Visualization

Schema Topology

Schema topology refers to the overall structure and organization of tables and relationships within your database. WhoDB visualizes this topology using an interactive graph that automatically arranges tables to show their connections and dependencies.

Info

Understanding your schema topology is crucial for making informed database design decisions and optimizing queries

What is Schema Topology?

Schema topology is the complete picture of:

Tables: All database objects (tables, views, materialized views)
Relationships: Connections between tables via foreign keys
Cardinality: The nature of relationships (one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many)
Organization: How tables are logically grouped and dependent on each other

The Graph Visualization

Graph View - Schema Topology

WhoDB displays your schema topology as a graph where:

Each node represents a table
Each edge (connecting line) represents a foreign key relationship
Node positioning is algorithmically optimized to minimize visual complexity
Line directions show the direction of the relationship

Table Nodes

Each table node in the graph displays:

Node Content

Table Name

The name of the database table displayed prominently at the node's center

Object Type

The object type (table, view, and so on) shown as a metadata row on the card

Key Columns

Primary key columns highlighted with a special marker

Foreign Keys

Columns that reference other tables shown with connection indicators

Node Interaction

Each node card shows the table name, metadata attributes, and a Data button that is always visible.
Clicking a node lazy-loads its column list into the card if it has not been loaded yet.

Understanding Node Positioning

The graph uses dagre, a hierarchical (layered) layout algorithm that:

Arranges nodes in layers: Tables are placed in ranks based on the direction of their relationships
Reduces line crossings: Node ordering within layers minimizes crossing edges
Keeps components separate: Disconnected groups of tables are laid out independently and packed into a grid

Navigating the Graph

Initial load: All nodes position based on the complete schema
Zoom in: Focused view emphasizes nearby relationships
Zoom out: High-level view shows overall patterns and clusters
Pan: Navigate to different areas while maintaining relative positions

Exploring Your Schema

PNG Download: Use the built-in download button in the graph's lower-right controls to save the diagram as clidey-whodb-diagram.png
PDF Export: Use browser print-to-PDF for sharing
Screenshots: Document different zoom levels

Graph View

Learn how to interact with the graph visualization

Relationships

Deep dive into foreign keys and relationship types

Schema Explorer

Navigate and explore schema structure

Query Optimization

Use topology understanding to write better queries