Tool Properties

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DbVisualizer 5.1
October 2006 		http://www.dbvis.com
support@dbvis.com

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Customizing DbVisualizer

DbVisualizer is highly customizable, you can control formatting, layout and the way DbVisualizer interacts with databases. The default settings are good enough for the normal user but sometimes it is necessary to modify these properties. This chapter guides you through all the properties.

Properties are divided into two groups:

The user preferences (XML) file

All properties are saved in an XML file. The exact location of this file is platform dependent. The location on your system is listed in the first, General category. The XML file contains, in addition to all properties, also the information about drivers, database connections, bookmarks, etc. The general recommendation is to not edit this file manually even though it is quite easy to do so.

DbVisualizer automatically creates a backup copy of the XML file when the application is started. The location of this file is the same as for the standard XML file except that the .bak suffix is appended to the file name. The standard XML file might get broken for various reasons. If a warning message that the XML file could not be read is displayed during launch of DbVisualizer then simply copy the backup file to the standard location and restart the application. If the XML file is moved from its standard location or if it is removed then DbVisualizer will automatically create a new one.

Tip: the -up command line argument is used to identify the file name (and path) to an alternate XML file.

General Settings

The General settings tab collects all categories that are used to control the general aspects of DbVisualizer.

The buttons at the bottom of the window control whether the changed properties should be applied using the Ok (this also closes the window) and Apply button, if changes should be reverted using the Cancel button or if the factory defaults should be applied using the Defaults button.

Changes are tracked on a per category basis. If any changes has been made then a question will be displayed whether the changes should be applied or not. Defaults can be initiated either to revert all properties (both General and Database properties) to their default settings or just the current category.

This is a screenshot of the General category tree.


Figure: The Tool Properties window showing the tree with General categories

Appearance

Property
 Description
Look and Feel
Controls which look and feel will be used.
Note 1: You must restart DbVisualizer in order to use a new look and feel.
Note 2: Some look and feels are platform specific and do not appear on all OS'es

Metal (Ocean)

Motif

Windows

Alloy

GTK+

Mac OS X
Icon Sizes
 The Menus, Main Tool Bars, Sub Tool Bars settings are used to control the size of the icons.
Show Tab Icons Specifies whether an icon will appear in the header of all object view tabs.

Fonts

Individual fonts can be defined for SQL editors, Grids and Text output data. The Application Font Size settings is used to control the size of the font for all other components in the user interface. Increasing the application font size is useful at demos or presentations.

Key Bindings

The key binding function is used to define key bindings for almost all operations and editor commands in DbVisualizer. Key bindings are grouped in Key Maps. DbVisualizer includes a set of pre-defined key maps targeted for the supported operating systems. These key maps cannot be deleted or modified. To customize key bindings, then copy an existing key map and make your changes.


Figure: The key binding editor

All user defined key maps are stored in your $HOME/.dbvis/config/keymaps directory. A key map file contain only the differences between the copied key map and the current.

To create a new key map select the map you want to copy and press the Make Copy button. Set a name on the new key map and activate it with the Set Active button. The newly created key map will now have the exact same key bindings as the parent key map.

Note: Key maps must be uniquely named.


Figure: User defined key map

The action list is organized in folders. The Editor Commands folder lists all actions available in the SQL Commander editor and their current key bindings. The Main Menu folder contain sub folders each representing the main window menu actions. The other folders group feature specific actions such as actions to control the references graph, form editor, etc.

To modify the key bindings for an action then select the action from the action list. The current key bindings are listed in the Key Bindings list.


Figure: User defined key map

To add an additional key binding press Add Key Binding or press Edit Key Binding to edit the selection.


Figure: Key stroke dialog

The key stroke dialog controls whether a key binding is already assigned somewhere else. In the conflict box you'll see the names of the actions that are conflicting. The modifier keys Shift, Alt, Ctrl and Command can be used to form the final key binding.

Note: It is not recommended to assign several key bindings for different actions. The reason is that you may get different results between invocations of such key bindings.

Note: Menu items and tool tips shows the first defined key binding in the list.

Database Connection

Property
 Description
Run "Connect All" at Startup Defines whether a database connection will be connected when the Connect All operation is selected in the main window menu bar.
Confirm "Disconnect All"
 Checking this property will force a dialog to be displayed before disconnecting all current database connections using the Disconnect All operation.
Connection Timeout Specify number of seconds that the driver will wait until terminating ongoing connection request.
Note: This property is handled by JDBC drivers and might not be supported.

Permissions

The Permission functionality is a security mechanism preventing from running certain database operations unconfirmed. Permissions are configured per connection mode and are categorized into the following feature areas.

Note: The permission feature is part of DbVisualizer and should not be mixed with any authorization system in the actual database.

