xml-dev - RE: SQL Schema to XML Schema generator [any out there?]

[Bob DeRemer <Bob.Deremer@wonderware.com>]

While I cannot comment on XML Spy, XML Authority generates a variety of XML
Schema dialects [or standard DTD] based on an ODBC DSN.  The DB does not
require data to be present, and it handles reading the metadata for PK/FK
constraint information.  The method they use to generate a schema is
described at their website [www.extensibility.com].

As for a complete solution, it is a bootstrap, as I expected.  It does,
however, provide a good basis to start from [so that I do not have to type
everything in].

Thanks again to everyone who responded,
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:clbullar@ingr.com]
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2000 9:12 AM
To: xml-dev@xml.org
Subject: RE: SQL Schema to XML Schema generator [any out there?]


That was the point.  With X-Spy, it opened the 
table but as it had no data, did not enable 
the schema generator.  There may be some magic 
command that allows that but I haven't found 
it yet.  

How would it get foreign key information?  While 
one does declare primary keys, foreign keys aren't 
declared AFAICT in many schema design tools.  One 
does usually find a description field and if the 
designer does a professional job, they may include 
the role of the field value in the overall design, 
eg, a key to a table named nnnnn.

In any event, how far do people propose a schema 
generator can get reverse engineering out of an 
instance?  It appears to me that critical information 
is missing, so while it is an excellent place to 
start, I think one still has to tighten up afterwards. 
That makes me think that an ideal toolkit provides 
both a means to reverse engineer, then an editor for 
cleanup and restructuring.  BTW, I'm not looking 
for ads here because I can find the tools, just noting 
some generic features I think one should consider 
when making recommendations to companies or individuals 
who want to build up their kits.

Len Bullard
Intergraph Public Safety
clbullar@ingr.com
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~cbullard/lensongs.ram

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: tpassin@home.com [mailto:tpassin@home.com]
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2000 7:57 PM
To: xml-dev@xml.org
Subject: Re: SQL Schema to XML Schema generator [any out there?]


Len Bullard wrote -

> By the way, just as an addendum.  When you use
> tools that enable you to generate schemas from
> say, relational dbs, tools that reverse engineer
> instances can only get you so far.  For example,
> XML-Spy has a great feature for doing this using
> ODBC to connect and get you the table layouts.
> However, if a table has no data, it can't, of course,
> generate that so it doesn't kick out an instance.
> So when you try to generate a schema, you are stuck.
>
> 1.  Use a test database with sufficient data to
> generate the instance.  Otherwise, it can't
> do anything for that table.
>
 Not necessarily.  I haven't tried it with Spy, but ODBC has the ability to
get table definitions from those databases that support them. And even dBase
tables carry schema information within themselves.  I **think** it can also
get foreign key information as well, but I'm not as positive on this.

Whether a particular product uses the capability, though, that's another
thing.

Cheers,

Tom Passin


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