[ Master documentation index ]
Introduction
This document is worth reading for all new users as it explains the
installation process, resources and briefly how the application is organized.
Note: All documents in the Users Guide are primarly focusing on the DbVisualizer Personal edition.
The screen shots throughout the users guide are using the Alloy look and feel.
Installing
Installing DbVisualizer is a straight forward task. The installation
procedure is performed using a graphical application and it is just a
matter of answering the questions that are displayed. Follow the instructions
at the DbVisualizer web site how to start the installation
specifically for your platform.
Installation structure
The installer and launcher for DbVisualizer is based on the
"install4j" product (http://www.install4j.com).
The structure of the installation directory contains the following.
(The content may differ slightly between platforms):
.install4j/
doc/
lib/
resources/
wrapper/
dbvis.exe
README.txt
uninstall.exe
There is basically nothing in this directory that is of general
interest except the dbvis.exe
file
which is used to start DbVisualizer. For information how to increase
the memory for the Java process that runs DbVisualizer and also how to
modify the Java version being used please read the on-line FAQ for latest information.
Java Properties
DbVisualizer relies on few Java properties that can be used to modify
some characteristics of the application. These DbVisualizer specific
properties are available in the resources/dbvis-custom.prefs file.
Note: There's normally no reason to alter these properties as their default values are sufficent for most use.
Properties are expressed as:
property=value
The following are the properties that are specific for DbVisualizer:
Property
|
Description
|
dbvis.driver.ignore.dir=lib:resources:.install4j
|
Specify directories from
DBVIS-HOME that should not be listed in the Driver Manager "System
Classpath" list. Directories are separated with ":"
Accepted values:
one or several directory names starting from DBVIS-HOME.
|
| dbvis.grid.encode=false |
Specifies if encoding of data in
result set grids will be performed or not. If set to true then make
sure the dbvis.grid.fromEncode
and/or dbvis.grid.toEncode
is set too.
|
| dbvis.grid.fromEncode=ISO8859_1 |
Encoding used when translating
text data that is fetched from the database
|
| dbvis.grid.toEncode=GBK |
Encoding used when translating
data that will appear in the result set grid
|
| dbvis.formeditor.unlimitedfields=false |
Specify whether the Form Editorn should ignore the max column length and allow any number of characters to be entered
|
| dbvis.usegetobject=false |
Specifies if the generic
ResultSet.getObject() method in JDBC will be used in favor of the data
type specific get methods or not. Default is false.
|
dbvis.savedatacolumns=false
|
Column layout changes such as
reordering and/or visibility is saved for all grids in the Objects
Views *except* for the "Data" grid. This property can be used to also
include the layout in the "Data" grid. Note: This will result in DbVis
saving the layout for each table that is displayed in the Data grid =
huge XML file...
|
dbvis.disabledataedit=false
|
Specifies if Data editing should be completely disabled. Note: This have only effect when used with a licensed edition.
|
(DBVIS-HOME is the
installation directory for DbVisualizer).
Note: All dbvis.
properties may change in future versions of DbVisualizer. Some are also
experimental and may be removed or instead introduced in the
DbVisualizer GUI.
How to install
license for DbVisualizer Personal
If you have a license key file for DbVisualizer Personal then start DbVisualizer and open the Help->License window. Enter the name of the license file in the License Key File
field or launch the file chooser by pressing the "..." button to the
right of the license file field. Once the file is loaded press
Resources
Resources related to DbVisualizer that are good to know:
Resources
|
The online home of DbVisualizer
|
The FAQ which is
regularly updated with frequently asked questions and known problems
|
The User Guide
|
The Databases and JDBC Drivers online page. This page gives latest information about databases and JDBC drivers
|
| The Minq forums. |
The on line problem report
form. This is the recommended channel for product support.
|
Support by email. Questions, problems, comments or any feedback related directly to the DbVisualizer product. Please
use the support form web page in preference to sending emails to this email
address directly.
|
Starting DbVisualizer
The way to start DbVisualizer depends on what platform you are using.
