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How can you effectively visualise a complex relational database?

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I have an Access database which contains all the data from an open-source Japanese dictionary, JMdict. The database contains 24 linked tables, so reading it is complicated. The reason for this is that nearly every type of information relating to a single "Entry" can have more than one value. Here is the outline of the database, in terms of how the tables relate to one another: - Entry - Keyword - Keyword_Orthography - Keyword_Priority - Reading - Reading_Orthography - Reading_Priority - Reading_ReadingToKeywordRestriction - Sense - Sense_Antonym - Sense_CrossReference - Sense_Dialect - Sense_Field - Sense_Gloss - Sense_GlossType - Sense_LanguageSource - Sense_Misc - Sense_PartOfSpeech - Sense_SenseRestrictedToKeyword - Sense_SenseRestrictedToReading - Sense_Translation Every table has a one-to-many relationship with the tables below it in the hierarchy - each Entry can have multiple Keywords, Readings and Senses, every Keyword can have multiple Keyword_Orthography and Keyword_Priority values, and so on. So visualising even a single Entry seems like a complicated task. I could (probably) write a query that puts all of the information in a single table, but it will lead to massive redundancy if, for example, I'm displaying the same "Entry" five times in order to display all five of the "Sense_Misc" values which relate to it. Which, I gather, is the whole point of using a relational database instead of a spreadsheet. Which leads me to my question: In a situation like this, how do you effectively **visualise** all data across a complex database, not just one or two tables? The best I can do right now is write individual queries to display, for example, each Keyword for a single Entry, or each Reading_Orthography for a single Reading. But I don't know what the best practice would be if I want to see the whole of the database across all of the tables. What I really need is something that can neatly sum up a single "Entry" including all of the related information, and hopefully some way of summing up all of the Entries in a single table. Is there a method for concatenating values in a single query, for example? I realise my question seems broad, so if the specific question about my situation seems unanswerable, I'll stick to the more general question: what is the best practice for visualising a relational database comprising of many tables in one place?
Asked by Lou (181 rep)
Jan 3, 2020, 05:47 PM
Last activity: Jan 3, 2020, 06:58 PM