Generate a PDF Database Diagram from MySQL

Thank you for visiting my database diagram generator page. I hope that this tool will prove useful to you, as it has proved useful to me. I used it on a database with about 220 tables in it, and produced a diagram which was about 10x10 feet. A little big, but it just shows that it can be useful for small databases as well as large databases.

With a database of 220 tables, I didn't want to spend a lot of time manually tweaking little details. So I created an algorithm which splits the database tables up per completely disjoint subsets. Within each subset, there are a number of "trees", which are also separated out, and in the center, a simple circle. The resulting algorithm aranges multi-dimensional portions of the graph in a circle, and puts the trees outside the circle.

Even with this diagram layout style, it is still necessary to do a few minutes of tweaking, to make sure no tables are overlapping, or to make sure that all the lines look ok.

How to Generate the Database Diagram
You should be familiar with PHP and MySQL.

• Step 1: Generate XML describing your database. You have two options for this part:
  • Download the mysql_to_xml.php script (rar file), or the zip file here, install it and run it on your own server. When you click "continue", it will take you back to this server.
  • Get your database XML online. This method is a little less secure, and may not work if your database doesn't allow outside clients or has a firewall. Remember, this connection is not encrypted, and neither is the access info when it is sent to your database.
• Step 2: Specify the style that you would like your database diagram to have - colors and fonts. You can safely skip this step and just click "Continue".
• Step 3: Do the database layout. Just make sure that the tables and lines are basically right. You can preview the database diagram here, before finalizing.
• Step 4: Finalize!