Existing users, 
 XERD - 1.5.2database design tool with SQL script generation |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
Feedback Summary:
| This Version: | |||||
| Overall Rating: | Not rated (0.0) | Features: | Not rated (0.0) | Support: | Not rated (0.0) |
| Ease of Use: | Not rated (0.0) | Quality / Stability: | Not rated (0.0) | Price: | Not rated (0.0) |
Key to Types of Feedback:
Reviews 
Troubleshooting 
Usage Tips 
Developer Notes 
Commentary 
Featured Reviews
All Feedback: 1 - 8 of 8
Fast Developer Response - Version: 1.5.2, 9/29/2004 09:49AM PST
MiccoSP26
Crashes too much, needs more features. - Version: 1.5.2, 9/28/2004 04:23PM PST
MiccoSP26
(-) App crashes 3-4 times per hour on 10.3.5. That is 3-4 times too many for a commercial product. I save frequently but still get caught with my pants down - so to speak.
(-) a little light on features
(+) clean UI, has potential, developer is on the right track.
Wish-list:
1) eliminate the crashes
2) better display of relationships. (FM 7 does a pretty good job in it's 'Relationships' view).
3) color coding tables to visualize logical table groups
4) grid and snap to grid
great app - but it crashes too often 
- Version: 1.5.2, 8/31/2004 11:37AM PST
rudivice
The app could still need some more features, as I was used to use SYBASE PowerDesigner. Almost 50$ is quite a lot compared to what the SYBASE tool offers as features.
Rudi
Very good but... - Version: 1.5.1, 6/8/2004 12:58AM PST
ghilardi
Perfect - Version: 1.5, 5/26/2004 07:06AM PST
FrequencySupport
Not too bad - Version: 1.0, 2/15/2004 11:07AM PST
Edwin Sneller
It didn't crash while I was using it.
Clicking on the save button in the preferences dialog disables the save and cancel buttons but doesn't close the preferences window. Is this on purpose?
I tried to make some enum types in a MySQL database and didn't see that listed. I also noticed that double clicking on a XERD document will launch the app but then it doesn't load the document.
Keep working on it!
Not Bad for 1.0! - Version: 1.0, 2/14/2004 05:59AM PST
Bytesmiths
This is a cool way to begin thinking about data on small projects -- no bigger than a half-dozen entities or so.
However, at almost $50, it is overpriced for what it does. It has some nice embedded knowledge about ER diagrams, but I suspect most people will fall into one of two groups:
- those who need much more capability, and
- those with modest needs who can get by with a more general drawing tool.
The biggest lack for a serious ER tool is the ability to read existing SQL. If this could suck in SQL and display it as a diagram, I'd send my money today! That would appeal both to the experienced pro, who has to maintain lots of code they never wrote, and to the neophyte, who can quickly visualize well-written databases for learning purposes. But parsing SQL is much more work than spitting it out, and I suspect that if this gets added, the price will go up.
Having written such tools that conform to IDEF-0/1x that were used in a production environment, the biggest gripe I heard was lack of lay-out aid. If you're managing tens of entities, you DO NOT want to have to individually move them in order to add another one! This can be as simple as a marquee selection tool, but ideally employs heuristics and automatic positioning.
Another welcome addition would be if it would "guess" relationships. You should be able to multi-select a bunch of entities, press some magic key, and have the tool make a set of relationships based on entity and attribute names.
But about the worst thing I can say about this tool is that for the class of problems it easily addresses, a pencil and paper work pretty darned good. The SQL generation, while a nice touch, is not terribly important when working on a half-dozen entities or fewer.
As a true SQL graphic editor, able read in SQL, draw tables, accept modifications, and write SQL back out, this would kick but!