SQL Commander Permissions

For the SQL Commander we define via a drop down the permission type for each SQL command:

Figure: SQL Commander Permissions

Inline and Form Editor Permissions

The permissions for inline and form editors are:

Figure: Inline and Form Editor Permissions

Data Formats

Property
 Description
Date Format
 Select the date format that will be used throughout the application (i.e grids, forms and during editing). More information below.
Time Format
 Select the time format that will be used throughout the application (i.e grids, forms and during editing). More information below.
Timestamp Format
 Select the timestamp format that will be used throughout the application (i.e grids, forms and during editing). More information below.
Numbers Format
 Specifies how numbers will be formatted.
Decimal Number Format Specifies how decimal numbers will be formatted.
Null String
 This is the string representation of the null value. This string is the readable form of null and appears in grids, forms, exports and during editing.

Date, Time and Timestamp formats

The lists for date, time and timestamp format contains a collection of standard formats. If these formats are not suitable then you can enter your own format in the appropriate field. The tokens used to define the format is listed in the right click menu while the field has focus.


Figure: The date and time right click menu

The complete documentation for these tokens are listed in the following web page SimpleDateFormat.

Table Data

Property
 Description
Show Table Row Count
 Specifies if the number of rows in a table will be displayed in the header of the table when in the Database Objects->Data tab. Enabling this property will cause an extra round trip to the database (i.e minor performance penalty)
Highlight Primary Key Columns
 Specifies if Primary Key columns will be indicated in the Database Objects->Data tab, Variable Substitution dialog, SQL Commander Result grids and in the References Graph.
Include Variables in SQL
 Specifies if the right click menu operations in the Data tab will create appropriate SQL statements that include DbVisualizer variables or if the generated statements are plain SQL. Letting DbVisualizer generating statements with variables results in the variable substitution dialog being displayed when these statements are executed in the SQL Commander.
Max Rows at First Display
 Set the number of rows that will be fetched for a table in the Data tab when a table is first displayed.

Inline/Form Editors

Property
 Description
Reload Grid after Edit
 Check this to enable auto reloading of the grid after a successful edit in the inline editor.
Image Max Size in Form Editor The default size for images displayed in the form editor.

Variables

Variables can be used in the SQL executed in the SQL Commander and in Connection details. Before executing an SQL statement or connecting a database connection a window is display asking for replacement values.

These settings define what character sequence identifies a variable.

Property
 Description
Variable Identifier
 The identifier for a variable. A variable starts and ends with this identifier. Default is "$$".
Variable Delimiter
 The delimiter used to identify the parts of a variable. Default is "||".

Transaction

Property
 Description
Pending Transactions at Disconnect
 Defines what DbVisualizer will do on exit from the application when the auto commit setting is disabled.

Bookmarks

Property
 Description
Number of Bookmarks Limit
 Specifies the number of SQL bookmarks that the New and History bookmark object may keep until the lists are truncated.

Monitor

Property
 Description
Start Monitors Automatically
 Check to enable start of monitors automatically when database connections are established.

Grid

Property
 Description
Fit Grid Column Widths
 Enable to let DbVisualizer automatically fit the content in each grid column based on the widest cell value.
Max Column Separator Width This setting is used only when Fit Grid Column Widths is enabled and is used to set a maximum visual column width for grids. 
Meaning of setting Max Chars
 The Max Chars property in the Database Objects Data tab and in the SQL Commander is used to control the max number of  characters that text values can hold. If the number of characters for a text column is wider then this setting then the column is colored in a light red color.

The meaning of setting this property can be one of the following:
  • Truncate Values
    Will truncate the original value to be less then the setting of Max Chars.
    Note: this will affect any subsequent edits and SQL operations that use the value since it's truncated. This setting is only useful to save memory if viewing very large text columns.
  • Truncate Values Visually
    Will truncate the visible value only and leave the original value intact. This is the preferred setting since it will not harm the original value. The disadvantage is that more memory is needed if dealing with large text columns.

Copy

The copy category groups properties that are used to control the result of using Copy Selection and Copy Selection (With Column Header) via the grid right click menu.

Property
 Description
Column Delimiter
 Specifies the delimiter between columns in a multi column copy
End of Line Delimiter
 Specifies the new line control characters for multi row copy requests

Colors

The Colors category defines how odd and even numbered rows in grids should be presented.

Binary/BLOB and CLOB Data

Property
 Description
BLOB
 Specifies how BLOB and binary data values will be represented in grids. Setting this property to By Value will result in performance penalties and the memory consumption will increase dramatically.
CLOB
 Specifies how BLOB and binary data values will be represented in grids. Setting this property to By Value will result in performance penalties and the memory consumption will increase dramatically.

SQL Editor

The editor category controls various settings specific for the SQL Commander editor.

