Visually designing a database structure

Question

I am quite happy to code out tables by hand when making a database but it\'s not the easiest way to convey information about a database to someone else, especially someone that\

Answer 1

I'm currently checking out SQL Power Architect (both w/ PostgreSQL and Mysql - but it also supports other vendors) and it definitely seems promising. Does both forward and backward SQL engineering. The Community Edition is open source and cross platform (Java). You can check it out yourself: http://code.google.com/p/power-architect/

When strictly dealing w/ MySQL so far I've otherwise used MySQL Workbench, http://wb.mysql.com/ which performed reliably.

Answer 2

I always have enjoyed Eclipse. There are a few plugins for it that look like they will do what you want.

Answer 3

Well on the PC you can use MS Visio to produce a DB Entity diagram.

It will even reverse engineer one from an existing Database.

A pain to set-up the first time you use it, but quite handy thereafter.

Answer 4

SchemaBank (a web-based SaaS vendor) can turn your ER design into SQL statements for MySQL and PG. Can't do graphics export yet though. The nice thing is you don't need to install anything ('cos its browser-based) and it costs virtually nothing. You should be able to share your design to other people too.

Answer 5

You could try out MySQL Workbench which originates in the open source dbdesigner. There's a free community edition available. You can design the database via er-diagrams or reverse engineer an existing database.

Answer 6

SQLDeveloper from Oracle can work with Oracle and MySQL database.

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/020861