Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler

Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler (referred to as Data Modeler) is a straightforward data modeling and database design tool that comes with a user-friendly environment for capturing, managing and exploiting metadata. It provides a model driven approach for database design and generation and allows you to create various models including relational, logical and data flow diagrams.

Using this application, you have the possibility to create, edit and delete objects in different kinds of models. Many objects including diagrams, tables and classes have similar properties and the methods for performing operations are usually intuitive.

The main window mainly uses the left side for navigation to browse for objects and display them in the right side of the window. The utility comes with well-organized menus that contain standard entries, plus specific features to Data Modeler such as Versioning, Recent Designs, Logical Diagram Notation, DDL File Editor and Engineering Status.

At the core of the utility is the logical model (also known as the entity-relationship diagram or ERD) that provides an implementation-independent view of enterprise information.

After loading the diagram you are interested in, you are able to view graphical representations of entities, inheritances, domains, views (also called virtual tables) and links between classes. However, when you are working with a logical model, you may want to create subviews, each describing only a section of that model. Relations between classes are displayed on the logical model and on logical subviews so you can easily view the dependencies between tables.

When you right-click on the current logical model, you are able to set classification types and apply custom transformation scripts. Also, the utility provides full forward engineering, including engineering from logical models to relational ones. Simply select the ‘Engineer to Relational Model’ option from the context menu, choose the attributes and map the current tables and subviews.

After that, go to the ‘Relational Models’ section from the left panel and view all the generated tables, the created views and the foreign keys. You are able to define the primary key for each table, view all the available dependencies and control the table level constraints. Then, write the scripts for the created tables using Oracle SQL Developer and add new triggers, functions, INSTEAD OF shutters, etc.

Considering all of the above, Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler proves to be a steady and effective solution specially intended for users who need to develop logical, relational and physical data models. It automatically generates tables and foreign keys from the current logical model and enables you to use all the data when creating new SQL scripts.