Property
 Description
Tabs This is used to define settings for the tab keyboard key.
Recent Files Limit
 Specifies the max number of files listed in the File->Load Recent sub menu.
Confirm Close of Unsaved Editors Enable this and DbVisualizer will ask for unsaved editors (and not only editors loaded from file) whether to save to file or not.
Set "Sticky" for SQL Editor(s) When this is enabled new SQL Editors automatically will be defined as Sticky meaning that the database connection details only can be changed manually.

Statement Delimiters

Statement delimiters define how a script should be divided into specific SQL statements in the pre-processing phase.

Property
 Description
SQL Statement Delimiter 1
 Defines the character(s) used to delimit one SQL statement from another in a SQL script
SQL Statement Delimiter 2
 Defines the additional character(s) used to delimit one SQL statement from another in a SQL script. If there is no need for more then one SQL statement delimiter then set this one to the same as delimiter 1.
Allow "go" as Delimiter
 Specifies whether go as the first word on a single line will be interpreted as a statement delimiter.
Begin Identifier
Defines the character(s) that identifies the start of an anonymous SQL block
End Identifier
 Defines the character(s) that identifies the end of an anonymous SQL block

SQL Formatting

The SQL formatting category groups properties to control the SQL formatting feature in the SQL Commander. To see the effect of each property, modify it, press Apply and format the SQL in the SQL Commander to see the result.

Auto Completion

These category is used to define the visual appearance of the auto completion popup in SQL Editors.

Property
 Description
Sort Tables List
 Enable this to always present tables sorted in the auto completion popup
Sort Columns List Enable this to always present column names sorted in the auto completion popup
Display Automatically Enable this and the auto completion popup is automatically displayed whenever possible
Instant Substitution Enable this and the auto completion popup is only displayed when needed
Display Delay Specifies the time in milliseconds until the auto completion popup is displayed automatically

Comments

Property
 Description
Single Line Identifier 1
 Defines the character(s) that identifies the beginning of a one line comment
Single Line Identifier 2
 Defines the additional character(s) that identifies the beginning of a one line comment
Block Comment Begin Identifier
 Specifies the character(s) that identifies the start of a multi line comment block
End
 Specifies the character(s) that identifies the end of a multi line comment block

Debug

The debug category is used to control the amount of output that is produced when setting various debug modes. Normally only error messages are displayed in the default debug destination which is the Tools->Debug Window. The support team often refer to the debug properties when we want more information in a problem situation.

Property
 Description
Debug Output Destination
 Specifies the destination to which all debug messages will be written to. It is not advisable to set this to Off since then also error messages will then also be ignored. Standard Out is only useful if the debug mode of the DbVisualizer launcher is enabled.
Debug DbVisualizer
 Defines the amount of logging that will be produced. Full output is when Log Level is set to Debug and lowest output is Error. Setting Detail Level to Full produces the most detail and also consume more resources.
Debug JDBC Drivers This property enables any debug output produced by a JDBC driver. The amount of output depends on the actual drivers.

Read more about Problem Resolution.

Database Settings

Database settings extends the General settings with properties that are defined per supported database type. The selection of what database type is current for a database connection choose the appropriate type in the Database Type list in the Connection tab. If there is no matching entry use the Generic database type.

Having database type specific properties is useful as settings can be defined for all database connections instead of per individual database connections. It is also possible to override these properties in the Connection Properties tab.


Figure: The Tool Properties window showing the tree with Database categories

The following properties are displayed when selecting a database type in the tree.

Property
 Description
Connection Mode
 Specify here what mode the database connection is. Permissions are based on connection mode as well as a visual border around critical features in DbVisualizer.
Show only default Database or Schema
 Enable this if you only want the default database or schema listed in the database objects tree.
Connect when "Connect All" The Connect All feature is used with a single click to connect all database connections that have this setting enabled.

Authentication

Property
 Description
Save Password
 Enable this and DbVisualizer will save the password for the database connection between invocations. (The password is saved encrypted)
Clear Password at Disconnect
 Enable this and the password will be cleared at disconnect
Require Userid Ask the user to enter userid whenever the database connection is established
Require Password Ask the user to enter password whenever the database connection is established

Delimited Identifiers

Delimited identifiers are identifiers which do not need to follow the rules of regular identifiers. Such identifiers can include sequence of printable characters excluding those which are not allowed to use in delimited identifiers in the actual database. Usually delimited identifiers are used when you need to use SQL reserved word, spaces and mixed case sequences as an identifier.

Property
 Description
Begin Identifier
 Defines the start character for a delimited identifier. Normally this is a double quote (")
End Identifier
 Defines the end character for a delimited identifier. Normally this is a double quote (")
Scripting Enable this to use delimited identifiers in the Scripting features
Auto Completion/Query Builder Enable this to use delimited identifiers in the auto completion and query builder features

Qualifiers

Use these settings to control whether column names should be qualified with the table name.
Note: Using table name aliases will override the setting of prepend column names.

