I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL 
schema, both at the column level and the table level.

If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.

Thanks,
Joe

On 2011-07-20 22:38, Joseph Hesse wrote:
> I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL 
> schema, both at the column level and the table level.
> 
> If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.
> 

http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net/


/Lennart

On 07/22/2011 01:33 AM, Lennart Jonsson wrote:
> On 2011-07-20 22:38, Joseph Hesse wrote:
>> I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL
>> schema, both at the column level and the table level.
>>
>> If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.
>>
>
> http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net/
>
>
> /Lennart

I didn't do a good job of explaining what I am looking for.  I am using 
MySQL Workbench and it does an excellent job of creating a graphical 
representation of all the tables and their columns in a DB.  What I 
would like is next to a picture of a table a place to put comments, both 
for my memory and for explaining it to a client.  On my wishlist I would 
like everything in the graphical representation to be a link to more 
details.

On 7/20/2011 1:38 PM, Joseph Hesse wrote:
> I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL
> schema, both at the column level and the table level.
>
> If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.

     DESCRIBE tablename;

or, more usefully,

     SHOW CREATE TABLE tablename;

	

On 2011-07-23 17:12, Joseph Hesse wrote:
[...]
> I didn't do a good job of explaining what I am looking for.  I am using 
> MySQL Workbench and it does an excellent job of creating a graphical 
> representation of all the tables and their columns in a DB.  What I 
> would like is next to a picture of a table a place to put comments, both 
> for my memory and for explaining it to a client.  On my wishlist I would 
> like everything in the graphical representation to be a link to more 
> details.

Have you tried adding comments to your tables/columns?

/Lennart

Joseph Hesse wrote:

> On 07/22/2011 01:33 AM, Lennart Jonsson wrote:
>> On 2011-07-20 22:38, Joseph Hesse wrote:
>>> I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL
>>> schema, both at the column level and the table level.
>>>
>>> If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.
>> http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net/
> 
> I didn't do a good job of explaining what I am looking for.

Indeed.  MySQL Workbench was among the things that I would have recommended 
to you.

> I am using MySQL Workbench and it does an excellent job of creating a
> graphical representation of all the tables and their columns in a DB. 
> What I would like is next to a picture of a table a place to put comments,
> both for my memory and for explaining it to a client.  On my wishlist I
> would like everything in the graphical representation to be a link to more
> details.

A good database is self-documenting ;-)

Seriously, I have never had that problem.  MySQL Workbench allows you to put 
tables on a named layer, and that, in addition to reasonably named tables 
and columns sufficed for me to date.  See for example 
<http://PointedEars.de/tmp/rdm.png> (from an ontology editor project).

However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow you 
to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add 
comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and 
phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since version 
2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).

So I don't see the problem.  (Besides, never has a client asked me for an 
EER diagram of the database of the application I was developing.  They just 
wanted it to work.)

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:

> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add
> comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and
> phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since version
> 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).

Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL 
feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE 
statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken indexing), but 
adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores database 
comments in fields of the column `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.

On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>
>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
>> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add
>> comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and
>> phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since version
>> 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>
> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken indexing), but
> adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores database
> comments in fields of the column `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>

Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for 
over 20 years.

And who cares how PHPMyAdmin does it?

-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On 7/23/2011 4:32 PM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Joseph Hesse wrote:
>
>> On 07/22/2011 01:33 AM, Lennart Jonsson wrote:
>>> On 2011-07-20 22:38, Joseph Hesse wrote:
>>>> I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL
>>>> schema, both at the column level and the table level.
>>>>
>>>> If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.
>>> http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net/
>>
>> I didn't do a good job of explaining what I am looking for.
>
> Indeed.  MySQL Workbench was among the things that I would have recommended
> to you.
>
>> I am using MySQL Workbench and it does an excellent job of creating a
>> graphical representation of all the tables and their columns in a DB.
>> What I would like is next to a picture of a table a place to put comments,
>> both for my memory and for explaining it to a client.  On my wishlist I
>> would like everything in the graphical representation to be a link to more
>> details.
>
> A good database is self-documenting ;-)
>
> Seriously, I have never had that problem.  MySQL Workbench allows you to put
> tables on a named layer, and that, in addition to reasonably named tables
> and columns sufficed for me to date.  See for example
> <http://PointedEars.de/tmp/rdm.png>  (from an ontology editor project).
>
> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow you
> to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add
> comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and
> phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since version
> 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>
> So I don't see the problem.  (Besides, never has a client asked me for an
> EER diagram of the database of the application I was developing.  They just
> wanted it to work.)
>

I've had to do many diagrams over the years.  But then when you have a 
project with a couple of hundred programmers working on it, good 
documentation is necessary.

