Re: Oracle and Visio

From: internetmaster <youlove_at_me.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 18:49:56 -0400
Message-ID: <3D408094.7080505_at_me.com>


Daniel Morgan wrote:
> internetmaster wrote:
>
>

[Quoted] >>Daniel Morgan wrote:
>>
>>>Charles wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>On Tue, 23 Jul 2002 10:27:30 +0100, "Telemachus"
>>>><telemachus_at_ulysseswillreturn.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Yes.
>>>>>But only if all the pk and RI and fk constraints are in place otherwise it
>>>>>can only get what it can see.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I just used Visio on a legacy database. 60 or so tables and no fk/pk
>>>>defined. All you get is a set of tables, not all that well organized.
>>>>Not very usefull although it is a place to start.
>>>
>>>
>>>Why would anyone have a relational database without primary key constraints?
>>>
>>>Legacy, I presume, does not mean before normalization was defined.
>>
>>We have an application at work which I won't name but will reveal the
>>vendor's name -- Computer Associate.
>>
>>We want to expose the underlying Oracle database to a reporting tool and
>>we asked them to send over a data model so we could understsand how the
>>tables relate to one another.  They sent over a lovely data model.
>>
>>The other day, I went into ERWin and reverse engineered the database and
>>found that it actually doesn't have any keys or RI.   I plan on calling
>>CA next week.
>>
>>
>>>Daniel Morgan
>>>
>>

>
> I'm not surprised. A surprisingly large number of commercial products do 100%, or
> virtually 100%, of their data integrity constraint through their front-end. And
> the horrible quality of the data they contain bears witness to this fact.
>
> For me this is a show-stopper for two reasons:
>
> 1. All it takes is one person with an ODBC connection and every integrity rule is
> violated.
>
> 2. To make any substantive changes to the product you must pay their consulting
> division outrageous fees for even the most mundane changes.
>
> I consider a product built on top of a relational database with integrity
> controlled by the front-end a no-sale. I have never recommended one for a client
> ... and never will.

Why do you think they do this? So they can port the application to different database systems ? I was surprised to uncover this reality about the application. And now you're telling me that this is common place ?!? That's an eye opener.

>
> Daniel Morgan
>
Received on Fri Jul 26 2002 - 00:49:56 CEST

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