Introducing dBizzy: An Intuitive VSCode Extension Designed to Facilitate Early-Stage Database Development
Introduction:
In the early stages of relational database development, engineers must employ several processes in their workflow. These processes include: creating SQL files, utilizing database engines (e.g PostgreSQL, MySQL), interacting with databases through statements and queries, and referencing entity relationship (ER) diagrams. Even seasoned engineers must jump through these laborious hoops when building out and testing queries on databases.
The biggest issue with the current workflow lies in the isolated nature of each process. Need to make a change to your entities’ relationships? Maybe adjust some column names? Sure thing! But you’d have to edit your SQL creation files using a code editor, update the databases through SQL clients, and recreate ER diagrams using third party software. Without performing each of these steps, the database might not build out how you’d expect.
What if you want to quickly test out some queries to ensure you’re getting back the expected response or test out different schemas to see how the queries change? This requires getting multiple applications talking to each other at the same time, reconnecting to database engines and a litany of other workflow-disrupting steps. It shouldn’t be this convoluted. And now it doesn’t have to be.
Solution: dBizzy
Enter dBizzy — a one-stop shop for visualizing ER diagrams and running database queries, specialized for early-stage database development. Created in partnership with the tech accelerator, OS Labs, dBizzy is a VSCode extension that gives you the ability to visualize your ER diagrams and test queries on local instances of your databases. There is no need for external database engines, ER diagram generators, or anything else. With dBizzy, these things can all be handled with just a SQL creation file. It’s lightweight, supports real-time rendering and exporting of ER diagrams, and the local database instances only persist in memory for the duration of your tab’s session.
How Do I Use dBizzy?
dBizzy is user-friendly and requires no setup beyond downloading it from the extension marketplace. It’s minimal in its design so as not to clutter your workspace. dBizzy has two commands that power the extension. They are found in the command palette as “dBizzy: Preview Database” and “dBizzy: Open Database Browser”. When you select a command, a new tab is initiated beside your current one, allowing you to maintain focus and productivity. The powerful features of dBizzy are explained in depth below.
Features:
ER Diagram Visualizer
One half of dBizzy focuses on making the creation and visualization of ER diagrams as smooth as possible. With the click of a button, you can render a diagram from a SQL creation file right in VSCode. Once it’s loaded, hover your cursor over a table to highlight it and any of its related entities through primary and foreign keys.
See something that doesn’t look right with the diagram? Need to fix a column name or a property type? Don’t worry, it will only take you a moment. Go ahead and edit the SQL file, click the “Update Diagram” button and your changes will reflect instantly on screen. It’s as efficient as that. What once was a drawn out and time-consuming process is now taken care of in seconds.
When the ER diagram is exactly as needed, it can be exported as an SVG file by clicking the “Export Diagram” button. It can then be shared with your team, uploaded to Github, or turned into a poster to be used for wall art if you so desire (we’re not judging).
Local SQL Interpreter
The other half of dBizzy streamlines the query testing aspects of constructing a database. Running test queries should never be done on the production database, but rather on a test or duplicate database. This is important because the tests ran may affect the contents of the database and you don’t want to impact the actual data. Without dBizzy, you would create a secondary database using your SQL file, connect it to your database engine and client, ensure every component is communicating with each other, and then query the database. We already saw how inefficient that process is the first go around, and now we have to do it a second time? No thank you!
Luckily, with dBizzy’s Local SQL Interpreter, this can all be handled within VSCode without needing to spin up a secondary database or even think about leaving the application. You are able to upload a SQL file or start from scratch and generate a local instance of our database. No need for third party applications or to fiddle with the command line. You can effortlessly create the database, run queries, and then be on your way. Clean, efficient, and most of all easy for every developer.
When you are done querying, simply close the tab and the instance is removed from local memory. Now that your creation file is working as intended, deploy and integrate the database with your SQL engine of choice.
Why Should You Use dBizzy?
dBizzy gives developers the most intuitive and efficient way to create, visualize, and query databases during the development process. It solves the problem of context switching and improves productivity significantly by eliminating the need to jump between applications. The ability to work uninterrupted, within VSCode, to handle the steps of database development can be crucial to a team’s overall workflow and performance. Before dBizzy, setting up SQL databases was convoluted and laborious. But now those days are a thing of the past. dBizzy empowers software engineers to seamlessly take a database from an idea to a reality with just a few clicks.
Visit dBizzy online at www.dbizzy.com.
Download from the VSCode Extension marketplace here.
Interested in contributing or viewing dBizzy’s code? Visit our Github product page on OS Labs.
The dBizzy Team
Matthew Lee → LinkedIn | Github
Johnny Chen → LinkedIn | Github
Kai Rilliet → LinkedIn | Github
*All images and GIFs created in house by dBizzy team.
