Anyone who remembers the late, great Foxpro & Visual Foxpro will remember that is was an amazing desktop database engine and very powerful object-oriented development platform. Unfortunately, it has gone the way of the Dodo and is extinct. Back in 1992, RapidDoc was created to solve a business problem; namely to deliver elegant client documentation for VFP projects. By leveraging the data driven architecture of VFP, I was able to create a very powerful utility that transformed the underlying VFP metadata into a nicely packaged set of Microsoft Word documents. These documents included all of the scripts, classes, code, references, and database structures that comprised the project and were literally created in minutes! As the product evolved, it eventually integrated full support for any ODBC compliant database in order to generate comprehensive data dictionaries.

Since its days as a top download on the Universal Thread, RapidDoc has continued to evolve into a collection of must have database developer utilties. In its current state, RapidDoc has been completely re-platformed from VFP to .NET and continues to be enhanced. Today, it solely supports Microsoft SQL Server but, in the next few months, the legacy support for all ODBC compliant databases and specific OleDb databases will be re-introduced. Following the re-introduction of generic database support, additional value-added features are planned.

Be sure to download this product and request an evaluation license by using the Register button at the top of this page. I'm willing to bet that you will agree that RapidDoc has matured into a very sweet suite of tools!

Data Dictionary Publisher

This feature allows a user to connect to a database and then to browse the objects that are contained in that database. The browse view will provide information relative to object structure, indexes, related objects, and, in some cases, the data peek option will allow a sample of the underlying data to be reviewed. Specific objects can also be selected and used to generate a data dictionary that contains the information that describes those objects. The HTML version of the dictionary provides hyperlinks between related objects to support easy navigation through the document. If the database developer has done his/her job to the fullest, the descriptions & comments that are included in the dictionary will greatly aid in the development of queries and enable the user to quickly become familiar with all (or selected portions) of the data model. There are still a few types of database objects that are not supported by RapidDoc but that will change in the near future. However, those that are most commonly used by developers and end-users are supported and you will not likely suffer from the absence of the non-supported objects (e.g. logins, synonyms, linked servers, etc.)

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Database Comment Editor (SQL Server Only)

While it can certainly be a tedious process, like any IT project, the documentation for a database proves to be critical as the database grows and users other than the original architects need to interact with the database. The Comment Editor feature in The RapidDoc Database Studio goes a long way to minimizing the amount of time and effort that is required to maintain database documentation. This feature allows a user to filter to a list of all objects that are missing comments and then to enter and save those comments. Comment support currently exists for the following parent objects and their corresponding child objects:

1. Tables and columns
2. Views and columns
3. Structured types and columns
4. Stored procedures
5. Functions

In the future, remaining types (e.g. logins, synonyms, indexes, etc.) will also be supported by the Comment Editor.

A final feature of the Comment Editor is the ability to synchronize comments from one database to another. This means that all commenting can be done on the development version of the database and then those comments can be copied to one or more production versions. Try it once and you will be sold!

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Database Comparer

The RapidDoc Database Studio leverages the power of its data dictionary engine to perform object level comparisons between two different databases in order to identify where differences exists. Because the comparer leverages the same engine that is used to publish the data dictionaries, there are currently a few objects that are not supported; namely database level objects like logins and synonyms. This will be easily resolved in a future release when the underlying engine has been updated. Despite this nominal limitation, I am sure that you will find this database comparer to meet the majority of your development needs (I know I have!). After a user has selected from the lists of available objects in the primary and secondary databases, the comparer engine will identify and report where:

• objects exist in the primary but not in the secondary database
• objects exist in the secondary but not in the primary database
• objects that exist in both databases are different

Optionally, comments can be compared for objects as well!  Support has also been integrated for use with the free DiffMerge utility from SourceGear to support viewing any differences that are identified. Finally, a report of those differences can be generated and printed or saved.

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To summarize, RapidDoc has evolved from a very useful documentation wizard into a suite of very powerful database developer tools. While there are still some things that need to be enhanced and still a series of additional features planned for it in the future, it is very much ready for primetime for anyone who is interacting with Microsoft SQL Server.

The installation files for the product can be downloaded using the link at the top of this page (you must be signed in as a registered user, though). As with all FoxWiz Solutions products, the product must be registered before it can be used. Evaluation licenses are fully-functioning for a period of 30 days and are free. Please download the software, kick the tires, look under the hood, and let me know what you think! Suggestions and comments are always welcome and really do drive the development path.