just can't print out the design, and you can't export the design back into the db)

there are tools for the MS SQL world, but I'm happy enought with dbDesigner for my data modelling needs, unless we are working on a serious contract where I'd expect the customer to provide their own datamodelling tools.

Hi , thank for your replay.

I did not mean for a db designer but for relations between entites inside the tables themsleves.

for example ,
if i have a table of people and a relations table that stores which person is related to other person .
I want a tool that can display the relations table in a schematic way so the user could understand the relations better.

thank you.

Ishai

I've seen programming tools that attempt to automate this kind of analysis (with varying degrees of success). These tools do not generate a finished product, they "cook script" to give a developer a head start on a custom application, but I don't think that is what you want.

I'd be interested to know if you find anything that can do this.

-PatP

Many Data Modelling Tools support Reverse Engineering which allows you to point the Tool at a physical and it will create a Data Model for you.

Unfortunately, it is not always so hot about relationships because often all it can do is make assumptions based on column names.

Unless it can interpret relationships stored in a Systems Catalogue.

I have done this with Oracle Designer which is kind of OK if you know what you are doing.

I suggest these steps :-
1) Check out some of the more expensive tools listed on this page :-
http://www.databaseanswers.org/modelling_tools.htm

2) Choose one with a free download (I like ERWin)

3) Download and use it and see if it meets your needs.

4) Do whatever seems appropriate.

Good luck !

B.Dimple
Senior DBA