Getting started
This section is for those using pgModeler for the first time. It does not replace the chapters that follow, which describe every feature and every field in detail: it gives you the shortest path from an empty window to a model that is validated and exported, and points to the chapter where each topic is explained in full.
A suggested order:
- Concepts: the ideas behind the tool (model, objects, relationships, validation) in a few minutes of reading.
- Your first model: a hands-on tutorial that creates two related tables and shows their SQL.
- From model to database: how to validate the model and send it to a PostgreSQL server (or to a SQL file).
- Essential shortcuts: the keys worth memorizing first.
If you already have a database in another system and want to work from it in pgModeler, jump to Migrating from other tools. If you already have a PostgreSQL database, the reverse engineering process described in Import a database creates the model for you.
Concepts
The few ideas that make the rest of pgModeler easy to understand: the model, the objects, the relationships, the validation and the export.
Your first model
A step-by-step tutorial that creates two related tables, validates the model and shows the SQL generated by pgModeler.
From model to database
How to validate a model and export it to a PostgreSQL server, a SQL file, an image or a data dictionary.
Essential shortcuts
The keyboard shortcuts and mouse gestures worth learning first. The complete list is in Appendix II.
Migrating from other tools
How to bring a database from another system (MySQL, SQLite, SQL Server, Oracle...) into pgModeler: convert it to PostgreSQL with pgloader or ora2pg and then reverse engineer it.