Our Mac Developers have done an outstanding job in catching up with the Mac frontend. We have worked hard in the last days to get a little Christmas present out for all people waiting for a Mac Version of our Database Tool.
It’s a 1st alpha version, so don’t expect a full blown design application already – and the binary is Intel only this time (hey, it’s only Christmas folks ;).  But what we deliver is a working UI where you can load/save existing Workbench-documents and create diagrams from imported SQL-scripts. The canvas and the GRT system is up and running and there’s a shell which enables messing with the objects on GRT level. There are no object editors yet (so you can’t create and edit objects, but still build your diagrams for your existing SQL CREATE scripts) and wizards for exporting scripts, and connecting to databases are also missing. But enough writing, grab the .dmg package from our server and give it a try to get yourself a picture of what Workbench is going to look & feel natively on your Mac.  Note that Workbench for Mac requires Mac OS X Leopard.

Binary Package

ftp://ftp.mysql.com/pub/mysql/download/gui-tools/mysql-workbench-5.1.6-osx10.5-i686.dmg
ftp://ftp.mysql.com/pub/mysql/download/gui-tools/mysql-workbench-5.1.6-osx10.5-i686.dmg.md5

Source Package

ftp://ftp.mysql.com/pub/mysql/download/gui-tools/mysql-workbench-oss-5.1.6.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.mysql.com/pub/mysql/download/gui-tools/mysql-workbench-oss-5.1.6.tar.gz.md5

As example to get you started I’ll give a short step-by-step guide on how to import your script and assemble a nice diagram from it:

1. download the package from our FTP-Server
2. open the downloaded Package, you should see a Finder-window opening like this:

   

3. drag the Workbench-Icon into your Application Folder (or another location of your choice). You can eject the downloaded .dmg file after copying has finished.
4. launch MySQL Workbench
5. select the command Reverse Engineer MySQL Create Script … to import your SQL script or dump as seen
   

   

6. You should see the imported objects on Workbench’s MySQL Model-Page

   

7. Double-click the Add Diagram Icon in the EER Diagrams section to add a shiny new diagram
8. Switch to the canvas of the just created diagram by double-clicking the EER Diagram icon that was added in previous step
9. Grab a database object from the Catalog-Pane on the right sidebar and drop it on the canvas – voila, you’ve just placed your first diagram-figure!
   (you can add more than one items at once by selecting multiple objects by holding the Shift key while selection objects in the catalog-pane)

   

10. Place your objects on the canvas, arrange them nicely using Layers to visually group different objects and spice it all up by adding Images (the tools for images and Layers can be found on the toolbar to the left).
11. Archive the creation by saving the file (so you don’t have to start from scratch when next alphas arrive and you want to add additional objects to your schema)
12. Finally you can output the masterpiece by exporting the whole diagram into a PDF. Find this function under File->Export->Export a Single Page PDF …
    (Be aware that this menu-item is only available when a canvas view is active, not on the “Model Page”)

    

Following these steps should have given you a starting point on what you can do (and will be able to do as the version gets closer to completion). Please try it out on your Apple and let us know how you like it.

oh, and of course,
Merry Christmas!