database diagrams?

[LenaS]

I would like to visually view the data environment of my VB 6.0 project showing relationships between tables. According to Help there is something called database diagrams. Is this something we have to buy separately? It does not seem to be part of our Visual Studio 6.0 Enterprise Edition. There is no database diagram folder to right-click on in the Data View window as MSDN help suggests. There is a Diagram option on my toolbar, but all options are grayed out.

 

[sdj]

I have this same question and have been searching for days. I see the post is rather old, did you ever get a solution and/or figure it out yourself?

 

[LenaS]

No, I did not get an answer. Hope someone answers this time.

 

[MichaelRed]

To use the db diagram, you must be "connected" to the db in question. Since it is a "Design" tool, the "connection(s)" must be STATIC (e.g. Available in Design Mode).

MichaelRed
m.red@att.net

There is never time to do it right but there is always time to do it over

 

[RiverGuy]

The diagrams did not actually show the relationships when I used it--only the tables and fields in those diagrams.

 

[sdj]

Michael, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I had some success, but I'm not quite getting the complete solution. I assume I am connected to the database (ODBC if that matters) by going to View, Data Window View where I can add a Data Link and even open tables to see the data. But I still don't have access to the Diagram menu and seem to need that to create the relational queries that I need.

Your email mentions having the connection set to STATIC, but I'm not sure where/how that's done.

I'm usually not so dense, but I seem to have a mental block on this one. Thanks in advance for your help.

Scott

 

[RiverGuy]

Did you make a command? That's about the only difference I can see between mine and yours if you did not make on. I can use the diagram window on mine.

 

[sdj]

Yes, I made a Command AFTER good hints from previous posts, but still no Diagram menu. I keep getting closer (I think) to setting things up correctly, but also keep running into roadblocks.

Does this have anything to do with the type of database, in my case, ODBC?

Thanks,
Scott
scottj at angus dot org

 

[RiverGuy]

Maybe. I used an SQL server connection string on mine. What type of database are you using? If Access or SQL, maybe try a connection string instead. You're using an ODBC DSN?

 

[SemperFiDownUnda]

SQL server has database diagrams, Not sure of Access (accessible from VB IDE). Oracle and most others don't have them.

One thing to note is that if your application uses a Dataenvironment (which is needed to see the diagrams) then you connection to the database, using up a license, is always open during development and when the program runs by default.

 

[RiverGuy]

You've got a point. Maybe I was seeing the diagrams because I was using SQL Server. They still don't show the relationships, however. Maybe the only thing you can do is use good naming conventions for 1:N relationships that would be simple to realize relationships.