Re: Documentation of databases.

On Nov 26, 10:37 am, kålle <anders21karls..._at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone.
> Anyone who have knowledge of a application/tool to use when you want
> to document all tables, columns, triggers and so on, all objects in a
> database? Years ago i worked with Designer2000. But i guess and hope
> that there is some lighter/smaller applications who has capabilities
> to do this? Freeware/opensource.
> Regards
> /A

I also like ot make use of the rdbms dictionary as a form of documentation. You can run report queries off the dictionary views on a regular basis and spool the output with date tags in the file names.

We use skeleton DDL statements to define objects and included in the table create skeleton are comment statements so the developers can define the basic purpose of a table and provide information on columns whose meaning may not be clear just based on the column name alone.

The audit_trail can also be used to help document a system by auditing DDL: alter, create, and drop of tables, veiws etc ... reports can be extracted that server as a record of changes.

However, there is definitely a need for external documentation. An external document that defines all database names, the server the database is located on, lists the application owners and application usernames and passwords used in the web application, etc ... may be desirable for diaster recovery purposes.

Application related documentation for the database design is also very useful, providing it is maintained.

HTH -- Mark D Powell -- Received on Wed Nov 26 2008 - 14:36:41 CST