July 7, 2014 at 12:23 pm
Hello,
Quick question... I need to learn a new data model. What is the fastest most efficient way to achieve this? I do not have a lot of options in regards to third party tools as I am not an admin on my local machine and really cannot install much. I would think the database diagramming in SSMS would suffice? Not sure if there is another way.
Thanks in advance!
SQL-TG
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. --Mike Tyson
July 7, 2014 at 1:06 pm
TG-
I learned to do it by using a big whiteboard. If you need to test your designs by loading some data and then trying to query, you could use SQL Server and the database diagrams. (It's durable, which is nice!)
I suspect there's something more to your question, though. If you really understand normalization and proper database design, then you would just be validating your design by adding a few (literally maybe 3 records per table) and testing it by writing queries. If you don't understand that part, you could still build a less than perfect design and learn from your mistakes...
Or are you looking for a different modeling tool?
July 7, 2014 at 1:31 pm
SQLTougherGuy (7/7/2014)
Hello,Quick question... I need to learn a new data model. What is the fastest most efficient way to achieve this? I do not have a lot of options in regards to third party tools as I am not an admin on my local machine and really cannot install much. I would think the database diagramming in SSMS would suffice? Not sure if there is another way.
Do you mean you need to learn about a new database that someone has already built? You can reverse engineer it and make diagrams from it with a variety of tools. Even Microsoft Visio has the ability to reverse engineer a database diagram from an existing database. There's no substitute or shortcut for actually understanding the business problem that the database is designed to solve however.
If you want to design a new database then choose a decent modelling tool and stay away from the database diagram feature in SSMS. It's a truly awful tool and in my opinion totally useless for any serious non-trivial work. That's only my opinion, if it works for you then good luck - but if you intend to share work with others then they might be less than satisfied.
July 7, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Thanks for your responses.
To verify, I am looking to learn an existing data model (sorry if that wasn't clear). I didn't know you can achieve this through Visio. I have that installed on my machine and I will try it. Thank You!
SQL-TG
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. --Mike Tyson
July 7, 2014 at 2:36 pm
Visio works fantastic, thanks again!
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. --Mike Tyson
July 7, 2014 at 3:41 pm
In addition to diagraming table relationships, if you want quick insight into what other objects a table depends on (foreign key relationships) or what other objects (like stored procedures) depend on the object, then right-click the object in SSMS and choose the menu option 'View Dependencies'.
For example, if you view dependencies on a stored procedure, it will popup a dialog containing tree-view of all tables that the procedure references, and you can also drill down on each table to see what other tables it depends on.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb630261(v=SQL.105).aspx
Also, RedGate has a free SSMS plugin for seaching objects.
http://www.red-gate.com/products/sql-development/sql-search/
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply