I have an SQL Server database, with over 60 tables in it. This database has plenty of relationships between these tables and while it’s normalized, it’s still complex to use because of the huge number of tables.
There are, of course, many tools that can show the database structure in some diagram. SQL Server itself is even able to create such diagrams. Right now, I prefer to use DatabaseSpy from Altova. But although this tool has a good visual display of the structure, it just can’t print the structure that well. (Well, it can print the diagram but no descriptive text of the structure.)
So I’m looking for a tool for SQL Server that is able to create diagrams and make prints of those diagrams plus additional texts describing all fields and links.
What’s the deficiency with SQL Server Database Diagrams?
In any case, my surprising recommendation would be to try Sparx Enterprise Architect. While not primarily a database tool, it can reverse-engineer a database into an ER model, then you can create one or more diagrams from that model. It has a nice “Add Related Elements” command that allows you to create a new diagram to focus on one entity; drag the one entity onto the diagram; then add just those other entities related to the first.
You can also customize the level of detail displayed on the diagrams, and print the diagrams as one or multiple pages.
Oh, and it does UML as well.