Re: For Windows platform: which Dia plugin or App to simplify design and documentation of small Database Applications ?

[Andrey Repin <anrdaemon freemail ru>]

Greetings, Paul Smith!

> Andre replied: What about MySQL Workbench?
> Until then I assumed from the name it supported MySQL only, but then looked
> up MySQL WB in Wikipedia and read that from ver 5.2.41 released only 3
> months ago, it supported a few other RDBMS, and 'any ODBC compliant db',
> Delving further, I read its minimum hardware requirement stated as more
> powerful than my Nettop,

Wait, you mean hardware requirements for MySQL workbench????
They are exaggerated, greatly.
Not to mention, Workbench is just an administration and management tool, not a
database engine. Thus, it's harware requirements are unrelated to the
performance of the application you are developing.

>  and a review dated 2009 run on a laptop with
> 2.5GHz CPU said WB was 'dog slow but best there is'. (a comment said its
> fast on Mac, slow on PC)  Spent a while perusing the WB User Manual and saw
> no mention of HSQLDB. That was the reason I asked if WB was worth persuing
> further.  *If it won't run on my platform, or I am mistaken in thinking WB
> supports ERD-to-SQL for HSQLDB, then its a red herring for me*.

> @Andre
> As per my reply above, I don't think I am confusing a RDBMS with a "*a tool
> to simplify design and documentation of small Database Applications*",
> although as Michael seems to think I was asking about the MySQL RDBMS as
> opposed to the MySQL WB you suggested I might consider, maybe the rest of
> my post should have been clearer,

Nah, when I reread it, it was quite clear, but I was confused by the word
"hardware requirements" in relation to the management application.
Much like "Dia hardware requirements"... You can write anything here, but the
reality is that you will be able to run Dia on any platform offering necessary
Gtk+ compatibility layer.

> or, it may be MySQL WB still does only support MySQL RDBMS, hence Michael
> assuming I was interested in MySQL RDBMS.   As stated in my last post, when
> looking for a (Open Source) DB Engine for my (low-powered) platform, I had
> ruled out MySQL for the reasons given.  It was some time back I searched for
> comparisons of Open Source RDBMS engines, and seemed to remember reading
> somewhere MySQL also needed 
> meatier HW than I have.  You ask what type of configuration. I didn't
> mention it as didn't think it mattered in context of 'tool to simplify
> design...', but my project is limited to non-web standalone db on
> single-user nettop.   Thanks for your insight on MySQL anyway. Interesting
> your MySQL Server runs on 850MHz Athlon with 512Mb RAM. *Does it also run
> WB ?*

No. That's only web/db server. My development box is a single-core P4/3.0 GHz.

> As WB support for 'any ODBC compliant db' was only added 3 months
> ago - *is that why you suggested I consider WB ?*

I suggested it for the fact that it is EER tool.
I rarely use it directly with database, when I develop new DB.
I lay down tables, draw connections, and heavily think over it all, before I
write first line of code.
Something like http://hazeron.rootdir.org/files/EER%20Model.svg
The only downside coming from it's upside... It's specialized to the point,
where it loosing visibility. You can't tell from the image export, which
fields are referenced by foreign keys. It is, however, clearly visible in the
program, when you highlight the link.

> @Thomas Harding
> Thanks for your input.  The Tutorial in Steffan's link gave a clear guide
> how to get started using UML - except the links to the tutorial dia & sql
> files are broken.  Its just that UML seems overly complex compared to the
> far simpler Chen notation of 1:1, 1:n, m:n notation, that I found perfectly
> sufficient in the past.  Also, my last reply asked if, rather than all
> users having to 'reinvent the wheel', are there not predefined 'typemap'
> files supporting all relevant features of target DB, in this case HSQLDB,
> users can download ?

> You recommend Postgres as a better engine.

That's a question of preference.

> Having read articles comparing
> the candidates, that was my first choice (I was impressed with the User
> Manual), but I read it requires more powerful hardware than I have and has
> good community help, so HSQLDB was 2nd choice.
> My project is small, about 20 tables, and for the Forward Engineering, need
> contain just small sample data, so it may not place much load on any ERD
> design tool.


--
WBR,
Andrey Repin (anrdaemon freemail ru) 29.10.2012, <01:38>

Sorry for my terrible english...