Re: reverse engineer a database

Err,

This is just a suggestion - but you might also want to check out Quest's SQL Impact. It is an Impact analysis tool and an excellent one

One of it's many features is - it also extracts relationships out of code - and so gives you all the business relationships in the code too. IT only works with some languages (i.e. not compiled c or cobol - it requires the source) - but if your working with a database with no FK's - and Lots of them exist then you have to get your relationships from somewhere.

It'll even diagram the relationships for you.

SQL Impact is expensive but I highly recommend it - check it out..

Darrin.

Red de la Cruz wrote:

> Hi guys,
>
> Reverse engineering is two folds in Oracle Designer,
> First you need to Capture Design of Forms,Reports and library and Server
> objects(tables, function, procedures and packages) into designer. By doing
> this you will have the logical design of your application(logical tables,
> prc, fnc, etc.). Then you can basically run the table to Entity retrofit, to
> have the analysis portion of your application. BUT note, since you capture
> design the tables your relationship names will be the FK names, so might
> need to change this. AND when you capture desing Forms or reports it's not a
> 100% the same, it looses some of the lookups, you just need recreate those
> in terms of your data view(in designer).
>
> BUT if you don't have the budget for Designer, I'm currently using TOAD and
> it's a very good tool if you need to view what's in your DB, If your
> requirement is just to create scripts then go for this tool. There is a
> trial version from their website(this is a product of QUEST software).
>
> Thanks.
>
> Red de la Cruz
> Senior Consultant
> James Martin + Co.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 8:14 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
> John,
>
> Oracle Designer has the capability to do the reverse engineering. I used
> this tool for a similar problem. As far as I know, it will not bring up the
> stored procedures associated with tha database. However, it builds a ERD
> (Entity Relationship Diagram) from the existing tables along with indexes
> and fk's.
>
> Maheshwara Rao, L., Teki
> E Mail : teki01_at_mediaone.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2000 12:51 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
> Hope someone can help...
>
> I have inherited an Oracle based project that is composed
> of 170 or so tables and loads of other objects (indexes,
> views, sequences, triggers, ...). The initial database
> design has been changed/modified quite a bit over the past
> few years, and there is little to no documentation. In
> fact, there are no scripts to create the objects. The way
> the database is populated is to import a majority of the
> objects and then run sql scripts to update with the latest
> changes.
>
> I would like to be able to reverse engineer the database and
> create the necessary scripts to build it from scratch.
>
> My questions are ...
>
> Are there existing tools (Oracle Designer?) that can help
> with this process?
>
> If so, what is the best tool for the job? Any tips on what
> to avoid?
>
> The database was originally Oracle 7, but we have migrated it
> to Oracle 8 on an HP-UX platform. We would like to run the
> tools from either HP-UX or Windows NT. I am in digest mode, so
> please reply to me directly (as well as to the list). Thanks
> very much for any help in this area.
>
> ----------------------
>
> John Armani
> ABB Industrial Systems, Inc
> armani_at_armani.rochny.uspra.abb.com
>
> --
> Author: John Armani
> INET: armani_at_eng14.rochny.uspra.abb.com
>
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> --
> Author: Maheshwara Rao, L., Teki
> INET: teki01_at_mediaone.net
>
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> Author: Red de la Cruz
> INET: Red.DelaCruz_at_JAMESMARTIN.COM
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--
###############################################################
# Darrin Nunn - Senior DBA/AP - Queensland, Australia         #