8.2.1 Object Browser and Editor Navigator

The Navigator area of the sidebar contains options to manage the active MySQL connection. It also lists the schemas on the server for that connection. To access the Navigator area, open an existing connection (or create a new connection) from the home screen. If the panel is not visible, click View, Panels, and then Show Sidebar.

Navigator Schemas Tab

The Schemas list shows available schema on the currently connected server. These items can be explored to show tables, views, and routines within the schema as the following figure shows.

Note

Internal schemas, such as "performance_schema", "information"schema", "sys", and "mysql", are hidden by default. Toggle the Show Metadata and Internal Schemas preference to list them in the object browser. Schemas beginning with a "." are also controlled by this setting.

Figure 8.20 SQL Editor - Navigator Schemas Tab

It is possible to set a schema as the default schema by right-clicking the schema and selecting the Set As Default Schema menu item. This executes a USE schema_name statement so that subsequent statements without schema qualifiers are executed against this schema. This setting applies only to the query session. To set a default schema for multiple MySQL Workbench sessions, you must set the default schema for the stored connection. From the home screen, right-click on a MySQL connection, choose Edit Connection, and set the desired default schema on the Default Schema box.

Note

The selected schema is displayed as bold in the Schema navigator.

Double-clicking a table, view, or column name in the schema explorer inserts the name into the SQL Query area. This reduces typing significantly when entering SQL statements containing references to several tables, views, or columns.

The Schema Navigator also features a context menu which can be displayed by right-clicking an object. For example, right-clicking a table displays the following menu items:

• Select Rows - Limit 1000: Pulls up to 1000 rows of table data from the live server into a Results tab, and enables editing. Data can be saved directly to the live server.

• Table Inspector: Displays table information, similar to the Schema Inspector. This also has a simpler and easier to use interface for analyzing and creating indexes for tables.

• Table Data Export: Opens the table export wizard to export the table's data to JSON or customized CSV.

• Table Data Import: Opens the table import wizard to import JSON or CSV formatted data to the selected or new table.

• Copy to Clipboard: There are various submenus, each of which copies information to the clipboard:

  • Name (short): Copies the table name.

  • Name (long): Copies the qualified table name in the form `schema`.`table`.

  • Select All Statement: Copies a statement to select all columns in this form:

    SELECT
    `table`.`column1`,
    `table`.`column2`,
    ...
    FROM `schema`.`table`;

  • Insert Statement: Copies an INSERT statement to insert all columns.

  • Update Statement: Copies an UPDATE statement to update all columns.

  • Delete Statement: Copies a DELETE statement in the form DELETE FROM `world`.`country` WHERE <{where_condition}>;.

  • Create Statement: Copies a CREATE statement in the form DELETE FROM `world`.`country` WHERE <{where_condition}>;.

  • Delete with References: Copies a DELETE statement, in the form of a transaction, that deletes all objects that reference the row (directly or indirectly).

    Use Select with References first to preview this operation.

  • Select with References: Copies a SELECT statement that selects all objects that reference the row (directly or indirectly).

    Use Delete with References to generate a DELETE statement for this operation.

• Send to SQL Editor: Provides functionality similar to Copy to Clipboard. However, this item inserts the SQL code directly into the SQL Query panel, where it can be edited further as required.

• Create Table: Launches a dialog to enable you to create a new table.

• Create Table Like...: Launches a dialog to enable you to create a new table, and to also apply predefined templates. For additional information, see Section 9.6, “Table Templates”.

• Alter Table...: Displays the table editor loaded with the details of the table.

• Table Maintenance: Opens a new tab for performing table maintenance operations. Operations include "Analyze Table", "Optimize Table", "Check Table", and "Checksum Table". Additional information about the table may also be viewed from this tab. For additional information, see Schema Inspector.

• Drop Table...: Drops the table. All data in the table will be lost if this operation is carried out.

• Truncate Table...: Truncates the table.

• Search Table Data...: Opens a new tab for performing table searches. It performs a search on all columns, and offers additional options to limit the search.

• Refresh All: Refreshes all schemas in the explorer by resynchronizing with the server.

Right-clicking on a schema provides similar options to the table context menu described above, but the operations refer to the Schema. For example, the Table Maintenance in the table context menu selects the table in the Schema Inspector, which is a schema context menu option.