But when you're just hacking a bunch of code together to try to 
(eventually) make a website work, then generally clients don't ask for 
diagrams.
-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>> Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
>>> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can
>>> add comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench
>>> and phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since
>>> version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>>
>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken indexing),
>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>> database comments in fields of the column
>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
> 
> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
> over 20 years.

Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are 
several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but 
just wanted to post something, yes?

> And who cares how PHPMyAdmin does it?

The OP, who was wondering which of the claims were true.  If only you 
learned to read …

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.

Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> On 7/23/2011 4:32 PM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>> A good database is self-documenting ;-)
>>
>> Seriously, I have never had that problem.  MySQL Workbench allows you to
>> put tables on a named layer, and that, in addition to reasonably named
>> tables and columns sufficed for me to date.  See for example
>> <http://PointedEars.de/tmp/rdm.png>  (from an ontology editor project).
>>
>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
>> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add
>> comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and
>> phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since
>> version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>>
>> So I don't see the problem.  (Besides, never has a client asked me for an
>> EER diagram of the database of the application I was developing.  They
>> just wanted it to work.)
> 
> I've had to do many diagrams over the years.  But then when you have a
> project with a couple of hundred programmers working on it, good
> documentation is necessary.

I did not say it wasn't.

> But when you're just hacking a bunch of code together to try to
> (eventually) make a website work, then generally clients don't ask for
> diagrams.

You are in error if you think that you can guess my occupation from my 
postings.

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.

On 7/24/2011 10:05 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
>>>> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can
>>>> add comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench
>>>> and phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since
>>>> version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>>>
>>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken indexing),
>>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>>> database comments in fields of the column
>>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>>
>> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
>> over 20 years.
>
> Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are
> several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but
> just wanted to post something, yes?
>

Shows how little you know. There is only one SQL standard - the latest 
one passed by the ANSI committee. But then you don't understand that.

>> And who cares how PHPMyAdmin does it?
>
> The OP, who was wondering which of the claims were true.  If only you
> learned to read …
>

I know how to read.  Too bad you don't know how to understand.


-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On 7/24/2011 10:09 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> On 7/23/2011 4:32 PM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> A good database is self-documenting ;-)
>>>
>>> Seriously, I have never had that problem.  MySQL Workbench allows you to
>>> put tables on a named layer, and that, in addition to reasonably named
>>> tables and columns sufficed for me to date.  See for example
>>> <http://PointedEars.de/tmp/rdm.png>   (from an ontology editor project).
>>>
>>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also allow
>>> you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and you can add
>>> comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL workbench and
>>> phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now (and since
>>> version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab as well).
>>>
>>> So I don't see the problem.  (Besides, never has a client asked me for an
>>> EER diagram of the database of the application I was developing.  They
>>> just wanted it to work.)
>>
>> I've had to do many diagrams over the years.  But then when you have a
>> project with a couple of hundred programmers working on it, good
>> documentation is necessary.
>
> I did not say it wasn't.
>
>> But when you're just hacking a bunch of code together to try to
>> (eventually) make a website work, then generally clients don't ask for
>> diagrams.
>
> You are in error if you think that you can guess my occupation from my
> postings.
>

I know you're not a programmer.  You've proven that many times over.

-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> On 7/24/2011 10:05 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>>> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>> Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also
>>>>> allow you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and
>>>>> you can add comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL
>>>>> workbench and phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now
>>>>> (and since version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab
>>>>> as well).
>>>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>>>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>>>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken
>>>> indexing),
>>>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>>>> database comments in fields of the column
>>>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>>> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
>>> over 20 years.
>> Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are
>> several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but
>> just wanted to post something, yes?
> 
> Shows how little you know. There is only one SQL standard - the latest
> one passed by the ANSI committee.

No, there are several revisions of the SQL standard (the latest being 
adopted in 2008 eventually by ISO, for the American National Standards 
Institute does not set the standards which are to be used internationally), 
which, as they have been implemented before the next revision was adopted, 
can be considered different standards of themselves (that applies to 
revisions/editions of other standards as well).

And MySQL does not implement that standard, but the MySQL people state that 
"One of our main goals with the product is to continue to work toward 
compliance with the SQL standard, but without sacrificing speed or 
reliability."

<http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/compatibility.html> pp.

So much for how little *you* know.

> But then you don't understand that.

ISTM that you do not understand standardization.
 
>>> And who cares how PHPMyAdmin does it?
>>
>> The OP, who was wondering which of the claims were true.  If only you
>> learned to read …
> 
> I know how to read.

How come that you did not read the OP's "question", then?

| I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL 
| schema, both at the column level and the table level.
| 
| If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.

