What is new in MySQL Workbench 6.0

A new home screen

A new, modernized “Home” screen where major functionality of MySQL Workbench can be accessed, including connections to MySQL servers, modeling, migration, and the command-line utilities.

Figure 2.1. Home Screen: Workbench 5.2

Figure 2.2. Home Screen: Workbench 6.0

Unified SQL Editor and Administration interface

In the new user interface, the Server Administration functionality (such as start/stop server, managing user accounts etc) is now accessible directly from the SQL Editor interface, located near where the schema information can be browsed and queries executed.

The image below contains three screenshots of the Schema window in the SQL Editor. The first is from MySQL Workbench 5.2, the second is MySQL Workbench 6.0 with the management tab collapsed, and the third shows what the merged management tab looks like. Toggle the merged and tabbed views by clicking the new merge button next to the refresh button.

Figure 2.3. Comparing the SQL Editor interface for Workbench 5.2 and 6.0

Table data search

You can select schemas and/or tables to perform client-side searches for user specified strings and patterns. To access this new search feature, right click select a schema or a table in the left sidebar and selectSearch Table Data….

This screenshot demonstrates the search feature, along with an example search. Multiple tables were selected and searched in this example:

Figure 2.4. Table search functionality

Context Sensitive help for the SQL Editor

Select a keyword or function in your query and after a delay it will show formatted help information from the MySQL Server (equivalent to using the help command from the command-line MySQL Client).

Figure 2.5. Context Sensitive Help

Schema Inspector

New Schema Inspector feature allows you to browse general information from schema objects. For tables, it’s also possible to perform maintenance tasks such as ANALYZE , OPTIMIZE , CHECK , and CHECKSUM TABLE . To access the inspector, right-click a schema and select the Schema Inspector

Figure 2.6. Schema Inspector

And choosing Maintenance for a table:

Figure 2.7. Schema Inspector: Maintenance

Cascaded `DELETE` statements generator

You can generate a series of DELETE statements needed to delete a row from that table, which includes rows from other tables that reference it, recursively. The SELECT version allows you to preview what rows would be deleted. Right click a table and select Copy to Clipboard, Delete with References. TODO: Also, DELETE>

Figure 2.8. Cascading SELECT

Table templates

Define templates of tables with commonly used columns, to be used to create new tables in a live connection or in an EER model. In the SQL Editor, choose Create Table Like…, or in Modeling, use the right sidebar.

Vertical Text

A Vertical Text output option for queries (equivalent to \G from the command-line Client) was added. To execute, choose Query, Execute Current Statement (Vertical Text Output).

Figure 2.9. Vertical Text (\G)

Improved Visual Explain

The Visual Explain output was improved. TODO: Additions? Colors, numbers on lines, more information, … specifics?

Figure 2.10. Visual Explain: Workbench 5.2

Figure 2.11. Visual Explain: Workbench 6.0

Improved Server Status

Additional server status information was added, and the user interface was improved. Select Server Status from the Management tab to open this window.

Figure 2.12. Server Status: Workbench 5.2

Figure 2.13. Server Status: Workbench 6.0

Enterprise Features

Support for MySQL Enterprise features in the Commercial edition of MySQL Workbench was added. From within the Management tab for an open connection, look for the following products under the headingMySQL Enterprise:

MySQL Enterprise Backup (MEB) : A GUI frontend for the MEB tool. After installing a commercial version of MySQL Workbench and MySQL Enterprise Backup, MySQL Workbench will check for and handle the pre-requisites. Backup recovery is also supported. This plugin supports MEB with local and remote installations of Linux and Mac OS X, and locally for MySQL Windows.

MySQL Audit Log Inspector : A GUI for browsing the contents of generated logs by the commercial Audit Log Plugin. Powerful filtering and search capabilities are available. Fast browsing is provided by caching the log data locally in an encrypted file. This plugin supports MEB with local and remote installations of Linux and Mac OS X, and locally for MySQL Windows.