MySQL Workbench: Drawing Relationship Lines to Fields

Databases
1

Couldn’t find my original post, but here is a tip for anyone who uses MySQL Workbench and wants it to draw Relationship lines from Field-to-Field…

(By default, Workbench draws Relationships from the center of one Table to the center of the related Table which I think defeats the purpose of trying to visually show the relationships between Columns?!) :rolleyes:

Original Workbench Relationships:

New Workbench Relationships

How to make the change:
Once you create an ERD diagram in Workbench, go to “Model”, “Relationship Notation”, “Connect To Columns” as shown below…

**In fact, if you go under “Model” and play around with “Object Notation” and “Relationship Notation” you can really customize the look and feel of your ERD and get something that works best for you.

I was just about ready to ditch Workbench because I hated how it drew my ERD’s, but now that I figured this out this today, I have an entirely new perspective on things!! :slight_smile:

Hopefully this helps someone else out! (Hey, anytime you can get open-source to do what pay-for-play software purports to offer, I say go the open-source way!!)

Sincerely,

TomTees

2

Thank you for this information, Workbench is an awesome program and I have been using it for years. It’s like a hidden gem still, how many people use this program? it doesn’t seem to be many. I’m still using 5.1, not sure I want everything in the one app. Are you on 5.2 TomTees?

3

Good tip…I had been wondering if that very thing could be changed or not, though I hadn’t taken the time to look into it. Saves me the trouble :slight_smile:

4

I am using v5.1.18

5

Yeah, little things like that drive me CRAZY!!! (Glad I rolled up my sleeves and figured it out, because otherwise I was looking to dump MySQL WorkBench!)

Glad I could help others out! :slight_smile:

TomTees

6

I recently upgraded from 5.1.18 to 5.2.29. The UI is a bit better and there have been quite a few bug fixes. I highly recommend the upgrade :slight_smile:

However, the navigation/side panel is on the left by default instead of the right, so to switch it, go to “edit” > “preferences” > “general” tab > check “place sidebar on right side”