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I'm looking for an application to create simple diagrams for database design. I'm not looking for anything that will help create the databases, just a simple tool for a design report.

I have tried Visio and Enterprise Architect, but I did not care for how it looked in Visio and had trouble with EA. I am looking for something simple like this (from Wikipedia):

Database management system - Wikipedia

P.S. If you know which program made the above, please tell me!

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This is best asked on Stack Overflow. – George Marian Dec 6 '10 at 0:04
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@George Would it? I debated but thought that SO would say to ask on Programmers, since that seems the trend lately with non code questions. – phoffer Dec 6 '10 at 0:14
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I could certainly be wrong, but to me this isn't about subjective issues surrounding programming. Rather, it's a question about a tool used for database programming/design, even if you're only interested in reporting on an existing database. – George Marian Dec 6 '10 at 0:44
The diagram in the question looks more like it is generated by JDeveloper 11g. – Vineet Reynolds Jan 16 '12 at 7:43
dba.stackexchange.com might help also. – Ominus Jan 16 '12 at 16:39

closed as off topic by Yannis Rizos♦, Matthieu, Thomas Owens♦, Mark Trapp Jan 20 '12 at 10:07

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5 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Dia might be what you're looking for. I use it to visualize classes and objects for school and it works pretty well.

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The thing is, I don't need to do class, sequence, etc diagrams, just a simple database diagram like the image. If I did, I would use EA, because I am semi experienced with it. I just need a simple diagram like above (which I had trouble with in EA). – phoffer Dec 6 '10 at 1:01
well, sounds like all you need is just a box with some text in it linking to other boxes with text. Why is EA failing at this? – Jason Dec 6 '10 at 1:05
EA was failing because I could not figure out how to get going with a database design. That's one thing I haven't done in it before. I seem to have found my way a bit in the last few minutes thankfully. I am still curious what made the above image though. – phoffer Dec 6 '10 at 1:12
@phoffer That looks like it could be MySQL Workbench. – George Marian Dec 6 '10 at 1:25
+1. My favorite. – Dipan Mehta Jan 16 '12 at 18:00
up vote 1 down vote

SSMS comes with diagram designer tool (if you are looking for microsoft solution)

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up vote 1 down vote

There's a pretty good tool for MySQL called MySQL Workbench - which, although MySQL specific, could be used as a good starting point.

You could also try SQLYog (commercial) although I got perpetually harassed by their sales department for a while.

Also, there's another commercial app called Navicat.

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+1, I used MySQL Workbench - it is good and free. – Emmad Kareem Jan 16 '12 at 14:03
up vote 0 down vote

You have tried good tools. I am not sure why you are not happy with them? I think you should at least be able to use VISIO.

You may want to consider this web based tools. A free public/personal license exists and no installation is required: Creately Diagramming Tool

Make sure you select UML shapes as shown below:

enter image description here

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up vote 0 down vote

Oracle provides a free data modeler tool (integrated with Oracle SQL developer):

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/datamodeler/overview/index.html

I've had good experiences using it.

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