Can anyone recommend a utility (preferably free but can pay if needed) that
will allow me to easily design database structures (tables, indexes,
relationships) for SQL Server?

I have a couple of specific requirements for it:

- must be able to store its designs in an accessible format (e.g., XML) so
that I can write code to parse and modify its files.

- must be able to allow me to specify whether an index should be clustered
or not.

I've tried several utilities but haven't found any that quite do what I need
(the common missing feature seems to be the ability to indicate whether an
index should be clustered). To give you an idea of the kind of thing I'm
after, here are the packages I've tried so far that NEARLY do what I want:

http://www.fabforce.net/dbdesigner4/

(Files are saved in XML which is good but no way to specify clustered
indexes)

http://www.dds-lite.com/

(No way to specify clustered indexes, files are saved in binary format)

I'd be very grateful if anyone can recommend anything else I could try that
might meet my requirements.

Thanks and regards,

Oenone (oen***@nowhere.com) writes:
The tool we use fulfil these requirements, PowerDesigner from Sybase. But
it's certainly not free. PD as a whole range of design modules, and you
would probably only use physical design (it's the only module we have).
Nevertheless, I believe the price is over 1000 USD.

Erland Sommarskog wrote:

Hi Erland,

At that price I think we'd be better off just sticking with the "not quite
good enough" solution we have at the moment, unfortunately... But thanks for
the information anyway.

Does anyone has any cheaper suggestions? :)

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