- Windows
Locate the DbVisualizer sub menu in the Start menu. Select the DbVisualizer entry in that menu
- Linux/Unix
Open a shell and and change directory to the DbVisualizer
installation directory. Execute the dbvis program
- Mac OS X
Double click on DbVisualizer application icon.
Command line arguments
DbVisualizer supports a range of command line arguments. These are
listed in the Help->Usage
Information menu choice in DbVisualizer.
Usage: dbvis [-help] [-up <path>] [-sqlfile <path>]
[-windowtitle <title>]
[connect options] [remote options]
General Options:
-help Display this help
-up <path> Use an alternate user preferences file
-sqlfile <path> Load file into the SQL Commander editor
-windowtitle <title> Additional window title
-execute Will execute SQL file automatically
-invisible No windows will be displayed
Driver Connect Options:
-driver Setup and connect using Driver:
-alias <name> Database alias
-drivername <name> Driver name
-path <path> Path to driver class
-class <class> JDBC Driver class
-url <url> Connection URL
-userid <user> Userid to connect as
-password <pw> Connect password
JNDI Connect Options:
-jndi Setup and connect using JNDI:
-alias <name> Database alias
-drivername <name> Driver name
-path <path> Path to initial context class
-class <class> Initial context class
-url <url> Provider URL
-lookup <name> Lookup name
-userid <user> Userid to connect as
-password <pw> Connect password
Remote Options:
-attachremote Attach to remote DbVisualizer instance
-enableremote Enable remote attachment
-host <host> Remote host name (default: localhost)
-port <port> Remote port (default: 8787)
Application overview
The main window for DbVisualizer as it looks at startup. The interface is
organized around the database objects tree to the left and two main tabs at the right:
- Database Objects Tree
This tree contains at the top level Database Connection objects (or
folder objects with their purpose to group Database Connections).
Use this tree to navigate a database. Clicking on an object will change
the view in the Object View tab to show details about the selected
object.
- Object View
This tab shows details about the selected object in the tree. Every object have their own representation in the object view tab.
- SQL Commander
Execute arbitrary SQL statements and scripts of statements.
Figure: The
DbVisualizer main window
The main window is organized around a
standard tool
layout based on a menu and tool bar at the top.
(Visit the master documentation index for detailed information about
each of the features).
Worth knowing about
the GUI
The following section presents some generic topics that are worth knowing about when you
using DbVisualizer.
Grid, Graph and Chart
Grid, graph and chart are three terms that are often used in the
application and in the documentation. The following explains what they
represent.
Figure: The grid, graph and chart terms
Note: The reason the documentation refer to "grid" rather then "table" is
because
otherwise it would in many situations be confused with a database table.
Context sensitive controls
All controls in DbVisualizer are context sensitive. This simply means
that a control is enabled only if it can be used.
Tool tips
Tooltips are used to explain a graphical control. They are also used to
express status information about a control. An example is the grid column
header tooltip which lists type data for the column:
Figure: Tooltip
example
Grids
Grids are used heavily in DbVisualizer and probably needs a brief
introduction.
Figure: Grid
overview
The screen shot shows the grid and controls
that are
available in the Database
Objects->Data tab but the differences are
minor compared to the standard grid.
Right click menu
The generic right click menu contains the following operations:
Figure: Grid
right click menu
Menu
Choice
|
Description
|
Select All
|
Selects all cells (aka rows and
columns) in the grid
|
Select Row
|
Selects all cells in the row
|
Copy Selection
|
Copy all selected cells onto the
system clipboard
|
Copy Selection (With Column Header)
|
Copy all selected cells including column header onto the system clipboard
|
Export
|
Launch the export dialog
|
Export
Selection
|
Export the selection using the
standard export feature
|
Fit Column
Widths
|
Automatically fit all column
widths according to the widest cell value
|
Default
Column Widths
|
Set the column width equally for
all columns
|
Find
|
Launch the find dialog
|
Browse Row
in Form
|
Displays all data for the
selected row in a form.
