The Workspace Explorer allows you to navigate Servers and Database objects. The explorer also allows you to perform various other actions.
Refresh
The Workspace will not automatically show objects that are added or removed by other users. In this situation you will need to refresh your view. Clicking the Refresh toolbar button will refresh the content of the selected node. N.B. Only the content of the selected node will be refreshed, not the content of any parent or child nodes.
Show Database Objects
By default SQL Visualizer will show objects for each database types, for example under the Tables node a list of all tables is shown, and for each table a list of columns is shown. When there are a lot of database objects available this view may become confusing, by turning off the list of database objects you get a simpler presentation, only database object types are listed. When in this mode you can double click on the object type to open an Object View of that type (see Object Views for more details).
Add
You can add a new Server, Server Group, or create a new Database by clicking the dropdown arrow next to Add and selecting the appropriate option. This will display a dialog allowing you to set the appropriate values (see Server Group Properties, Server Properties, and Database Properties for more)
Drop/Delete
When a Server or Server Group is selected the item will be removed from the Workspace, the server is still available to other users.
When a Database is selected then the database will be dropped. This does not just remove the database from the Workspace but physically deletes the database and its log files.
When database objects are selected then the object is physically dropped from the database and is no longer available within the database.
Object Views
By selecting object types within the database and selecting Open, you can open an Object View for that type (see Object Views for more details).
Properties
Properties are available on Server Groups, Servers, and Databases,
Server Group properties
In Server Group properties you can change the name of the server group and optionally set a description. This description appears as a tool tip when the mouse hovers over the node.
Server Properties
In Server properties you can set the server being connected to and optionally a description that appears as a tool tip when the mouse hovers over the node.
When selecting a server you can type the name of the server or select the Browse for servers… option. This may take some time while SQL Visualizer searches the network for available servers. When ready you will be informed and the server can be selected from the list.
You can also set the authentication type, Windows authentication will use the currently logged in Windows user to connect to the database, SQL Server authentication will use the specified login name and password.
When you OK the server properties dialog the connection to the server is checked. If the connection cannot be established you are informed and can check or change the properties. You may still set the server properties even if it is currently unavailable, for example when you are working offline.
Database Properties
In Database properties you can optionally set a description that appears as a tool tip when the mouse hovers over the node.
You can also set whether the database is considered to contain sensitive data. When set a warning is displayed in the query window to remind you that you take care when executing queries.
Along with this you can also change the background color of the query widow to immediately draw your attention to databases you should take extra care with.
By checking the Override server connection box you can change the connection used on a database by database basis. When this option is not set the database connection used is dictated by the database’s server’s connection properties.
New Query/Open Query
When opening are creating a new query from the Workspace the database the query will become active against is the database the selected node is within (see opening and saving queries and creating and editing queries for more details).
Scripting
Database objects can be scripted from the context menu (see scripting database objects for more details).
Visualizers (Premium Edition Only)
Database and server visualizers are available from the context menu (see visualize database space and visualize server space for more details).