Tag: Vertabelo Features
New Vertabelo Feature: Document-Oriented Vertabelo API
Updated on: November 17, 2023
One of the signs of a decent SaaS solution is its public API. A good API helps users to incorporate some automation into an application.
Based on our experience in using other SaaS services, we have introduced a more document-oriented version of our public API. In this article, we will demonstrate how to use Vertabelo API to fetch a list of documents (models), SQL scripts, and data models in various formats.
Manage Database Model Changes Easily With the New Model Explorer in Vertabelo
Learn about Model Explorer, a new feature in Vertabelo Database Modeler.
Have you noticed that a new feature has been introduced to Vertabelo Database Designer? In this article, we take a deep dive into Model Explorer, an innovative way of managing your database models.
In short, Model Explorer allows for a comprehensive overview of the model and bulk editing of multiple elements at once. At this time, the functionality is available only for the physical model, but in the future, it will also be implemented in the logical model.
How to Put Tables in a Vertabelo Data Model Into a Particular Schema
There is more to a database structure than just tables. Tables are logically divided into groups and stored in database schemas. Read along to find out how to include schemas in your ER diagram using Vertabelo.
A database consists of one or more database schemas, and a database schema consists of one or more tables. A good data modeling tool helps you set them all up. In this article, you’ll see how to create database schemas in Vertabelo and assign tables to them.
4 Tips for Troubleshooting DDL Import in Vertabelo
Read these troubleshooting tips before using the DDL import option to generate data models in Vertabelo. Avoid running into potential errors that waste your valuable designing time.
Few data modeling tasks start from a blank sheet of paper. More often, we work on a pre-existing database.
You don't want to draw an ERD of an existing database from scratch. But I don’t have to tell you that. This task is much simpler and infinitely faster with a modeling tool that can load the database structure using a DDL import feature.
Vertabelo Database Designer: The New UI Design and UX Improvement, Part I
Have you already noticed the Vertabelo Database Modeler has a new look now? The entire graphic design changed significantly at the end of January.
Over the past few years, we have been observing how the previous interface worked and paying great attention to the experience of our users. Equipped with the knowledge we have gathered, we developed a completely new graphic design of our ERD tool and implemented several ergonomic improvements to individual functional elements.
Vertabelo’s Document Structure: How Documents and Models Are Organized
Make data modeling even easier by understanding Vertabelo’s document structure and how the program organizes documents and models.
To feel comfortable when modeling data, you must be familiar with your data modeling tool. In this case, it’s Vertabelo.
For starters, it’s important that you know how the main structure of documents works and what it looks like in Vertabelo. This includes knowing what types of documents are available, how they can be organized, and the purpose of every folder.
Working With Vertabelo Editor Features
Vertabelo lets you be productive in data modeling by providing a good view of the entire data model. For situations when the screen real estate is not sufficient or just not enough to see the entire data model, the Vertabelo editor features adjustable UI elements to help you no matter what screen size you use.
Whether you’re a seasoned database designer/architect or you’re just beginning, your tool belt has a data modeling tool.
How to Automatically Generate Primary Key Values Using Vertabelo’s Auto-Generation Features
Learn how to set up automatically-generating primary key values in SQL, and then see how to use Vertabelo to apply auto-generation to popular database management systems.
The primary key is a fundamental concept in relational databases. This article will discuss several ways to make an auto-generating primary key in SQL. We’ll also cover how to implement auto-generation in the Vertabelo data modeler.
Understanding Primary Keys In relational databases, a primary key constraint specifies that the value stored in that column must be unique across all records in the table.
How to Define a UNIQUE Key in Vertabelo
Among the many database constraints available to us, the UNIQUE key constraint ensures the uniqueness of data in a column or a set of columns. Read on to find out more about the UNIQUE key constraint and how to define it in Vertabelo.
In this article, we’ll focus on the UNIQUE key constraint. We’ll start with its basic definition and usage and gradually build up to more advanced options. Also, we’ll jump into Vertabelo and create an ER diagram that uses the UNIQUE key constraint.
How to Find a Table in a Vertabelo ER Diagram
As a database evolves, ER diagrams can get quite complex, even complicated, if not organized properly. While you can learn how to create logical and physical diagrams and efficiently organize ERD diagrams in Vertabelo, there are some features in Vertabelo that help you better navigate complex diagrams.
One such feature is to find and focus on a table by its name. This simple feature can help you at the time of modeling and as you organize your data model.
How to Collaborate Effectively in Vertabelo
Learn how to use Vertabelo's features to collaborate effectively on database models and documents.
