[BNM] Online SQL ERD tool

[Leo Brown]

Al-

Yes, we would pay for such a service.

My own personal approach having seen nothing similar was to use the same
library as used by PMA, but to generate the original relationships using our
CakePHP databases using a plugin written by us. However, this was only JS
and wouldn't import directly to PDF etc- for this we were thinking using
perhaps GraphML as we've written GraphML renderers for planning systems in
the past.

So I guess a wish for us would be to have this auto-generated ERD basis.
Even people that don't use, say, CakePHP, will use a certain naming
convention for FKs etc.

Thanks

Leo

-----Original Message-----
From: bnmlist-bounces at brightonnewmedia.org
[mailto:bnmlist-bounces at brightonnewmedia.org] On Behalf Of Alastair James
Sent: 05 January 2009 10:00
To: Brighton New Media
Subject: [BNM] Online SQL ERD tool

Hi there... Happy new year!
The week before Christmas, I started looking for a decent tool for creating
and managing ERD diagrams for SQL databases.

To be honest, most of the tools I found did not do it for me. They were
either, a) crappy b) windows only c) expensive. The best for MySQL databases
is probably mysql workbench, but thats expensive and not available on mac at
the moment. I suspect microsoft has a tool for this as well, but I have not
seen it.

Also, I wanted more collaboration and versioning control than a typical
desktop app allows. I.e. instead of editing a file on my machine, I want a
way to share the schemas with my distributed team.

Basically, I started playing with the idea of a ERD editor in the browser,
and knocked up a basic version. I then started thinking about building the
'basecamp of schema editors'. I.e. a strongly versioned, collaborative tool.

I will build more features such as:

* Strict (wiki style) versioning. I.e. every time I save it increments the
'minor' version. I.e. 1.15 to 1.16. You are asked to enter a comment when
you save so that it maintains a changelog. You can also save a new 'major'
version. I.e. 1.15 to 2.0.
* Multiple users. Locking when one user is editing a file.
* Multiple database dialects. Mysql at the moment, but will support at least
postgres.
* PDF export. Pretty diagrams!
* Timeline / change log. What changes were made and when. View the schema
(but not edit) previous versions.
* Version compare. Whats different between version 1.15 and 1.16 of the
schema?
* Migrations. I.e. generate the SQL to take the database from version 1.15
to 1.16. Or just the SQL to create a new copy of version 1.16. etc...
* Maybe Rails migration export...

Anyway, but question is: As developers, would you pay for such a service?

I was thinking of a basecamp style pricing model. I.e. free for one schema
and one user, more schemas and users for a small monthly fee ($10/month
say)....

What do you guys and gals think?

Al

-- 
Dr Alastair James
CTO James Publishing Ltd.

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