Code First - UML - Modeling of database - visual v

Question

I love how model first gives a visual overview of the database.

But now the Ado.Net team pushes code first, i'd think it would be awesome to generate an UML overview of the database through your classes.

Does this already exists? As i can't seem to find it :(

Answer 1

Yes it exists as part of EF Power Tools CTP1 where you can generate read-only EDMX from your code first mapping. It is not UML but it is the same diagram you had with model first.

Answer 2

UML is representing an object approach while data modeling is business entities related. This is why datamodeling will never be UML modeling.

In Java the Red Hat group uses the hibernate project to add annotations directly on the java object represented as classes. The trick I use is to reverse engineer my java code into UML classes and also reverse engineer my hibernate annotation as stereotypes. It means that at the same time you can define your object approach and also create your persistence layer which is visible inside your UML class diagram.

Really cool !!