-
SchemaSpy is a Java-based tool (requires Java 5 or higher) that analyzes the -metadata of a schema in a database and generates a visual representation of it in a -browser-displayable format. -It lets you click through the -hierarchy of database tables via child and parent table relationships. +
+SchemaSpy is a Java-based tool (requires Java 5 or higher) +that analyzes the metadata of a schema in a database and generates a +visual representation of it in a browser-displayable format. +It lets you click through the hierarchy of database tables via child and parent table +relationships. The browsing through relationships can occur though HTML links and/or though the graphical representation of the relationships. -It's also designed -to help resolve the obtuse errors that a database sometimes gives related -to failures due to constraints.
-
-It is free software that is distributed under the terms of the
+It's also designed to help resolve the obtuse errors that a database sometimes gives
+related to failures due to constraints.
+
It is free software that is distributed under the terms of the
Lesser GNU Public License 2.1.
Your donations
are, however, greatly appreciated.
-
-If you like SchemaSpy then please vote for it on freshmeat, - digg it, - and tag it on del.icio.us. -
-SchemaSpy uses the dot +
+If you like SchemaSpy then please +vote for it on freshmeat, + +digg it, +and +tag it on del.icio.us. +
+SchemaSpy uses the dot executable from Graphviz to generate graphical representations of the table/view relationships. This was initially added for people who see things visually. -Now the graphical representation of relationships is a fundamental feature of the tool. -Graphvis is not required to view the output generated by SchemaSpy, but the dot program should be in your PATH +Now the graphical representation of relationships is a fundamental +feature of the tool. +Graphvis is not required to view the output generated by SchemaSpy, but +the dot program should be in your PATH (not CLASSPATH) when running SchemaSpy or none of the graphs will be generated. -
-SchemaSpy uses JDBC's database metadata extraction services to gather
-the majority of its information,
-but has to make vendor-specific SQL queries to gather some information
-such as the SQL associated with a view and the details of check
-constraints.
-The differences between vendors have been isolated to configuration files and are extremely limited.
-Almost all of the vendor-specific SQL is optional.
+
SchemaSpy uses JDBC's database metadata extraction services to gather
+the majority of its information, but has to make vendor-specific SQL queries
+to gather some information such as the SQL associated with a view and the
+details of check constraints.
+The differences between vendors have been isolated to configuration
+files and are extremely limited. Almost all of the vendor-specific SQL
+is optional.
Sample output of the tool is available at
here.
-Note that this was run against an extremely limited schema so it doesn't show the full power of the tool.
-
-
Running SchemaSpy
-You run SchemaSpy from the command line:
-| - | java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t dbType -db dbName [-s schema] -u user [-p password] -o outputDir [-nohtml][-noimplied]
- |
-
| - | Parameter | -Description | -
|---|---|---|
| - | -t databaseType |
- Type of database (e.g. ora, db2, etc.).
- Use -dbhelp for a list of built-in types.
- Defaults to ora.
- |
-
| * | --db dbName |
- Name of database to connect to | -
| * | --u user |
- Valid database user id with read access | -
| - | -s schema |
- Database schema - (optional if the same as user or isn't supported by your database) | -
| - | -p password |
- Password associated with that user. - Defaults to no password. | -
| * | --o outputDirectory |
- Directory to write the generated HTML/graphs to | -
| - | -dp pathToDrivers |
- Looks for drivers here before looking in driverPath in [databaseType].properties | -
| - | -desc "Schema description" |
- Displays the specified textual description on summary pages.
- If your description includes an equals sign then escape it with a backslash. - For example: - -desc "<a href\='http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net'>SchemaSpy</a>".
- |
-
| - | -all |
- Evaluate all schemas in a database.
- Generates a high-level index of the schemas evaluated and allows for
- traversal of cross-schema foreign key relationships. - Use with -schemaSpec "schemaRegularExpression"
- to narrow-down the schemas to include.
- |
-
| - | -schemas "schema1,schema2" |
- Evaluate specified schemas.
- Similar to -all, but explicitly specifies which
- schema to evaluate without interrogating the database's metadata.
- Can be used with databases like MySQL where a database isn't
- composed of multiple schemas.
- |
-
| - | -meta metafile |
-
- metafile is either the name of an individual
- XML file or the directory that contains meta files.
- If a directory is specified then it is expected to contain files
- matching the pattern [schema].meta.xml.- For databases that don't have schema substitute database for schema. - See Providing Additional Metadata for details. - |
-
| - | -lq |
- Generate lower-quality diagrams.
- Note that the default is intended to be "higher quality", but
- various installations of
- Graphviz
- may have have different abilities.
- That is, some might not have the "lower quality" libraries and others
- might not have the "higher quality" libraries. - Higher quality output takes longer to generate and results in significantly - larger image files (which take longer to download / display), - but the resultant Entity Relationship diagrams generally look better. - |
-
| - | -i "tableNamesRegex" |
- Only include matching tables/views.
