Suggestions

DRBuckingham

My primary suggestion would be to allow filtering to reduce the clutter. Perhaps allow filtering by object type and/or name and once an object is selected, show all depended on/depends on objects regardless of the filter status.

For instance, when viewing a database with 300+ tables and 500+ SPs the display is so cluttered it is unusable without filtering. Trying to find the one table you are concerned with and see its dependencies is prohibitive.

It's a great start, that's for sure, and it is sorely needed. Keep up the good work and I look forward to it being added as a full-blown product to your existing suite.

LarryW

I few more suggestions along the same lines:

1) Mouse wheel support for zooming.

2) Ability to click on an object and say hide all unconnected objects.

3) Choose and object and have all it connected objects pulled closest to it.

4) Look in the SQL Manager for jobs and DTS jobs for more dependencies

PDinCA

Great idea but as others have similarly said, it's initial rendering is unusable when you have 100+ tables and 400+ SP's.

How about:
. Being able to 'scope' several objects then request a 'scoped diagram' of just those objects.
. Taking that further, you could add additional dependent objects via right-click functionality.
. A variation of that would be: select, for instance, a table, then request a dependency list (tree view perhaps) that allows the user to show/not show each dependency node.
. 'Collapse' and 'expand' dependencies for one or more selected objects (placing an icon inside the original oval to show, e.g., '++' for 'dependencies present but not shown'.
. Allowing us to choose a shape/shape-characteristic/color for each object type. E.g., Rectangles for tables, thick outlines/3D shadows for 'central object' visibility. Pastels are great but sometimes one needs to 'go bold'.
. Definitely would like to scoot objects around with the mouse.
. Diagram save with references back to the original db object id's would be great, so we could use it like the Enterprise Manager's DB Diagram (it has a memory).
. Custom page breaking for printing (stretch via mouse).
. Header/Footer - as simple as Excel's sheet printing may suffice to begin with.
. Make the diagram scroll using scroll wheels/sticks/etc, as well as the scrolling it does now (like Google's maps, which I like).
. I noticed that sometimes when I click in an 'empty' area, the selected dependency line changes - not a desirable behavior! It was about a half-inch from any line and there were lines all around the area I clicked, so the selection was at the discretion of the tool, not me...
. Could you make the Legend area interactive? If I right-click on the "View" label, I'd like to be able to go to the (already suggested) filter or be able to Find a specific View and 'retain selections', 'remove from selections', 'replace selection(s)' or 'add to selections', then have the option to reposition the diagram to the latest object I clicked in the list.
. If the Legend area's color box allowed us to 'X' it out, we could 'Hide' objects of the type (but retain any selections of that object type in case we want to pull objects into a scoped diagram, as mentioned above). Lessens the number of visible objects to analyze/impede analysis.

Keep on bringing useful products to this market - great job so far.

dwainew

I suggest you guys smile and pat yourselves on the back for implementting a great idea and creating a BETA release of a very promising product!

Absolutely fantastic job, guys. I think I'll be using this one a LOT.

Of course, many of the suggestions here are great and some are even required for a fully released product, but you hit it on the head.

Performance is great for what it's doing, the CONCEPT of the layout is perfect. For Diagramming (and documenting) specific processes in a system, I believe the most important suggestion is being able to refine (or scope) the diagram to a spcific object and a desired level of dependencies.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!