Adam Howitt's Blog

Sep 04
2009

Ugly MySQL tools for Mac AKA I hate Navicat

At : 2:06 PM | Link | SQL, PC to Mac | Comments (18) | Send | 2000 Views |

Seriously. Why should I be handicapped for trying to write SQL on a mac client? I've tried Navicat and hate it with a passion. For an OS that prides itself on pretty interfaces the tools for working with databases I've seen are all really ugly. MySQLYog for PC ain't no oil painting either but it embodies the important pieces of a SQL tool. Here's what I want - if anyone has any tips on tools, paid or free - I don't care:

1. Connection and object browser on the left. Drill down into tables to see column names, indexes, foreign keys, triggers. Navicat inconveniently makes you right click on the table name to view any of these details. When I'm writing a query I don't want to have to open a new tab to show an ugly list of table columns I can't refer to while I'm writing code without switching tabs.

2. SQL Editor windows with a split results pane that doesn't vanish if I edit one piece of a query. Navicat hides the SQL results if you change a query. Seeing sample data as I work on a query REALLY helps, especially since Navicat won't simultaneously show column specs (ref earlier point).

3. Edit stored procedure or views like I just wrote them. In every other SQL client I've used I right click a view or stored procedure to see the SQL stored in the database, preferably formatted. Navicat presents views as one long string of unformatted text and for stored procedures it offers an edit window for the inner section of the procedure but hides the implicit create statement and/or drop statement.

4. Right click ANY object to see a SQL script representing the object.

Is this too much to ask? I've tried running SQLyog in a VM but hate hogging so much memory to run a SQL client, not to mention the fact I routinely have issues authenticating my VM and host machine simultaneously on Starbucks' wi-fi.

Comments (Comment Moderation is enabled. Your comment will not appear until approved.)
[Add Comment] [Subscribe to Comments]
  1. Take a look at Sequel Pro its free and for OSX I've been using it and its quite good: http://www.sequelpro.com/

    Posted By Paul Kukiel : Posted At 9/4/09 2:33 PM
  2. querious is like a pro version os sequal pro http://www.araelium.com/querious/

    i left navicat as well, felt like a windows app, bigg, bulky, slow, crash prone.

    Posted By dave : Posted At 9/4/09 5:04 PM
  3. I second Sequel Pro. No apparent need for anything else to do web dev.

    Posted By freelance web developer : Posted At 9/4/09 5:14 PM
  4. +1 for Sequel Pro

    Posted By Tony Garcia : Posted At 9/4/09 5:24 PM
  5. Another vote for Sequel Pro here, from a former Navicat user. It's the best.

    Posted By Jonathan Hollin : Posted At 9/5/09 4:56 AM
  6. + 1 for you dorks to move back to Windows.

    Posted By Angus Mclaren : Posted At 9/5/09 7:03 AM
  7. sequal pro was ok but head to head against querious it shows it's lack of features, querious is defiantly worth the $25. Plus the developer is quite responsive.

    @Angus Mclaren I'll give you $10 to open the email I send you!

    Posted By dave : Posted At 9/5/09 9:22 AM
  8. Adam, Have you ever tried using the MySQL GUI toolset? They are free, and work pretty well. Not the most advanced features, but work 20x better than Navicat.

    Posted By Nick Kwiatkowski : Posted At 9/5/09 10:01 AM
  9. The MySQL GUI tools for the Mac work very well. Much better than Navicat. They're well worth checking out.

    Posted By Larry C. Lyons : Posted At 9/5/09 4:25 PM
  10. Hi all, thanks for the responses so far.

    Sequel pro looks interesting although it does seem like the object browser is limited to sharing the same window space as the query. Is it just one editor at a time?

    Querious looks a little more robust but also appears to have similar problems but looks like it might be able to handle more than one query editor at a time.

    Angus - nice try.

    I've used the MySQL GUI tools on Windows and while the object browser solves the introspection issue, the query panel was tiny and unusable.

    I think I'm too picky :-)

    Posted By Adam Howitt : Posted At 9/5/09 5:29 PM
  11. You can open multiple windows to the same database - that gives you multiple query editors.

    Posted By freelance web developer : Posted At 9/5/09 10:57 PM
  12. Isn't the issue with Navicat that versions other than the Windows one are bundled with Wine? I tried the 'linux' version and was horrified to find out that these losers tried to sell me a Windows app.

    Then again, phpMyAdmin does just about anything you need from a MySQL admin app.

    Posted By Luke : Posted At 9/7/09 12:49 AM
  13. Will give SequelPro a try. Until now MySQLWorkbench works very good for me.

    Posted By cosmin : Posted At 9/7/09 4:19 AM
  14. MySQL Workbench is a a native C++ application, available on Win, Linux, Mac (Snow Leopard).

    WB 5.1 does Data Modeling (replaced DBDesigner)

    WB 5.2 does Editor, Query, Admin (replacing MySQL Query Browser and MySQL Administrator).

    See Quick Tour: http://dev.mysql.com/workbench/?page_id=236

    - MySQL Workbench

    Posted By MySQL Workbench : Posted At 9/7/09 3:44 PM
  15. Thanks all for your comments but specifically the MySQL Workbench team for the comment on their WB5.2 release! Just pulled it down and at first look this is what I've been looking for. Works on Snow Leopard for me (so far) and has an object browser with column overviews and a split query/results multi-tab interface. Will post an update as I become more intimate this week.

    Posted By Adam Howitt : Posted At 9/7/09 6:41 PM
  16. Hmmm, 5.2 Alpha sounds hot. Please post back your experience on it. Right now I'm not too eager to use it in production. But then again phpMyAdmin's utf-8 issues suck big time too so the new admin features would be very handy. Well what the heck, you convinced me. I go get it right now :) PS: there s something wrong on Opera with your comment form. The comment field is like 100x30 px ;)

    Posted By cosmin : Posted At 9/8/09 5:03 AM
  17. Thanks Cosmin - I think it's my global stylesheet affecting the comment box - will dig in later today :-)

    Posted By Adam Howitt : Posted At 9/8/09 4:23 PM
  18. Check out Aqua Data Studio. It has a great query editors that will fill in the table and field names for you. It works with any db that has a java db driver. It is a little pricey.

    Posted By Kurt Wiersma : Posted At 9/14/09 12:48 AM
[Add Comment]