- This is a regular expression that's used to determine which
- tables/views to include. For example: -i "(.*book.*)|(library.*)"
- includes only those tables/views with 'book' in their names or that start with 'library'.- You might want to use -desc with this option to describe the subset of tables. - |
-
| - | -x "columnNamesRegex" |
- Exclude matching columns from relationship analysis to
- simplify the generated graphs.
- This is a regular expression that's used to determine which
- columns to exclude. It must match table name, followed by a dot, followed by
- column name. For example: -x "(book.isbn)|(borrower.address)"- Note that each column name regular expression must be surround by ()'s and
- separated from other column names by a |.
- Excluded relationships will still show up on detail pages. - |
-
| - | -X "columnNamesRegex" |
- - Same as -x but excluded relationships will not show up on detail pages. - | -
| - | -ahic |
- Allow HTML In Comments. - Any HTML embedded in comments normally gets encoded so that it's rendered as text. - This option allows it to be rendered as HTML. |
-
| - | -norows |
- Don't query or display row counts. | -
| - | -noimplied |
- Don't include implied foreign key relationships in the generated table details | -
| - | -nohtml |
- Only generate files needed for insertion/deletion of data (e.g. for scripts) | -
-
Here are the currently supported database types.
- Use java -jar schemaSpy.jar -dbhelp for a complete list of the supported
- database types and the parameters that each one requires.
| Type | -Description | -
|---|---|
| db2 | -IBM DB2 with 'app' Driver | -
| db2net | -IBM DB2 with 'net' Driver | -
| derby | -Derby (JavaDB) Embedded Server | -
| derbynet | -Derby (JavaDB) Network Server | -
| firebird | -Firebird | -
| hsqldb | -HSQLDB Server | -
| informix | -Informix | -
| maxdb | -MaxDB | -
| mssql | -Microsoft SQL Server 2000 | -
| mssql05 | -Microsoft SQL Server 2005 | -
| mssql-jtds | -Microsoft SQL Server with jTDS Driver | -
| mysql | -MySQL | -
| ora | -Oracle with OCI8 Driver | -
| orathin | -Oracle with Thin Driver | -
| pgsql | -PostgreSQL | -
| sybase | -Sybase Server with JDBC3 Driver | -
| sybase2 | -Sybase Server with JDBC2 Driver | -
| udbt4 | -DB2 UDB Type 4 Driver | -
-
A MySQL example:
-
- java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t mysql -o library -host localhost -db library -u user -p password
- |
-
library
- directory that give the details of the schema in the database library.
- This is what I used to generate the sample output.
- An MS SQL Server example:
-
- java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t mssql -db library -host localhost -port 1433 -u user -p password -o library
- |
-
mssql
- database type with MS SQL Server-specific database connection parameters.
-
- -
Providing Additional Metadata
- Metafiles are XML-based files that provide additional metadata - about the schema being evaluated. - See the-meta parameter.
- Here are some of the things that you can define in this XML:
- -
-
- Schema comments -
- Table comments -
- Primary keys -
- Foreign keys -
- Cross-schema foreign keys -
- Disabled implied relationships -
- Disabled diagram assocations -
- etc. -
- Some information about the developer, John Currier, is available here. -
Feedback on problems and/or enhancements is appreciated. - - - -
+
+
Running SchemaSpy
+You run SchemaSpy from the command line:
+| + | java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t dbType -db dbName [-s schema] -u user [-p password] -o outputDir [-nohtml][-noimplied]
+ |
+
| + | Parameter | +Description | +
|---|---|---|
| + | -t databaseType |
+ Type of database (e.g. ora, db2, etc.).
+ Use -dbhelp for a list of built-in types.
+ Defaults to ora.
+ |
+
| * | +-db dbName |
+ Name of database to connect to | +
| * | +-u user |
+ Valid database user id with read access | +
| + | -s schema |
+ Database schema + (optional if the same as user or isn't supported by your database) | +
| + | -p password |
+ Password associated with that user. + Defaults to no password. | +
| * | +-o outputDirectory |
+ Directory to write the generated HTML/graphs to | +
| + | -dp pathToDrivers |
+ Looks for drivers here before looking in driverPath in [databaseType].properties. + The drivers are usually contained in .jar or .zip files and are typically + provided by your database vendor. | +
| + | -desc "Schema description" |
+ Displays the specified textual description on summary pages.
+ If your description includes an equals sign then escape it with a backslash. + For example: + -desc "<a href\='http://schemaspy.sourceforge.net'>SchemaSpy</a>".
+ |
+
| + | -all |
+ Evaluate all schemas in a database.
