Goals

Sometimes you need to generate a database diagram for your Django project. django-extensions_ does this well, but drops non-editable file like PNG. Even when you use SVG format you'll waste much time with bunch of objects that are not stitched together: when you move a table, you'll need to move all connected arrows and captions.

There was a time when you could generate .dia file directly with django-extensions. But dia support was dropped_.

.. _django-extensions: https://github.com/django-extensions/django-extensions .. _was dropped: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/graphviz/+bug/745669

Installation

.. code:: bash

pip install django-dia

Using

Add django_dia to your INSTALLED_APPS:

.. code:: python

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    #...
    'django_dia',
)

And run

.. code:: bash

./manage.py make_diagram -a -e -o scheme  # all apps in project
./manage.py make_diagram -e -o scheme my_app1 my_app2  # specific apps

This will produce file scheme.dia in your project directory.

Compatibility

Django >= 3.0 supported. In long term set of supported versions will be in parity with official django support.