Open Database Data Dictionary Tool

“ An Open Source Database Dictionary Documentation Tool for Microsoft SQL Servers ”

Introduction

After manually and laboriously creating database dictionary documentation for work, I started coding a tool which would automatically create the documentation from the database schema, and produce a nicely formatted HTML5 interactive document, which could be used by other developers and clients.

The software will have a command line tool, which will extract all the meta data from the live database, perform some analysis and create the on-line interactive web experience. As a command line tool, the on-line documentation can be updated every night via a scheduled job, ensuring the documentation is always kept current.

The documentation can be shared with clients or developers via a fixed public URL, unique to your project or database.

Features

Free and Open source
Document all tables, including current row counts and last modified dates.
Graph table growth over time, by charting the row counts from each nightly run.
For every table the system will report, Field Name, Field Type and Length, if the column allows null values, the default value of the field and any comments held within the attached MS_Description field.
Display columns as they appear in the table, or group and sort them by data type.
The system will also highlight any columns which are not used - i.e. could be removed from the schema.
Reports the maximum data length of varchar or nvarchar fields, so that the field length can be reduced.
Flag tables as either reference or data tables, so the report can group tables together.
Version control the schema, by detecting changes to table structure between runs.
Store database and table level comments.
Report templates, the ability to add corporate information.
Report output formats include HTML5 and RTF (for printing).
Consultants can grant clients access to their documentation via a fixed URL.
Regenerate the reports via the command line, as part of a nightly batch job. Always having up to date documentation.

Get Notified

If your interested in having an open source documentation system for Microsoft SQL databases, then subscribe below, and I will let you know when the software tool is ready for use.

Contact

Paul Bradley
PO Box 384
CARLISLE
CA1 9FH