How MySQL Workbench breaks itself

Once upon a time, there was a policy in MySQL not to add new features after the beta stage.
To my surprise, MySQL Workbench 5.2.30 introduces a new feature, the query formatter. I gave it a try. The results are not extremely encouraging. Granted, it's a plugin and not a feature in the core application, but nonetheless one would expect something more stable in a GA release, especially since the plugin features are displayed in the main menu, and unless you have read the announcement, you couldn't easily tell the core from the plugins.
This is what I have got in just a few minutes:

Bug #58356: beautify function fails on CREATE TABLE
Bug #58357: beutify function erases statement on CREATE INDEX
Bug #58358: query formatter fails on selected query
Bug #58359: query formatter indentation fails on partially selected query
Bug #58360 query formatter converts non-keywords to uppercase
Bug #58361 Query formatter mangles query when CASE operator is used

MySQL Workbench is a great product. I would like it to be more solid. New features, even as a plugin, should be more carefully released that this one.

Update. 4 days after my submission, the WB team has fixed all 6 of them. Kudos!

Sometimes, even a command line guy likes a GUI

As everyone knows, I am a command line guy. I am very much comfortable with the shell prompt and the command line SQL client. I do most of my work that way, and I am very much productive.
However, there comes a time when even for a command line enthusiast a GUI can be helpful.
Here comes the latest MySQL Workbench 5.2.
There are two areas where I feel that WB can give me a hand:
The first is when looking at tables that contain BLOB columns. Sure I can deal with them at the command line, but this editor makes my life easier.

When a column contains a BLOB, you can open the field viewer.

At first glance, this is nothing more than what the command line could provide. I could get output in hexadecimal format quite easily in any client. But, looking more closely, there is a tab labeled "image" that is not as easy to come by at the command line prompt.

And there is Mike Hillyer, the main author of the Sakila database, who has stored his own image in the staff table for future generations. If you stick to the command line, you may easily miss this piece of self advertising.

The second area where I like having MySQL Workbench is when I need to change my configuration file with less than common options. Since no human (apart from Sheeri, perhaps) can remember all the options, I usually need to search the manual.

In WB, instead, I can edit the options file with the GUI, without need of remembering the exact names and spelling of the items I need.
Now, if I couple the above issues with the notion that MySQL Workbench is A Useful Tool to Centrally Manage Many MySQL Instances, I think that every command line enthusiast should give this tool a try.
Lastly, I should mention that Workbench 5.2 is becoming quite popular, as the downloads map shows.

MySQL schema maintenance

At CodeBits I had my first session about MySQL schema maintenance. I covered the basic command line possibilities before coming to the recommended tool, MySQL Workbench. The slides are available at slideshare.

Interesting questions: ([updated] with answers from the development team

• [Q] Are there plans to administer MySQL Cluster with Workbench?
  [A] Not that we know of.


• [Q] Can Workbench deal with user permission maintenance across servers? (especially in cases where development and production users can't have the same privileges)
  [A] YES. It's in the roadmap


• [Q] Can MySQL Workbench help editing stored routines? Apparently, you can't change the routine code with ALTER PROCEDURE/FUNCTION, but you need to drop it, recreate it, and eventually change privileges.
  [A] Not that we know of, although something can be done with Proxy to ease this problem.


• [Q] Is the code for the plugin documented for contributors?
  [A] Not yet, but it's going to be soon.

Codebits 2009, coders conference and competition in Lisbon

Codebits is approaching. Form December 3rd to 5th, this gathering of 600 developers for a conference, which is also and foremost a competition, will occupy the mind of the best coders in Europe. I will be a speaker, with two sessions: Schema maintenance in MySQL, focusing mainly on MySQL Workbench, but with an introduction to the other choices. Introduction to Gearman - a distributed, language and OS independent system for dynamic programming.

Also Lenz will be there, and quite busy. He will also have two sessions:

• Why you should be using a distributed version control system (DVCS) for your project, with advice that will benefit every developer.
• MySQL High Availability Solutions - Best practices and commonly used HA setups for MySQL

The event is hardly like any other conference. It will be a momentous show, with a part that start like a conference but goes on as a competition.
If you like coding, you must show up!