In the post-pandemic world, effective collaboration on database modeling is of the essence. Database developers and data modelers must work together on developing data models and writing SQL queries, functions, procedures, and more. Every substrate of software engineering is becoming more collaborative by the day, and database development is no different.
Teams cannot function properly to deliver results if they are not using the right tools.
Vertabelo Editor Features That Make It Easier to Work on a Small Screen
Working on a small screen is quite different than working on a desktop with lots of screen real estate. Read on to find out how Vertabelo editor features simplify working on a small screen.
Vertabelo provides you with features that make working on a small screen effective and seamless. These include showing and hiding items or panels, zooming in and out, or searching for specific objects. In this article, we’ll go through the features available in the main working areas of Vertabelo.
How to Add References to ER Diagrams in Vertabelo
Adding references to your data model is essential to maintaining clarity.
A Quick and Easy Introduction to Entity Relationships In data modeling, defining relationships between tables/entities entails using a certain notation to indicate the cardinality between them. This applies to both logical and physical data models.
Cardinality refers to how many instances of one entity are related to the other entity. For example, a database that keeps track of orders on an e-commerce website likely has customer and order entities.
How to Share Your Vertabelo Model
Sharing is a good habit. The guys at Vertabelo know this, so they have made a big effort to make sharing database models with your clients very easy.
True story: there was a time in my life when, in order to show a data model to a client, I had to print it on several sheets of paper. Then – using scissors, tape, and a fair amount of manual dexterity – I had to compose it into a sort of poster that would allow me to display all of its details.
How to Get an Academic Account in Vertabelo
Vertabelo has three types of paid accounts for businesses and professionals to choose from: Basic, Premium, and Team. We also offer a free Premium-level account for students and teachers called the Academic account. It’s part of our commitment to support the education community.
Access to an Academic account enables both students and teachers to use Vertabelo for relevant courses, tests, demos, etc. without any cost.
How do you know if you’re eligible for an Academic account?
Vertabelo Feature: Google BigQuery Support
Cloud databases are becoming more and more popular. That’s why Vertabelo has added support for Google BigQuery, one of the most popular cloud databases. BigQuery is an enterprise data warehouse that enables the storing and very fast processing of huge data sets. It can be useful in data analytics, machine learning, and other areas.
If you’re working with multiple Cloud databases, check out our articles on Amazon Redshift and how to model a Redshift database in Vertabelo.
Vertabelo Feature: Snowflake Support
Vertabelo Feature: Snowflake Support Cloud and analytical databases are very popular and are becoming more important. Snowflake has been one of the most popular feature requests on our support page and a much-anticipated database for Vertabelo support. We are happy to announce that Snowflake databases can now be designed with Vertabelo!
In this article, we’ll explain how to create a physical ER diagram for a Snowflake database in Vertabelo. Remember that you can also choose to create a logical ER diagram first and then use that to generate a physical ER diagram.
How to Print Your Vertabelo Database Model
Find out how to format and print your Vertabelo ER diagram.
You have successfully designed your ER diagram! Now what? The answer is simple.You’ll probably need to share your design with collaborators and stakeholders. This can be done one of two ways: either you share the link or you print the diagram on paper and share it personally.
You are also going to have to keep your database model well documented, so it’s best to save both a virtual and a physical copy.
What Is the Team Account in Vertabelo? What Are Its Benefits?
Like many other software and database development activities, data modeling is a collaborative endeavor —perhaps even more so than the others. In addition to ensuring that they avoid anti-patterns and follow the best data modeling practices, data modelers also need to facilitate the swift and agile development of the data model. For that, there needs to be a way to collaborate on the data model design process.
Although Vertabelo’s basic and premium plans are enough for individuals, teams may require a bit more.
How to Generate Documentation in Vertabelo
Entity-relationship diagram (ER diagram) documentation is an important part of any database project. Find out how to use Vertabelo to generate database documentation from SQL.
Writing good documentation is as hard as writing good code. Some say that teams who don’t invest in good documentation early on pay a high price later. Databases and data warehouses are central to business applications. Just like an application mandates good reference documentation for APIs, SDKs, repositories, etc.
How to Version Control Your Database with Vertabelo and Git
Find out how to keep track of data model changes in Vertabelo using Git as a source control management tool.
In this article we will discuss a possible way to use source control management tools like GIT to track all changes in your Vertabelo data model. We are also going to detail the code-database workflow that we use daily to develop Vertabelo itself as well as our other applications.