Note: this is just a read
only form as editing is not allowed.
|
Describe Data
|
Show detailed information about the columns in the grid
|
Calculate Selection
|
Displays some metrics about the current selection. This is especially useful for numeric fields. Read more in Calculate Selection below.
|
Show/Hide Quick Filter
|
Displays or hides the quick filter pane. Read more about Quick Filters in the SQL Commander document.
|
| Set Quick Filter for Selection |
Sets the selected value as the current quick filter |
Column Visibility
|
Displays the column visibility menu. Use this to control what columns should be displayed in the grid. Read more in Column Visibility below.
|
(The menu in the
Data tab adds a few more operations
that are used to generate SQL statements based on the current
selection).
Calculate Selection
The Calculate Selection feature
is a utility that does various calculation on the current selection. It
is primarily useful when the selection keeps numbers. The following is
an example of what it shows.
Figure: The calculate selection popup
Property
|
Description
|
Number of Cells
|
shows the number of cells in the selection. |
Valid Numbers
|
lists the number of valid numbers in the selection. |
Null Values
|
shows the number of null values in the selection. |
Bytes
|
shows the total number of bytes in the selection after that the data has been translated to text |
Sum
|
shows the the total summary of the selection |
Min
|
shows the minimum number in the selection |
Avg
|
shows the average value of the selection by doing sum / number of valid numbers |
Max
|
shows the maximum number in the selection |
Either click the red cross icon or anywhere in the popup to close it.
Column Visibility
The Column Visibility feature is used to control what columns that
should appear in a grid. The column visibility dialog is displayed either
by choosing the Column Visibility right menu choice in the grid or by
clicking the button above the vertical scrollbar in the grid.
Figure: The column visibility dialog
The column visibility dialog shows all columns that are available in the
grid. The check mark in front of a column name indicates that the
column is visible in the grid while an unchecked box indicates that it
is invisible. Columns can be made invisible either by selecting a checked
column name in this list or by using the Remove Column
menu choice in the grid column header menu. The order of the
columns can also be adjusted in this dialog. Just select a row and then
move it up (left in grid) or down (right in grid).
The Default Layout will reset the grid by making all column visible and put them in their default locations.
Note 1: Modifying column
visibility in conjunction with column resizing and column ordering is
saved between invocations of DbVisualizer for all grids in the various Object Views except the Data tab.
Note 2: If modifying column visibility in the Data tab then these changes will persist throughout the session i.e if you for example remove the column NAME in the Data tab for the table EMPLOYEE then will NAME
not appear if doing a reload or subsequent shows of the Data tab for
that table. You must manually make it visible again or simply select Default Layout to bring it back. Another solution is simply to restart the application.
Problem resolution
There are situations when problems, errors or even bugs appear even
though DbVisualizer is extensively tested before every new version. The
runtime environment for DbVisualizer is rather complicated when it
comes to tracking the source of a potential problem since it's not only
DbVisualizer that may cause the problem but also the actual JDBC
driver(s).
There are a few things that you can do before reporting problems
based on at what stage the problem occurs:
- Make sure you are using the latest version of Java 1.4
- Make sure you are using at least the version
of the JDBC driver that we've tested DbVisualizer with
- Read the DbVisualizer FAQ.
- Check the on-line Forums.
- Read the DbVisualizer Users Guide.
If you cannot find a solution to resolve the problem then please do the
following and email us the debug output:
Use the DbVisualizer problem report form
or email support@dbvis.com. We
appreciate detailed reports as well as screen shots when appropriate.
How to satisfy the DbVisualizer support team
Quite often we get incomplete problem reports and need to follow-up for
additional information. If an error or problem happen then you can do
the following to let DbVisualizer create system details that you can
paste into a support email or in the problem report form:
- Select the Connection tab
- In the Connection Message area select the right click menu
- In the menu select Copy
- This will copy system details to the clipboard. Then paste the
details into an email or in the problem report form mentioned above.
- A bonus is if you provide screen shots! An image says more then ... you know.
Figure: The connection message right click menu
Copyright © 2006 Onseven Software AB. All rights reserved.