Property
 Description
Qualify with Schema/Database: Scripting
 Enable this to qualify object names with schema/database in the Scripting features
Qualify with Schema/Database: Auto Completion/Query Builder Enable this to qualify object names with schema/database in the auto completion and query builder features
Qualify Columns: Auto Completion/Query Builder
 Enable this to qualify column names with the table name in the auto completion and query builder features

Transaction

Property
 Description
Auto Commit
 Defines if each executed SQL statement will be auto committed or not. This setting applies for all SQL's that are executed in the SQL Commander. The inline and form editors in DbVisualizer Personal handles the commit and rollback management independently of the setting of Auto Commit.
Transaction Isolation
 Attempts to change the transaction isolation level for all database connections.
Note: If this property is changed during a transaction, the result is JDBC driver specific.

SQL Statements

This category controls the SQL templates that DbVisualizer uses internally throughout the application. Each SQL template is composed of the standard SQL and variables. Variables are identified with $$...$$. DbVisualizer relies on a list of pre-defined variable names that are accessed in the SQL Templates right click menu:


Figure: All pre-defined variables

A specific pre-defined variable can be used in on or more of the SQL templates. Using a variable in a SQL statement that is not valid will result in the variable appearing as is once the statement is executed.

There is normally no reason to modify the SQL templates nor the variable identifier or delimiter settings. There might however be circumstances when edits are needed:
Property
 Name
 Description
SQL Templates
 SELECT ALL
 Command used when selecting all rows for a table
SELECT ALL WHERE
 Command used when selecting some rows for a table
SELECT COUNT
 Command used to get the number of rows in a table
INSERT INTO
 Command used to insert a new row into a table
UPDATE WHERE
 Command used to update an existing row in a table
DELETE WHERE
 Command used to delete a specific row in a table
DROP TABLE
 Command used to drop a specific table
CREATE TABLE
 Command used to create a new table with an  optional primary key
CREATE INDEX
 Command used to create an index for a specific table
Monitor Row Count
 Command used to get the number of rows in a table and the current time stamp
Monitor Row Count Change
 Command used to get the row count difference in a table compared to the previous execution. The calculated row count and the current time stamp is returned

Connection Hooks

Connection hooks defines optional SQL commands that are sent to the database at connect and just before disconnect. They are typically used to initialize the database session with custom settings and at disconnect clean up various resources.

Property
 Description
Run SQL at Connect
 Defines the SQL that will be executed just after the connection has been established
Run SQL at Disconnect
 Defines the SQL that will be executed just before the connection will be disconnected

Objects Tree

Property
 Description
Custom Object Tree Labels
 Here you can define custom tree labels that will appear in the database objects tree. The Object Type must match the corresponding type in the actual database profile.

SQL Editor

Property
 Description
Remove New Line Characters
 Specifies whether any new line characters should be removed from any SQL statement executed in the SQL Commander and in the implicit SQL execution functionality in DbVisualizer. Some drivers/databases such as DB2 requires that no new line characters are part of any executed SQL.
Generate JOIN clauses in Query Builder Specifies whether the Query Builder will generate JOINs as JOIN clauses or WHERE conditions.

JOIN clause:

SELECT     *
FROM       HR.EMPLOYEES emp
INNER JOIN HR.DEPARTMENTS dept
ON         (emp.DEPARTMENT_ID = dept.DEPARTMENT_ID)

WHERE condition:

SELECT *
FROM   HR.EMPLOYEES emp,
       HR.DEPARTMENTS dept
WHERE  (emp.DEPARTMENT_ID = dept.DEPARTMENT_ID)

Database Specific settings

Some databases are supported more in DbVisualizer then others and so requires extended configuration capabilities.

Data Types (Oracle)

In Oracle it is sometimes desired to treat DATE data types as TIMESTAMP. Enable Handle DATE as TIMESTAMP and DbVisualizer will automatically convert DATE's. 

Explain Plan (Oracle, SQL Server and DB2)

The explain plan feature supported for Oracle, SQL Server and DB2 can be configured to highlight certain threshold levels.

Property
 Description
Color Critical Nodes
 Enable this and critical nodes in the explain plan feature will be highlighted.
Critical Threshold The threshold for when a node should be handled as critical
Warning Threshold The threshold for when a node should be handled as a warning

Explain Plan (Oracle)

The explain plan feature for Oracle can be configured to define the management of the underlying plan table in which the explain plan result is stored.

Explain Plan (DB2)

The explain plan feature for DB2 can be configured to define the management of the underlying plan tables in which the explain plan result is stored.

System Tables (Oracle)

Select here whether the database profile for Oracle should retrieve database information from the DBA or ALL system tables.
Note: If choosing DBA make sure the appropriate privileges are granted for the user you are connecting as. 

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