A tour around the updated IDE Database Toolpanel

Contrary to popular belief, or indeed the evidence of your own eyes, this blog is still actually alive, so in the next few posts we'll try and look some of the work that's been going on behind the scenes for the next release. In this post we'll take a quick tour around the IDE Database Toolpanel that's had a much-needed face-lift to improve it's usability:

Updated IDE Database ToolPanel

As you can see it looks a little different now - we've updated the artwork, and you can see that different table types have different icons:

• Dictionary tables have a purple book overlay marker
• Index tables have a green book overlay marker
• The different data-source types (RTP57, SysColumns, DSBFS etc) have their own icons

We've also changed the layout and size of the toolbar buttons so there are five that fit much better into the IDE. From left to right these are:

• New table
• Add table
• Alias table
• Save database definition
• View options

The View options button loads a dialog as a "dropdown panel" that defines what you see in the table list:

Database Toolpanel View Options

Most of these are self evident, but the "Group by table name" option is new - it simply controls how tables are sorted in the list - when the box is checked the data, dictionary and index tables appear together, when unchecked they appear in proper ascending alphabetical order (Implementing this dialog as a "dropdown panel" is an interesting exercise in it's own right and we covered this here).

The filter box remains the same - simply start typing to restrict the list to those table names starting with the same string:

Database Toolpanel Filter

We've also given the context menu an overhaul, both visually and in terms of making it more context aware based on the table that you right-click on (only enable index options for index tables, verify options for LH tables and so on):

Database Toolpanel Context-menu

Underneath the hood there are a few other changes - including how this toolpanel is updated based on changes to the database, and when warnings about saving the database definition are given. Hopefully you'll find using this part of the IDE easier in the next release.

Nice to see that it is finally getting a facelift .. good job guys