Add Notes - Feature Suggestion

soatley · June 3, 2009 11:20AM

When using DT, I often find myself writing some basic info on the diagrams that I have printed out. Many times it is something like what Class each table/SP may belong to in my application, other times, it is just some basic info.

It would be nice to be able to 'attach' a note to an object in DT. If the note is attached, whenever the layout is re-applied, the note object should move with it.

Shawn

David Atkinson · June 3, 2009 1:11PM

That's a great idea. Better still, do you think that the "note" should simply be the MS_Description extended property? There could be an option to display this description in the object itself? Or do you have a requirement to have these notes saved outside the database?

David Atkinson
Product Manager
Red Gate Software

soatley · June 3, 2009 1:21PM

Hi David,

That sounds like a decent idea. I am not too familiar with the extended property, but as long as you can enter a decent amount of data (couple of hundred characters) then that would be good.

Do you think it would be possible for that data to be entered in DT? If not, where is it entered in SSMS?

Shawn

David Atkinson · June 3, 2009 1:27PM

Admittedly it's quite hard to find in SSMS. If you right click the object in Object Explorer, select Properties, then select Extended Properties. Type MS_Description as the Name and your text in the Value.

Alternatively if you own SQL Doc, you can use this to easily input descriptions.

MS_Description is the Microsoft standard way of documenting SQL Server objects. We put functionality in SQL Prompt that allows you to view the MS_Description simply by hovering over the object in your SSMS editor window.

David

soatley · June 3, 2009 1:39PM

Thanks again David. I have a trial of Doc on my machine and yeah, that makes it much easier!

I guess in the end, if it can be displayed as part of DT (some balloon attached to an object) then I think that would be great!

Shawn

David Atkinson · June 3, 2009 1:43PM

I've noted that as a request. I think it would be good to have an option to see the MS_Description on the diagram.

If you right click on an object in the diagram and select "Show SQL", the creation SQL for the extended properties are listed as part of the script. Although these aren't directly visible, maybe you'll be able to use this as a way of storing information with each object? And you would be documenting your database at the same time!

David

soatley · June 3, 2009 2:18PM

Thanks for noting it.

The types of things that I write down on my print out are mainly for a quick reference... something I can look down at the printed diagram and refer to quickly - a cheat sheet if you will.

I can see the SQL in the script and the descriptions I tested it with do appear. Hopefully this feature can be implemented in the future so it will show it as part of the object on the screen. (Obivously with the ability to turn it off as I am sure some people don't want to see that on their dependency output)

Shawn

David Atkinson · June 3, 2009 2:24PM

That was exactly how I had envisaged it. Not everyone will want to see this, so it would need to be an option. Also, it is possible that some will want to use one extended property for Descriptions and one for casual Notes, in which case we could provide somewhere to change which extended property is displayed on the object.

Thanks for raising this. I definitely think there's good mileage in this idea.

David

alex.weatherall · June 11, 2009 6:14AM

Hi,

Also, it is possible that some will want to use one extended property for Descriptions and one for casual Notes

Yes I think this is a good idea as you might want to note different information without changing the DB documentation.

Also thinking about the link back to SQL Doc in the other direction, things like Notes entered in the other Red-Gate products would be a good optional extra to include in the documentation.

But I think I've already raised something along those lines with you in the SQL Doc forum. :-)

Cheers,

Alex

JimF · October 26, 2009 2:48PM

Hello,

I see that this posting is very new, but I too would like to see notes added to the diagrams. In particular, I would like to see notes that have text independent of the database documentation.

Thanks,
Jim

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