Database Constraints: What They Are and How to Define Them in Vertabelo
Database constraints help us keep our data clean and orderly. Let’s look at the most common database constraints and how to conveniently define them in Vertabelo.
It’s a common practice to set rules for the data in a database. Thanks to these rules, you can avoid incorrect data in a column, e.g. a text string in an Age column or a NULL in a Name column.
In this article, we’ll dive into SQL’s database constraints: PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY, NOT NULL, UNIQUE, DEFAULT, and CHECK.
Database Design With Vertabelo
Database design goes way beyond just drawing lines and boxes. In this article, I reflect on the process of data modeling with an emphasis on best practices, as well as on how to use tools to implement those best practices to create a good database design.
Database design is the process of producing a detailed model of a database. The start of database modeling involves getting a grasp on the business area and the functionality being developed.
How to Generate a Migration Script in Vertabelo
Database migration scripts make it possible to move from one version to another. Learn how to generate SQL migration scripts quickly and easily with the Vertabelo data modeler.
Databases evolve; as applications mature over time, new features get added and existing features get modified. Consequently, just like the application source code, the database also needs to move from one version to the next. This movement is called database migration. It is one of the most common tasks given to database engineers.
Getting Started with ER Diagrams in Vertabelo
Learn how to use Vertabelo’s user-friendly data modeling platform to create your first Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram!
If you’ve never used an online ER diagram tool before, you might be a bit lost about where to start. Don't worry; I’ll give you a step-by-step guide to getting started with Vertabelo and creating some basic ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams).
Vertabelo is an online ER diagramming tool that helps design and visualize databases.
Reverse Engineering With Vertabelo
Learn how to import your database into Vertabelo and generate its data model with our improved reverse engineering feature.
We’re excited to announce the release of a new version of our popular reverse engineering tool. You've been asking for a user-friendly interface, and we heard you. If working with Java is not your thing, our new graphical user interface lets you click through the process in no time. Download the upgraded reverse engineering tool here.
Vertabelo Feature: Amazon Redshift Support in Vertabelo
Find out how to design an Amazon Redshift schema in Vertabelo.
Thanks to increasing volumes of data, analytical databases like Amazon Redshift are gaining market. We introduced Redshift support at the end of 2019; in this article, we will explain how to design a Redshift data model using Vertabelo.
How to Create a Model Let's start with the data model creation process. To create a Redshift schema, please:
Log into Vertabelo and click on Create new document.
Top 7 Entity Relationship (ER) Diagram Online Tools
Are you searching for the best online ER diagram tool? Read on and discover our top picks.
Data modeling is one of the most critical parts of a software project. Database architects use ER diagrams (also called ERDs or Entity Relationship Diagrams) as a data modeling technique.
Many ER diagram tools are available, but choosing the best tool for your project can be hard. Still, your data model is a key factor in the success of your entire project; it’s important to get it right.
2020 Was Vertabelo Database Modeler’s Year. It’ll Get Even Better in 2021.
2020 is coming to an end. It's been a busy year for us, so let's summarize what we did at Vertabelo. I will also show you how the Vertabelo database modeler will evolve in 2021. This is already a great tool, but it will be even better. See what we plan to do.
I am not exaggerating when I say that we had our hands full in 2020. In addition to constantly improving the Vertabelo database modeler and creating new Vertabelo Academy courses, we have launched completely new platforms for learning SQL and Python.
Explaining an ER Diagram, With Steps and Use Cases
Get to know what an ER Diagram is through use cases and examples. Explore the notations for the essential components of an ERD.
Entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs) are used to visualize data and relationships among the entities of a system. At its core, an ER Diagram explains the logical structure and the flow of information within a data model. To do so, an entity-relationship diagram highlights entities, attributes, and relationships through predefined symbols for effective visualization of the architecture.
What Are the Steps in Database Design?
Database design is one of the most important factors contributing to the performance of an application. Consequently, how well the database is designed is of utmost importance. Database design is all about efficiently organizing data based on product workflows, future roadmap, and expected usage patterns.
The output of a database design exercise is a data model. A data model represents all the objects, entities, attributes, relationships, and constraints in the system.
Vertabelo Features: Logical Diagrams
Find out how to create logical data models in Vertabelo! If you have some experience with physical diagrams, this will be as easy as pie.
There are three different levels of data models: conceptual, logical, and physical. Of these, the conceptual model is the most abstract, and the logical model has a few more technical details. The physical model has all the details of the physical database, such as data types (integer, decimal, money, varchar, etc.
