What Is Database Designer?
dbForge Studio includes MySQL Database Designer — a powerful visual tool for database development and a modern MySQL GUI tool. It allows you to build a clear and effective database structure visually and see the complete picture of your database, including tables, foreign key relationships, views, and stored routines.
As a MySQL GUI tool, Database Designer lets you view and edit your database in a convenient visual way. You can explore all database objects, inspect relationships between tables, view object details, and easily access objects for editing, data retrieval, or executing stored routines.
A context menu for each database object on the diagram provides the same actions as in the Database Explorer. Objects on the diagram can be moved by dragging or using the keyboard, resized, and aligned to a grid for better organization.
Diagrams can be saved for future use. With Database Designer, you can also perform reverse engineering of databases into IDEF1X or IE diagrams, which can be easily printed.
Note: The diagram does not store detailed database object information offline. An active connection to the database is required to work with the diagram in this MySQL GUI tool.
How to Create a Database Diagram
To create a database diagram, follow these steps:
- Click the New Database Diagram button on the Standard toolbar.
- Drag database objects from the Database Explorer onto the diagram. Alternatively, you can create new database objects directly on the diagram using the MySQL Database Diagram toolbar.
- Use the Layout Diagram button on the Layout toolbar to automatically arrange the diagram for a clearer view. You can also organize it manually by moving objects and relations, or by using containers.
- Optionally, add a stamp to your diagram showing company and project details, author, version, date, and copyright. To add a stamp, click New Stamp on the MySQL Database Diagram toolbar. You can edit stamp fields by double-clicking them. Notes can also be added to describe diagram objects.
- Save the diagram for future use.
Navigating the Diagram
You can navigate the diagram in several ways:
- Using scrollbars
- Moving the mouse while holding the middle mouse button
- Using the Diagram Overview window. You can drag the visible area box to navigate quickly. To open it, go to View → Other Windows → Diagram Overview or press CTRL+V, W
You can also zoom in and out to simplify navigation. For quick access to objects, use the diagram search feature.
How to Quickly Print Diagram
To print the diagram:
- Click the Display Print Markup button on the Diagram toolbar. This shows a page grid, where gray stripes indicate page overlaps.
- Adjust the diagram layout for better print readability.
- Select Print from the File menu.
- After printing, you can disable print markup by selecting Print Markup from the diagram’s context menu.
Saving and Restoring the Diagram
Diagrams can be saved and restored like any other document using the Save and Open buttons on the Standard toolbar.
However, diagrams do not store full database object details offline. When opening a diagram, dbForge Studio for MySQL attempts to connect to the MySQL database that contains the diagram objects. If the connection cannot be established, the diagram cannot be opened, even though this is expected behavior for a MySQL GUI tool.
When saved, a diagram stores the following information:
- Layout information
- Containers, notes, and stamps
- Connection information
- Database object names and owners
- Foreign key names displayed as relationships
If the database changes after saving the diagram, Database Designer updates object information when reopening it. However, newly created database objects will not automatically appear on the diagram. If an object has been deleted from the database, it is also removed from the diagram.
Top comments (0)