Sometimes we need to reverse engineer our database. Microsoft Visio has an option for reverse engineering. But by default it does not support MySQL or in other words you cannot reverse engineer a MySQL database. I have faced this problem and got the solution and sharing here with you.
The steps involved in this process are described below:
1.Download the latest MySQL ODBC connector from MySQL site.
You may find it here http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/5.1.html.
2.After downloading install the connector.
3.Now open Microsoft Visio and openDatabase Model Diagramtemplate
(you may find it underSoftware and Databasegroup).
4.FromDatabasemenu click onReverse Engineer. You will see the Reverse Engineer wizard.
5.Click on theNewbutton.SelectSystem Data Source.ClickNext.SelectMySQL ODBCdriver from the list.ClickNextand thenFinish.MySQL Connector/ODBC Data Source Configurationwindow will open.
7.Give a name to the datasouce, database server host, user name, password and select the database you want to reverse engineer.
8.Remember, the list of database will be shown if you have provided correct information.Click onOk.
9.Now you will find the data source inData Sourcelist.Select the newly created data source and clickNext.
10.The regular wizard for reverse engineering will start.