Most ERD Tools Still Can't Properly Display Database Views, Developer Finds

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Database views serve critical roles in schemas — acting as reporting layers, security boundaries, and API surfaces — yet most ERD tools either omit them entirely or render them indistinguishably from regular tables. DBML, the schema language powering dbdiagram.io, has lacked view support since at least a December 2022 user request, with no official response to date. SSMS database diagrams accept only tables, while ChartDB only added view support in August 2025 after earlier versions allowed logically incorrect foreign keys pointing into views. Misrepresenting a view as a table misleads readers into assuming its columns are directly editable or that its rows are physically stored, which is particularly problematic for materialized views. The author's tool, Schemity, addresses this by rendering views and materialized views as read-only entities with italic names and distinct footer labels, making them visually distinguishable from base tables on the diagram canvas.

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