About documentation formats
Published 05 February 2013
SQL Doc generates documentation in the following file types:
- Web pages (.html)
- Document (.docx and .doc)
- Help file (.chm)
- Portable Document Format (.pdf)
You select the documentation file type when you generate your documentation.
For details of what information is included in your generated documentation, see What's in the documentation?
For information about how you can modify the format of the generated documentation, see Modifying the documentation format.
Web pages (.html)
We recommend generating web pages if you're documenting large databases.
You can choose to generate the documentation with frames or without. When generated with frames, the database and object navigation tree is created in a separate frame from the details of your database objects.
SQL Doc generates database documentation with frames much more quickly and the file sizes are smaller. We recommend you use frames if you're documenting large databases.
To display the object navigation tree, JavaScript must be enabled in your web browser.
Document (.docx and .doc)
We recommend generating a document (.docx or .doc) if you need to distribute an editable file, or if you wish to print the documentation.
The Portable Document Format (.pdf) file type is also suitable for printing. See Portable Document Format (.pdf).
Documents can be viewed in Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Writer.
Because of the large file size, we don't recommend this format if you're documenting large databases.
Help file (.chm)
We recommend generating a help file if you're documenting large databases and you need to share the documentation.
The help file is generated as a compiled Microsoft HTML Help file (.chm), which includes search functionality and an index.
To generate your database documentation as a help file you must first download and install Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. This is available for free from the HTML Help Workshop download page.
If you install HTML Help Workshop as a limited user, the installation fails. You must run the installer as an administrative user.
Portable Document Format (.pdf)
We recommend generating a Portable Document Format (.pdf) file if you need to distribute a single, read-only file that can be opened on a wide range of systems and devices. PDF files are also suitable for printing.