+ Generates a high-level index of the schemas evaluated and allows for
+ traversal of cross-schema foreign key relationships. + Use with -schemaSpec "schemaRegularExpression"
+ to narrow-down the schemas to include.
+ |
+
| + | -schemas "schema1,schema2" |
+ Evaluate specified schemas.
+ Similar to -all, but explicitly specifies which
+ schema to evaluate without interrogating the database's metadata.
+ Can be used with databases like MySQL where a database isn't
+ composed of multiple schemas.
+ |
+
| + | -meta metafile |
+
+ metafile is either the name of an individual
+ XML file or the directory that contains meta files.
+ If a directory is specified then it is expected to contain files
+ matching the pattern [schema].meta.xml.+ For databases that don't have schema substitute database for schema. + See Providing Additional Metadata for details. + |
+
| + | -lq |
+ Generate lower-quality diagrams.
+ Note that the default is intended to be "higher quality", but
+ various installations of
+ Graphviz
+ may have have different abilities.
+ That is, some might not have the "lower quality" libraries and others
+ might not have the "higher quality" libraries. + Higher quality output takes longer to generate and results in significantly + larger image files (which take longer to download / display), + but the resultant Entity Relationship diagrams generally look better. + |
+
| + | -i "tableNamesRegex" |
+ Only include matching tables/views.
+ This is a regular expression that's used to determine which
+ tables/views to include. For example: -i "(.*book.*)|(library.*)"
+ includes only those tables/views with 'book' in their names or that start with 'library'.+ You might want to use -desc with this option to describe the subset of tables. + |
+
| + | -x "columnNamesRegex" |
+ Exclude matching columns from relationship analysis to
+ simplify the generated graphs.
+ This is a regular expression that's used to determine which
+ columns to exclude. It must match table name, followed by a dot, followed by
+ column name. For example: -x "(book.isbn)|(borrower.address)"+ Note that each column name regular expression must be surround by ()'s and
+ separated from other column names by a |.
+ Excluded relationships will still show up on detail pages. + |
+
| + | -X "columnNamesRegex" |
+ + Same as -x but excluded relationships will not show up on detail pages. + | +
| + | -ahic |
+ Allow HTML In Comments. + Any HTML embedded in comments normally gets encoded so that it's rendered as text. + This option allows it to be rendered as HTML. |
+
| + | -norows |
+ Don't query or display row counts. | +
| + | -noimplied |
+ Don't include implied foreign key relationships in the generated table details | +
| + | -nohtml |
+ Only generate files needed for insertion/deletion of data (e.g. for scripts) | +
+
Here are the currently supported database types.
+ Use java -jar schemaSpy.jar -dbhelp for a complete list of the built-in
+ database types and the parameters that each one requires.
+ See the database types documentation
+ if you want to add support for other types of databases or add additional
+ functionality (e.g. to display view and check constraint SQL)
+ to supported databases.
+
| Type | +Description | +
|---|---|
| db2 | +IBM DB2 with 'app' Driver | +
| db2net | +IBM DB2 with 'net' Driver | +
| derby | +Derby (JavaDB) Embedded Server | +
| derbynet | +Derby (JavaDB) Network Server | +
| firebird | +Firebird | +
| hsqldb | +HSQLDB Server | +
| informix | +Informix | +
| maxdb | +MaxDB | +
| mssql | +Microsoft SQL Server 2000 | +
| mssql05 | +Microsoft SQL Server 2005 | +
| mssql-jtds | +Microsoft SQL Server with jTDS Driver | +
| mysql | +MySQL | +
| ora | +Oracle with OCI8 Driver | +
| orathin | +Oracle with Thin Driver | +
| pgsql | +PostgreSQL | +
| sybase | +Sybase Server with JDBC3 Driver | +
| sybase2 | +Sybase Server with JDBC2 Driver | +
| udbt4 | +DB2 UDB Type 4 Driver | +
+
A MySQL example:
+
+ java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t mysql -o library -host localhost -db library -u user -p password
+ |
+
library
+ directory that give the details of the schema in the database library.
+ This is what I used to generate the sample output.
+ An MS SQL Server example:
+
+ java -jar schemaSpy.jar -t mssql -db library -host localhost -port 1433 -u user -p password -o library
+ |
+
mssql
+ database type with MS SQL Server-specific database connection parameters.
+
+ +
Providing Additional Metadata
+ Metafiles are XML-based files that provide additional metadata + about the schema being evaluated. + See the-meta parameter.
+ Here are some of the things that you can define in this XML:
+ -
+
- Schema comments +
- Table comments +
- Primary keys +
- Foreign keys +
- Cross-schema foreign keys +
- Disabled implied relationships +
- Disabled diagram assocations +
- etc. +
+ Some information about the developer, John Currier, is available here. +
Feedback on problems and/or enhancements is appreciated. + + + +