I am going to try to embed a JSFiddle frame here, not sure it will work so I might be deleting this comment later. Embedding the frame didn't work, updating with link to JSFiddle instead.
Better options? Well, I can't say it is very refined, or at least not yet, but one could use JavaScript to create an SDE state tree in a browser: SDE State Tree Example - JSFiddle.
A couple of comments:
- The JSFiddle example above relies on 2 open-source JS libraries. Papa Parse is used to parse a CSV file created by running SQL to query the current state of an SDE geodatabase, and vis.js is used to visualize that information as a hierarchical network.
- The state tree diagram is similar, but not identical, to what is generated by the GDBT (see attachment).
- The default settings for the hierarchical repulsion solver used by vis.js allow branches to sway a bit, i.e., the entire branch isn't perfectly vertical.
- The tree layout is based on hubsize and not state/node order, i.e., the top node isn't State 0 but the state that has the most branches.
- The diagram has been enhanced with more colors.
- State 0 is Blue.
- Versions tied to replicas are Orange.
I must admit, I am a complete hack when in comes to JS, which is why I am convinced that Esri really isn't interested in providing this functionality. If a novice with 2 open-source JS libraries and half of day of free time can get a state tree diagram that is in the ballpark, how hard can it be for a professional developer to bang out this functionality in some way, shape, or form.