Using Vertabelo’s SQL Script Editor
Vertabelo’s new SQL Script tool lets you write and save SQL scripts and run them against a connected database.
Creating an SQL Script Start by clicking on the Create Document button. It’s the first one on the main toolbar.
The New Document window appears. Now select SQL script and click on the Create button.
The New SQL script window will be displayed.
Name your script using the Name field and click the CREATE button.
Hot: Vertabelo Now Features Migration Script Generation
The long-awaited generation of SQL migration scripts is now a part of Vertabelo! You can use these scripts to easily move from one database model version to another. Read this article to learn more.
What are SQL Migration Scripts? An SQL migration script is a script that alters an existing database structure: it can add or drop a table, rename columns, or change column types. A migration script can change a given database from one schema version to another – hence its name.
Generate Your Model Documentation with Vertabelo
Vertabelo has a great new feature: a model documentation auto-generator. You can now create and export documentation for your current model with just a few clicks.
Vertabelo has a great new feature: a model documentation auto-generator. You can now create and export documentation for your current model with just a few clicks. Think of how a complex model looks: multiple tables and tens or hundreds of columns where you can easily get lost.
Vertabelo XML Version 2.3
The XML file format for Vertabelo has changed to version 2.3. Read this article to find out what is new.
Vertabelo keeps its models in XML format; if you need, you can download the files and extract information from them. Previously, we used XML version 2.1, as discussed in this article. We’ve switched to XML 2.3, and a couple of changes took place. These changes make no difference for most Vertabelo users.
How to Embed Your Database Model Into a Website
Did you know that you can embed your database model in your website? If you haven’t tried this yet, now’s your chance – we’ve recently improved the process. It’s an excellent way to share ideas with readers or make projects available to co-workers.
You might have already seen some interactive models embedded in our blog. They look like this:
if (typeof VertabeloEmbededObject === 'undefined') {var VertabeloEmbededObject = "loading";var s=document.createElement("script");s.setAttribute("type","text/javascript");s.setAttribute("src", "
Tip #19 – How to automatically download SQL script from Vertabelo
If you need to automatically download SQL script from Vertabelo, for example, for the purposes of your build system, you definitely should check out our Vertabelo API. It allows you to download an SQL or XML of your model by a simple HTTP request. In the command line, it may look like this:
VERTABELO_API_TOKEN=put-your-api-token-here MODEL_ID=put-your-model-identifier-here curl -u $VERTABELO_API_TOKEN: \ https://my.vertabelo.com/api/sql/$MODEL_ID create-database.sql
To learn more about Vertabelo API, go here.
Tip #14 – How to create a model preview link and embed the model in a website
When it comes to sharing things like documents or photos with other people, sending files to each other is becoming less and less common – we usually prefer to send links. They are quick, convenient and neither use up disk space nor make a mess in our file system. At Vertabelo, we know how inconvenient it can be to send files and that’s why we created public links for models.
Remote Collaboration on Database Design Just Got Easier
As an SQL consultant, I often work with others to create new database models from scratch or modify existing schemas. Aside from the technical aspects, collaborations on database models can be tricky. Moving from environment to environment poses its own challenges: security restrictions sometimes prevent direct access to SQL instances, and technical resources from across the globe can be difficult to seamlessly integrate.
Deterrents these may be, but they are not insurmountable.
Defining Identifying and Non-Identifying Relationships in Vertabelo
Various data modeling tools allow modelers to define relationships in a data-model as identifying or non-identifying. We can define a relationship as identifying or non-identifying in Vertabelo as well. This article will explain the way to do so.
Introduction Before moving ahead with the article, I’d like to explain what identifying or non-identifying mean.
Let’s take a real time example of a book storing system. In the system, a book belongs to an owner, and an owner can own multiple books.
How to Convert a Data Model Between Two Database Management Systems
Even though Vertabelo doesn’t provide a direct conversion of a data model from one database engine to another, this can be easily done in a few simple steps.
The user’s question
We’ve been developing a web application for a while. Initially, we wanted to use MySQL for our database but finally we decided to choose Postgres. Unfortunately, the entire data model was created for MySQL. How can we quickly migrate it to the new database type?
New Features in Vertabelo Released in April 2015
Tell us what you want!
If you have your own ideas for new features or you think that something could be improved in our application, do not hesitate to share your opinion. Send your suggestions to us via our Support Service. There, you can upvote or downvote new feature requests placed by other users. That way, you can have a significant impact on the development of our application.
