Table design tools

Questions about the MySQL, PostgreSQL, and most other databases, as well as using it with PHP can be asked here.

Moderator: General Moderators

Post Reply
sentback
Forum Newbie
Posts: 24
Joined: Fri May 04, 2007 9:46 am

Table design tools

Post by sentback »

Do you know any table design tool? I'm not really sure if this is the right terminology but I need a tool just for doing a tables schema. You know... you first write down the table fields, see what works for you and what not... Can you recommend any software? Thanks
Begby
Forum Regular
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2006 10:28 am

Post by Begby »

Mysql has the workbench gui that does exactly what you are talking about

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/workbench/en/index.html

You can also use any number of UML tools to design a database schema and visualize it, or even something like Microsoft Visio.

Also you can use an old school approach where you just write down your entities, list what broad info you need about each one, then normalize it.
User avatar
CoderGoblin
DevNet Resident
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:03 am
Location: Aachen, Germany

Post by CoderGoblin »

dbdesigner Was the inspiration for MySQL workbench. Last time I looked at Workbench wasn't in a fit state for use so I ended up reverting to the original dbdesigner. Not sure of the current status though.
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Post by onion2k »

Workbench is still Alpha level, so I wouldn't recommend using it.

EDIT: I've downloaded this dbdesigner tool, seems to be pretty good. Connecting to a database took a couple of tries, but I've managed to get it to reverse engineer a small db and it figured out the relationships ok.. Really handy piece of kit.
User avatar
califdon
Jack of Zircons
Posts: 4484
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 8:30 pm
Location: California, USA

Post by califdon »

DBDesigner is pretty good, also you might want to look at DBTools Manager (http://www.dbtools.com.br/), which I've found pretty useful.
User avatar
CoderGoblin
DevNet Resident
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:03 am
Location: Aachen, Germany

Post by CoderGoblin »

DBTools Manager Free "Personal" Edition does not include the graphical database designer. I am also wary of anything that initially labels itself as
"DBManager Freeware/Standard Edition" and then when you go to download it states that it is "shareware".
Post Reply