Useful Tools for Visualizing Databases on a Budget

Charts present information graphically, describing the structure, relationship or operation of anything. Charts enable your audience to intuitively understand hidden information and interact with them in ways that text cannot. Depending on the type of project, there are many ways to use the chart. For example, if you want to describe the relationship between different parts, we usually use entity relationship diagrams (ERDs). Many excellent tools can help you draw your database design beautifully.

This article will share some of the common tools I use to organize data structures and implement ideas.

Google Docs Drawing

The drawing feature in Google Docs allows you to add illustrations to your pages. You can add custom shapes, charts, graphics, infographics, and text boxes to your document using the built-in drawing tool.

Draw with Google Docs

Although adding graphics to Google Docs is simple, the process is not entirely intuitive. The steps are as follows:

1. Open a new document in Google Docs.
2. Click the Insert button and select Draw. Then, select New from the drop-down options to open the drawing screen.
3. You can use the toolbox on this screen to add text boxes, select lines and shapes, and modify the color of the drawing.
4. You can also use the cursor to resize the drawing and design color by using the toolbox at the top of the screen.
5. When finished, click the "Save and Close" button. You can click the File toolbar displayed at the top of the screen to download the document.

Function

Google Docs provides great convenience. However, it is not intended for database chart drawing. If you modify your model frequently, you may find yourself frustrated by constantly redrawing arrows and relationships.

Graphviz

Graphviz is a free graphical visualization software that allows us to express information in graphical form.

Graphviz implements the DOT language. The DOT language is an abstract syntax that uses terminals, non-terminals, brackets, square brackets, and vertical lines. For more information about the DOT language, see its documentation.

Function

Graphviz has an impressive and well-supported community. However, high-level SQL support is available only when additional third-party software is installed. This additional overhead may lower the barriers to use for users who are not used to setting up computers to support these tools.

ERDPlus

ERDPlus is a database modeling tool that allows you to create entity graphs, relationship patterns, star patterns, and SQL DDL statements.

It contains a short guide on how to create ER diagrams, which is especially useful for beginners. You can also easily convert the created ER graph into a relational pattern.

Function

ERDPlus is suitable for SQL. It does lack other export formats and features shared with the team, but these features are not required when importing and exporting.

Diagrams.net

Diagrams.net (formerly known as Draw.io) is a free online charting tool that can be used to create flowcharts, UML diagrams, database models, and other types of charts.

Function

Diagrams.net is designed to support many different workflows. It can easily integrate with third parties such as Trello, Quip, Notion, and other options, differentiate it from other options. The ability to share and collaborate allows it to meet the needs of collaborative teams well.

Summarize

This article is based on some free database tools, detailing their capabilities and limitations, and how to use these tools to help you visualize your ideas.

In my research, I have also found some other excellent tools that offer free trials for creating database charts such as Lucidchart, EDrawMax, and DrawSQL. However, these free trials have some limitations, which may make them less suitable for developers working on multiple projects.

I strongly recommend that you read the documentation for each tool to determine the one that works best for you and most importantly, avoid any difficulties with using these tools.

Thank you for taking the time to read here, and hope you found what you want. I wish you a wonderful day!

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