

Top 5 Free Database Diagram (ERD) Design Tools To help you determine the right tool for you to design database schema diagrams, we've curated a list of 5 of the best free online tools to do it. And designing database schemas is one of the very first and important steps to start developing any software/website. Each subpart has a Boolean value that indicates whether or not the instance belongs to the associated subtype.A database schema is the blueprints of your database, it represents the description of a database structure, data types, and the constraints on the database. Overlapping subtypes - composite attributes whose subparts pertain to various subtypes. The attribute's values are what determine the target subtype.ĭisjoint subtypes - simple attributes that must have alternative values to indicate any possible subtypes. It is represented with a single line connection.Ī subtype discriminator is an attribute of the supertype that indicates an entity's subtype. The partial specialization rule allows an entity to not belong to any of the subclasses. Just as with a regular ERD, total specialization is symbolized with a double line connection between entities. The total specialization rule demands that every entity in the superclass belong to some subclass. The overlap rule forces a subclass (also known as a supertype instance) to have overlapping sets of entities.Ĭompleteness constraints - decide whether a supertype instance must also be a member of at least one subtype. The disjoint rule forces subclasses to have disjoint sets of entities. Specialization - the opposite of generalization, since it defines subtypes of the supertype and determines the relationship between the two.ĭisjointness constraints - You will need to decide whether a supertype instance may simultaneously be a member of two or more subtypes. Generalization - the process of defining a general entity type from a collection of specialized entity types. Note: subtype instances are also classified as supertype instances. Inheritance - the concept that subtype entities inherit the values of all supertype attributes. Subtype - a subgroup of entities with unique attributes. Supertype - an entity type that relates to one or more subtypes.

As soon as you fully understand ERD structure, you’re ready to learn how to create enhanced ER diagrams. If you need to brush up on the basic concepts of ERDs, check out our ER diagram tutorial, including this guide to the basic ER diagram symbols.

The definitions of concepts listed below are unique to enhanced entity-relationship diagrams and can help to understand how the modeling concepts of EERDs differ from those of ERDs.
