# Database Modeller (Mac) **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [April 21, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618 "2007-04-21T17:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/1 "2007-04-21T17:34:23Z")
Can anyone recommend a database modelling tool for the Mac? I’m building a new Rails app and want an interface to draw out the database’s entity relationship diagram, setup foreign keys and then output DDL at the end to MySQL. I’ve previously used DBDesigner, CASE Studio and some pricier enterprise software on Windows, but can’t find anything suitable for my Mac. The MySQL Workbench project seems to have stalled and I can’t find anything suitable. Any recommendations? Thanks Barry Frost ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/2 "2007-04-21T17:41:25Z")
On 21 Apr 2007, at 17:33, Barry Frost wrote: > Any recommendations? > If you are happy with just creating diagrams and then using Rails > migrations to create your database scheme (from my point of view the > best thing to do anyway), you could use Omnigraffle. There’s also DBVisualiser at [http://www.minq.se/products/dbvis/info.html](http://www.minq.se/products/dbvis/info.html) Best regards Peter De Berdt ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/3 "2007-04-22T17:24:18Z")
Using ActiveRecord with extra database level stuff like foreign key constraints, multiple-column primary keys, etc. is the Wrong Thing to do. I got burned by this and had to re-write my database schema in Rails 1.1.6. ActiveRecord will enforce most of that stuff for you if you tell it to. Most of these tools will probably generate schemas that have that extra cruft. They’ll also probably not be compatible with migrations. Just a word of warning… ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 5:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/4 "2007-04-22T17:34:19Z")
Multiple-column primary keys does not seem compatible with ActiveRecord as you say. However, I disagree about not using foreign key constraints. These are wonderful, useful aids to maintain the referential integrity of the DB. When your code violates one, you get a SQL error immediately. It’s much easier to fix one of these than it is to try to debug an application that fails intermitently due to data error. Personally, I have been doing relational database work since the 80’s, so I perfer to use dbms tools over rails migrations. Take what works and leave the rest when it comes to frameworks and development tools. ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/5 "2007-04-22T18:27:23Z")
Whatever happened to that AJAX one which was specifically designed for rails? ie, it would generate rails migrations and stuff. Someone posted a link to it here a while ago (although searching my mail archives, I can’t find it). That looked promising, even though it was in some kind of pre-alpha stage. ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/6 "2007-04-22T18:39:24Z")
On Apr 22, 2007, at 5:33 PM, dagny wrote: > However, I disagree about not using foreign key constraints. These are > wonderful, useful aids to maintain the referential integrity of the > DB. When your code violates one, you get a SQL error immediately. It’s > much easier to fix one of these than it is to try to debug an > application that fails intermitently due to data error. I agree, they are a great help to get a chain of has\_many :dependent right. You get an index for that column automatically as well at least in MySQL and a few more, so we use the plugin from RedHill Consulting in all our applications. – fxn ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/7 "2007-04-22T19:56:29Z")
[SQLEditor](http://www.malcolmhardie.com/sqleditor/) is not free, but it does nice ERDs and does Rails migrations. # Damian ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/b5ac83/32.png) [@Barry\_Frost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Barry_Frost)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/database-modeller-mac/92618/8 "2007-04-23T03:05:16Z")
[http://railroad.rubyforge.org/](http://railroad.rubyforge.org/) may be what you are looking for. Bill