MindManager for mapping database schema?
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I wanted to see if any MindManager SMEs have used it for creating a DB schema (tables, fields, data types, connections) and if there is a template you can recommend or tips or pitfalls you might be able to share.
This is a good question. I have mapped database schemas informally and also tried using MindManager for UML diagrams. It is not particularly well suited to some of the UML diagrams, but database schemas work OK. There are a couple of ways to do it.
One approach is to represent a table as a Floating Topic with a boundary, using tree layout, with the columns / fields as subtopics. You can then annotate the table and columns in topic notes, and make connections between tables and columns with relationships. The advantage of using MindManager is that you can expand and collapse the columns for large tables, or organise them into logical groups them for clarity. Any template could be used for this, but it will save time to set default formats for the floating topics and subtopics. You could also save a table topic as a Map Part, but Map Parts don't carry formatting information so a template is still helpful.
This could be elaborated by including a set of tags in the template that are used to mark up the field data formats, e.g. string, integer, date etc.
An alternative would be to use Topic Properties for the columns, but relationships cannot be connected to a Topic Property so you would not be able to show the relationships in the database.
This is a good question. I have mapped database schemas informally and also tried using MindManager for UML diagrams. It is not particularly well suited to some of the UML diagrams, but database schemas work OK. There are a couple of ways to do it.
One approach is to represent a table as a Floating Topic with a boundary, using tree layout, with the columns / fields as subtopics. You can then annotate the table and columns in topic notes, and make connections between tables and columns with relationships. The advantage of using MindManager is that you can expand and collapse the columns for large tables, or organise them into logical groups them for clarity. Any template could be used for this, but it will save time to set default formats for the floating topics and subtopics. You could also save a table topic as a Map Part, but Map Parts don't carry formatting information so a template is still helpful.
This could be elaborated by including a set of tags in the template that are used to mark up the field data formats, e.g. string, integer, date etc.
An alternative would be to use Topic Properties for the columns, but relationships cannot be connected to a Topic Property so you would not be able to show the relationships in the database.
This is a good question. I have mapped database schemas informally and also tried using MindManager for UML diagrams. It is not particularly well suited to some of the UML diagrams, but database schemas work OK. There are a couple of ways to do it.
One approach is to represent a table as a Floating Topic with a boundary, using tree layout, with the columns / fields as subtopics. You can then annotate the table and columns in topic notes, and make connections between tables and columns with relationships. The advantage of using MindManager is that you can expand and collapse the columns for large tables, or organise them into logical groups them for clarity. Any template could be used for this, but it will save time to set default formats for the floating topics and subtopics. You could also save a table topic as a Map Part, but Map Parts don't carry formatting information so a template is still helpful.
This could be elaborated by including a set of tags in the template that are used to mark up the field data formats, e.g. string, integer, date etc.
An alternative would be to use Topic Properties for the columns, but relationships cannot be connected to a Topic Property so you would not be able to show the relationships in the database.
This is a good question. I have mapped database schemas informally and also tried using MindManager for UML diagrams. It is not particularly well suited to some of the UML diagrams, but database schemas work OK. There are a couple of ways to do it.
One approach is to represent a table as a Floating Topic with a boundary, using tree layout, with the columns / fields as subtopics. You can then annotate the table and columns in topic notes, and make connections between tables and columns with relationships. The advantage of using MindManager is that you can expand and collapse the columns for large tables, or organise them into logical groups them for clarity. Any template could be used for this, but it will save time to set default formats for the floating topics and subtopics. You could also save a table topic as a Map Part, but Map Parts don't carry formatting information so a template is still helpful.
This could be elaborated by including a set of tags in the template that are used to mark up the field data formats, e.g. string, integer, date etc.
An alternative would be to use Topic Properties for the columns, but relationships cannot be connected to a Topic Property so you would not be able to show the relationships in the database.
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