So I found that phpMyAdmin was among the tools that worked for me in that 
respect.  Being a polite person, I also explained why and how it worked.  
Only a wannabe/troll like you can find something wrong with that.

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.

On 7/24/2011 10:41 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> On 7/24/2011 10:05 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>>>> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>>> Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>>>> However, the recent versions MySQL Workbench (e. g., 5.2.29) also
>>>>>> allow you to put arbitrary text and images in your EER diagram, and
>>>>>> you can add comments to schemata, tables, and columns both with MySQL
>>>>>> workbench and phpMyAdmin, which is pretty much a standard tool by now
>>>>>> (and since version 2.10 has a graphical editor per the "Designer" tab
>>>>>> as well).
>>>>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>>>>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>>>>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken
>>>>> indexing),
>>>>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>>>>> database comments in fields of the column
>>>>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>>>> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
>>>> over 20 years.
>>> Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are
>>> several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but
>>> just wanted to post something, yes?
>>
>> Shows how little you know. There is only one SQL standard - the latest
>> one passed by the ANSI committee.
>
> No, there are several revisions of the SQL standard (the latest being
> adopted in 2008 eventually by ISO, for the American National Standards
> Institute does not set the standards which are to be used internationally),
> which, as they have been implemented before the next revision was adopted,
> can be considered different standards of themselves (that applies to
> revisions/editions of other standards as well).
>

Yes, and as I said, it is the latest standard which is accepted.  And 
ANSI is recognized internationally - by almost everyone except "pointed 
head", anyway.  And this goes not only for the IT world, but in many 
other areas, also - such as the construction trade.

> And MySQL does not implement that standard, but the MySQL people state that
> "One of our main goals with the product is to continue to work toward
> compliance with the SQL standard, but without sacrificing speed or
> reliability."
>
> <http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/compatibility.html>  pp.
>
> So much for how little *you* know.
>

Sure, that's a big part as to why MySQL is considered a "toy database" 
by experienced DB Admins.  But you've never worked with any, so you know 
nothing about it.

>> But then you don't understand that.
>
> ISTM that you do not understand standardization.
>

I understand INTERNATIONALLY AGREED UPON standardization.  I do not 
agree with "POINTED HEAD STANDARDIZATION".

>>>> And who cares how PHPMyAdmin does it?
>>>
>>> The OP, who was wondering which of the claims were true.  If only you
>>> learned to read …
>>
>> I know how to read.
>
> How come that you did not read the OP's "question", then?
>

I did.  How come you did not understand the op's question then?  Oh, I 
forgot - I'm "talking" to "pointed head" - who understands little but 
always claims it's someone else's problem.  Sounds a lot like what's 
gone on in comp.lang.javascript and other newsgroups you've been in 
also, right?

> | I googled and found a number of tools that claim to document MySQL
> | schema, both at the column level and the table level.
> |
> | If you have found any that worked well for you please let me know.
>
> So I found that phpMyAdmin was among the tools that worked for me in that
> respect.  Being a polite person, I also explained why and how it worked.
> Only a wannabe/troll like you can find something wrong with that.
>

Being a total idiot you copied and pasted other peoples comments without 
understanding the real question or an appropriate response.

-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:05:29 +0200, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken indexing),
>>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>>> database comments in fields of the column
>>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>> 
>> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
>> over 20 years.
>
> Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are 
> several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but 
> just wanted to post something, yes?

If it's in the standard, it's to be expected to be available, not a
feature. Most, if not all, SQL database engines should have this.

-- 
It is odd, but on the infrequent occasions when I have been called upon
in a formal place to play the bongo drums, the introducer never seems 
to find it necessary to mention that I also do theoretical physics. 
		--Feynman

Peter H. Coffin wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:05:29 +0200, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>> Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>>> On 7/24/2011 3:31 AM, Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:
>>>> Supplemental: Adding comments to tables and columns is a built-in MySQL
>>>> feature (see the COMMENT keyword of the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE
>>>> statements, apparently hard to find thanks to Oracle's borken
>>>> indexing),
>>>> but adding comments to databases appears to be not.  phpMyAdmin stores
>>>> database comments in fields of the column
>>>> `phpmyadmin`.`pma_column_info`.`comment`.
>>> Comments on columns and tables has been part of the SQL standard for
>>> over 20 years.
>> Generally good to know, but who cares about "the SQL standard" (there are
>> several) when we are discussing MySQL?  You really had nothing to say but
>> just wanted to post something, yes?
> 
> If it's in the standard, it's to be expected to be available, not a
> feature. Most, if not all, SQL database engines should have this.

MySQL itself proves this argument to be fallacious.

-- 
PointedEars

Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail. / Please do not Cc: me.