DataGrip: Swiss Army Knife for Databases and SQL | Hacker News Reader

DataGrip: Swiss Army Knife for Databases and SQL

jetbrains.com

119 pointsporker45 comments

I have used DataGrip from OSX, Windows, and Linux to connect to MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQL Server. This is what I found.

  + Multiplatform, including OSX
  + Multilingual, can connect to many DBs
  + Decent Ergonomics.
      Queries don't lock up the UI.
      Connection closing does not close the query window.
      Doesn't crash.

  - Doesn't seem to have code gen from entity.
  - Not as robust as native clients.
      Doesn't seem to comprehend Sql Server views and stored procedures
  - A little weird about having to explicitly fetch schemas before you can browse a database. Can take a long time sometimes.

When I need to just query data, it is great. However, when exploring an unfamiliar database it gets weird and I can't rely on it to inform me in a decent way about the presence of non-table things in the database (like views and stored procedures). I would also not rely on it to administer the database.

Overall, it has quickly become my favorite DB tool, and I look forward to JetBrains filling out DataGrip's missing features.

As great as Jetbrains IDEA is, they are now trying to push their Creative Cloud style suite of several separate tools called Jetbrains Toolbox. My concern is that in the long-term the integrated features of IDEA will be weakened in favour of lots of individual tools for which one needs the toolbox.

I was concerned about that when they went with the subscription model and started spitting out more 'helper' apps, but so far (as primarily a Pycharm user) I've been really happy about the rate features are rolled out across all the products and the completeness of all the integrated features. More often than not I'm surprised a particular plugin/integration (database access, typescript support, JS/HTML-framework-of-the-moment) is as full featured as it is.

Thing is their suite is pretty good value; I have all of the tools I need to be productive with Java/Python/C# for what, somewhere between 150-250 EUR per year? That isn't bad.

Total agreement. The suite of tools is, for me, a no-brainer. I'm happy to pay.

My concern is not so much about the value, but it's about the risk of fragmentation of what you need across many different IDE tools.

I have it. And I agree...

As a PM who needs to fetch and crunch numbers frequently from Postgres databases, this tool is amazing.

Auto-complete for looking up fields and practically writing your JOIN clauses for you is just delicious.

Using it since it was 0xDBE and actively promoting it in my company.

I tried this out as a replacement for SQL Developer (awful) and PL/SQL Developer (good, but like something from the 90s) when the Early Access Programme started.

It wasn't up to snuff then, but I have faith in Jetbrains and am a big PyCharm user. I'll definitely be giving this a try.

I had similar feeling about DataGrip when I first tried it out, but it still feels a bit outdated.

So I am currently working on Datazenit[0] that takes a bit different approach than most regular tools. It's a database GUI for MySQL and PostgreSQL, available for both desktop and web. It's lightweight yet introduces a few unique features like data visualization, query/connection/chart sharing with team members, query builder, database content editor with specific editors for different data types and so on. There is still a lot of work to be done, but many of the users are already using it daily for their database administration needs.

[0] https://datazenit.com/

Thanks for the heads up on this. Does it have tools for working with stored procedures? This is the main thing I am looking for.

Stored procedures are not yet available, but new features are constantly being added to Datazenit and we could add this in one of the upcoming releases. If you are interested in trying out the tool, I would love to hear your feedback. You can reach me at lauris@datazenit.com.

This looks nice. I am going to check it out. From looking at the screenshots, I'm guessing electron?

Thanks! Yep, the desktop app is built on top of Electron. The backend is developed in Scala and Play framework.

As far as i can tell, this pretty much seems to be like the SQL features of PyCharm split into its own tool. I don't get the impression there is anything extra - you just have reduced clutter from not having the python stuff in there.

It's a nice tool, I use it daily. Right now my only gripe is that it doesn't format (PostgreSQL) JSON columns in any way, so if you're storing a lot of JSON data, it can be difficult to view.

You mean in the resultset? If so, you can use jsob_pretty() (assuming you are using version 9.5+)

A co-worker pointed out to me the other day that PyCharm has SQL querying and refactoring built in as well. Starting to use it as a data grip like IDE as well.

it's basically the same thing. Data Grip is basically IntelliJ running the same database plugin that PyCharm (or PhpStorm or whatever other IDE from them) is running.

It might be that the version of the plugin in Data Grip is a bit newer and the UI might be a bit more optimized for pure database management, but the functionality should be more or less the same.