Go to Vertabelo's Support Service »
Designing & Deploying a PostgreSQL Database in the Cloud
Our users sometimes say to us: “Vertabelo is awesome but... how can I add the data?” Oh, come on! Vertabelo is not a database engine or a database administration tool. At least not at the moment. For now, Vertabelo is intended mainly to design database models. This doesn't mean that we don’t care about what you can do next with models created in our application. Of course, we do! That’s why we provide our users with some useful tools on our website and in our GitHub repository.
How to Color ERD Diagrams in Vertabelo
If you’ve ever had to design a database model with hundreds of tables, views and references, you know very well how difficult is to make such huge diagram readable and comprehensible. One of the possible solutions is to use some colors to distinguish different groups of tables or subject areas. See how Vertabelo allows you to do this quick and easy.
To illustrate how you can color your entity relationship diagram to increase its readability, we will use a sample uncolored database model for a simple online store:
How I Use the Vertabelo API With Gradle
What is Gradle?
Gradle is an open source build automation system. It can automate the building, testing, publishing, deployment and more of software packages or other types of projects such as generated static websites, generated documentation or indeed anything else.
Learn more about what makes Gradle a compelling choice for build automation.
One of the exciting moments in a programmer’s life is to leave legacy code behind and have fun with some new, fresh and cool tools.
Data Dictionary Support: Generate Comments for Your Database
Most relational databases allow you to define comments for their tables, columns, views, and so on. These additional pieces of information are called database meta data or data dictionary. Meta data may be useful for developers or other database users. Meta data allow the development team to understand what various tables or columns are for without having to ask database designer what their intentions were.
Generating meta data in SQL scripts is one of the most often requested Vertabelo features and it’s finally here.
Now You Can Print a Diagram
We hadn’t planned on adding a feature to print diagrams. Our original idea was that Vertabelo would supersede paper diagrams. Nevertheless, some of our users pointed out that they rely heavily on printouts (Export to PDF topic). So, I’d like to announce a new feature called “Export to PDF” also known as “Printing.”
Note that exporting a database model to a PDF file is available for Premium and Team account plans only (see the comparison of the plans’ features in our Pricing).
Vertabelo XML version 2.1
Vertabelo internally stores your model in an XML format. You can download the XML file and use it to extract some information by using a script. Let’s take a look at the structure of this XML file.
if (typeof VertabeloEmbededObject === 'undefined') {var VertabeloEmbededObject = "loading";var s=document.createElement("script");s.setAttribute("type","text/javascript");s.setAttribute("src", "https://my.vertabelo.com/js/public-model/v1/api.js");(document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.documentElement ).appendChild(s);} Here is the XSD file and an example of the XML file for the above sample database model created in Vertabelo.
How to filter tables in the Vertabelo reverse engineering tool
Sometimes you don't want the reverse engineering tool to extract all of the tables in your database. For example, the database may contain technical tables which are logically are not part of the model. This is when the -regexp option comes in handy.
Use the -regexp option and the tool will extract all tables and views with names matching the regular expression. The tool prints the regular expression it uses so you can verify that your shell parsed the expression correctly.
How to import an existing database into Vertabelo: Reverse Engineering
The newest Vertabelo feature is Reverse Engineering: a way to import an existing database into Vertabelo. The Reverse Engineering tool is a simple command-line Java application that you can download from our website. It connects to your database, reads the table and view details and stores the info in an XML file. Import the XML file into your database model and voila - your database is in Vertabelo!
How to use the reverse engineering application Download the Reverse Engineering application from our website, then run the Reverse Engineering application.
How to embed a database diagram on the Internet
So I’m sitting here thinking to myself: How should I share a new Vertabelo feature with you?
Should I write an over-hyped article full of industry jargon and marketing-speak?
Hmmm. Tried and failed.
I’ve just gotta show you the feature straight up and how simple it is to use. More meat, little fat, no fluff :).
Well tah dah! Here it is:
Go ahead, click on it. Use the mouse wheel to zoom.
Good news: we now support views
Today we are happy to announce that Vertabelo has a new feature we've been working on for some time – views. Now you can easily add them to the diagram, change their definition and other properties and have them generated in your SQL scripts.
Quick overview of views Let's take a look at how simple it is to create a new view in our editor.
Our goal is to make a view which joins three tables as follows:
Five reasons why we built Vertabelo
We are launching a new product on a market, so let me tell you the short story about how and why Vertabelo was born.
e-point and I personally have more than fifteen years of experience in building business applications. All of them use relational databases as a storage for their data. Most of those applications are rather big - think about hundreds of tables in a database and hundreds of screens in a UI.
