MySQL Workbench 5.2 introduces a lot of new functionality and therefore this short tutorial will help you to get started quickly.

The Home Screen

The most prominent new addition in respect to previous Workbench releases is the new Home Screen. It allows you to access the main features of Workbench in a nice and easy way and is divided into 4 parts.

The upper Workbench Central panel features a few Links and Action Buttons to quickly access common resources.

The lower Workspace panel shows the main feature sets, grouped horizontally.

• SQL Development allows editing and execution of SQL queries and scripts, create or alter database objects and edit table data.
• Data Modeling covers the EER Modeling functionality you might already be familiar with from previous MySQL Workbench releases.
• Server Administration offers administrative tasks like starting/stopping the server, edit the database server configuration, create user accounts, do data dumps and much more.

To quickly get started, use the following steps.

1. Create a new Connection – Before you can start any other tasks — using the SQL Editor, forward engineering your model, or managing your database server, you need to create a new Database Connection. You can do that by using the New Connection Wizard or – if you are an advanced user – by using the Manage Connections dialog.You will have to enter the usual connection parameters, like IP address and port the server is running on as well as your username and password.
2. Open Editor – After you have created a new connection, it will be displayed in the list of available Database Connections. Simply double-click on the list entry to open a SQL Editor and start querying.
3. Create a new model – If you want to start your work by designing a visual database design first, click the Create new EER Model action item. An empty model will be created for you, only featuring the my_db schema which you can easily rename to the desired name.
4. Create a New Server Profile – In order to administer your database server you have to register it within MySQL Workbench first.  Use the New Server Profile Wizard or – if you are an advanced user – use the Manage Server Profiles dialog.
5. Open Admin – Once the new Server Profile is registered and appears in the list box you can double-click it to open the Admin.

Let’s take a closer look at the SQL Editor.

SQL Editor

The SQL Editor features a straight forward interface that gets you going, immediately.

1. To give you instant access to your database objects we have added the Live Schema Overview panel to the SQL Editor. To start editing the data of an existing table, insert new data rows or manipulate existing data, simply double-click on the table.
2. You can also modify the table structure by right-clicking on the table and select Alter … . This also works for any other database object.
3. Enter your SQL queries and scripts on the SQL Statement panel. You can execute a single or multiple statements at the same time by clicking the Execution Arrow toolbar icon or hitting Ctrl+Return on the keyboard.
4. If you create new objects by using SQL statements make sure to click the Refresh toolbar icon to update the Live Schema Overview panel and the Schema Tree.

We assume you already know how to use the EER Modeling and therefore we proceed with the Admin.

Admin

The Admin also features a very clear design that makes it easy to access the desired features.

1. After opening the Admin you can see the Server Status panel at the top. Use this panel to verify the current server status and to check the current Server Health graphs.
2. Select the corresponding Configuration tab that fits your current task.
3. After selecting the correct Configuration tab perform the necessary actions on the Configuration page.

After studying this tutorial you should have a basic idea how the use MySQL Workbench 5.2 most efficiently. Please write a comment if you have a tip for other users.