I work with about a 600 table 2 TB PostgreSQL database and I started to use DataGrip, when it was in beta, for constructing complex queries. It's quite good for writing larger queries, but also taking auto-generated queries from an ORM and re-formatting them to help with debugging application behavior.

For db-specific operations I still use PostgreSQL's command-line client psql. It's an invaluable tool, but it's really nice to have options.

I also like the ability to pin query results so that I can quickly compare result sets in slightly-modified queries that I'm trying to fix.

Not so great at exploring the schema. Could be that I just didn't learn the tool enough to make that easier.

I'll second the exploring the schema bit. Overall I'm really impressed with JetBrains tools, in this case however not so much. Schema exploration is pretty critical in a database tool. While it is useful; it isn't able to replace other database tools I need so I've just continued working with my existing tools rather than adding yet another to the mix.

I found the SB Navigator plugin solved the weirdness of navigating a schema. I've been using DataGrip for Oracle and MySQL a lot lately and absolutely love it!

When I was a data engineer we lived in this (well the beta when it was called 0xDBE). Composing complex queries was where this shined. I almost never used it for any writes or administrative behavior as it tended to freeze a lot (about a year ago) and I ended up just reverting to psql. I would probably pay for this if I were still maintaining a few hundred Redshift/Postgres/MongoDB tables.

Does this still have the Java caused wonkiness when connecting to databases over unix sockets? I did a quick search and couldn't find the answer. I just went through the hassle of trying to figure out how to make Pycharm connect to mysql-like instance over a unix socket and just gave up and switched to a TCP port. I hope that isn't an issue here.

I see this tool most useful for people who need to interact with multiple types of databases on the regular. If you only using SQL Server, SSMS is probably the best tool for that. But if you have to use SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, etc. throughout your day then a single tool is probably going to be the best option for you.

I don't know how Jetbrains DataGrip compares to SSMS, but on its own, SSMS isn't good enough in my opinion. With Redgate's [expensive] plugin (SQL Prompt, I think?), sure it's a fantastic experience. However, if you're paying through the nose for SQL Server licenses which come with SSMS Professional, it shouldn't be too much to expect the kind of functionality SQL Prompt comes with built in as standard in SSMS.

SSMS isn't "good enough"? No offense but I think that is hogwash. SSMS is a fantastic tool and blows away anything I've used in the past. Short of refactoring support (which would be great), I SSMS is a tremendous tool.

I am curious... What you are missing from SSMS modern versions, that is so much better?

The intellisense/code completion is very good in SSMS, as long as you are on modern versions of SSMS/SQL Server.

I assume there are several examples of this where there will be a better client for database X than to use this. I rarely use my swiss army knife - if I want to do something serious I use a real saw, screwdriver etc, because while the Swiss army knife may have a lot of features is pretty bad at all of them. I often see examples of Swiss Army Knifes software which integrates poorly with several different systems and good with none.

This used to be my favorite query tool http://www.aquafold.com/aquadatastudio.html Then they got a little crazy with the pricing. If you have the money though, it's definitely worth evaluating ...

I've been using this everyday since it was in beta as 0xDBE for PostgreSQL, MSSQL, and MySQL databases and it's been great. I would previously just use pgadmin or the built-in database tools from the other JetBrains products.

does it have many other features beyond what is built into IDEA? I use the database features in IDEA every day and dont find too much lacking - but curious if there are other things I could be missing out on.

I looked up the price and you have to pay per year for this? What the heck?

I tested out DataGrip back during the open beta (when it was called 0xDBE) and I enjoyed it. Shame the JetBrains pricing scheme changed as $200 for the first year for something like this is pretty steep.

For individual customers the first year is $89

Discussed a few months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10745291.

Man oh man, if they supported MongoDB I'd love JetBrains so much

Is there an equivalent tool for no-sql DB?

If you like SQL Server Management Studio then give MongoChef a try:

http://3t.io/mongochef/

weird product, usually when i think of a sql tool, i think of something like toad

i am not sure how datagrips compared to toad

No ERDs?!

My swiss army knife:

$ psql

You edit stored procedures from psql? What a discipline.

(If you don't write SPs, you probably don't need DataGrip).

I write stored procedures in vi and run them from psql.

I think the title is missing a important aspect that your swiss army knife doesn't have it integrated: GUI.

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