im making a ASP.NET web application using a serverside database.
Hi :),
im making a ASP.net web application with a sqlserver backend database.

i have been requested to provide both UML and ERD/Normalization

i can do both of these techniques individually to a reasonable standard, however i am unsure about how they relate to each other?

for example if i do UML class diagrams first, does that mean all of the attributes in the class have to be in the same DB table?

if i do the normalization first i dont see how that helps with the UML?

The way im thinking of it at the moment is that the UML is just a way of sorting out the C# classes in ASP.net, and has nothing to do with the storage of the data (and therefore the ERD/normalization), and while classes may have several attributes - they dont need to be in the same table in the RDBMS - does that sound anywhere near right?

thanks :)

That sounds about right to me. If the program is data centered (as is probable in this environment), start with the data design, normalize the schema, and see how that affects your UML layout. Or vice versa if the program is calculation centered.

Most web services deal with an MVC architecture where the Model is the data (ERD used here), the View is as set of slices through the data (and the UML may be interesting here) and the Controller is most often a set of legal changes implemented over the data seen in a particular view.

ERD/normalisation are for database design. Nothing to do with programming - totally independent of it in fact.

UML is for object orientated design. To do with programming.


Two different subjects.

I guess drjohn has a much more restricted view of "programming" than I do. A well designed schema makes it ever so much easier to create the rest of the application than would be possible with a chaotic or 'it just grew that way' schema.

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