Show HN: PSequel – a free PostgreSQL GUI Tool for Mac OS X
psequel.com
Happy Cyber Monday!
psequel.com
Hopefully Datazenit[0] will solve this and provide great cross-database, cross-platform support. Currently it is beta stage and supports MySQL/PostgreSQL, but other database systems are on the way.
I don't think so. Actually, IMO it is better than the alternatives exactly because it does not try to be everything for everyone but keeps focus.
That said, I really would like it to support other DB-engines like Postgres and SQLite too.
Panic (http://panic.com) gave the app a new icon, as they are using the source-code in their Coda application (http://panic.com/coda) MySQL client.
https://github.com/arbarlow/crate/blob/master/Crate/Classes/... https://github.com/arbarlow/crate/blob/master/Crate/Classes/...
As a bonus, it connects to all the major RDBMSes.
PgAdmin does handle these functions, but the UI can be buggy, and is subject to problems with slow network connections - forced restarts can be common.
Plus the two things are not contradictory. You can do them in the GUi and get the resulting SQL / DDL code to automate them later.
And not every database in existence is part of a larger stack. I don't care much about automating a task I'll only do once in a throwaway DB that exists only on my computer.
Although this tool, 0xDBE, doesn't look to have any DBA features like the OP was requesting.
[1]: http://sequelpro.com
Making object editors takes a lot more effort, especially considering all the different objects PostgreSQL has: schemas, tables view, materialized views, indices, functions, sequences, etc.
I'm struggling with this myself. I'm currently trying to add object editors to PG Commander, and it's months and months of work. I wanted to have a table structure editor in PG Commander 1.0, and now, more than a year later, I'll finally be able to deliver a basic table & view editor in version 2.0 -- you can try a prerelease here: https://eggerapps.at/pgcommander-prerelease/
The latter is where PgAdmin is most useful for DB objects. The DDL view not only shows me things like CREATE TABLE/VIEW/FUNCTION etc., but also shows dependent objects such as constraints, indexes, permissions in the same window. Most of the JDBC based tools do not.
Graphical explain plans can be very nice to have, along with status views that make things like pg_stat_activity easy to consume in an actively refreshing compact view.
1. When I first make a connection, the application window jumps to full screen size. This is very annoying. I running on a 4k screen with 1:1 pixels, so that is far more real estate than the application needs. Even on smaller screens, I would immediately have to resize the window after I connect.
2. I would like to be able to not provide the database name and allow me to switch from one DB to another using the same connection. (also, currently if you leave DB blank and attempt to connect, it crashes.)
3. 80% of the time I directly connect to my databases with a tool like this, it is not to look at the data, it is to create/drop/modify tables and other design and admin stuff. I'll occasionally use it to test complex queries before putting them in my code, but most of my queries are simple enough that they don't need testing prior to coding. So I'd see this as more useful if it had the ability to simplify the admin stuff. As it is, since I'd need to use pgAdmin 80% of the time, its not compelling to us something else for the other 20%.
1. I'll fix this.
2. When you switch from one DB to another in postgres, you are essentially making a new connection instead of reusing the same connection[1]. In PSequel, you could create different connection bookmarks for different databases and open multiple connections at the same time in multiple windows.
3. In my company, we write migration scripts (activerecord migration) to modify table structures. We usually don't modify them directly/manually. 80% of the time we use GUI tools just for viewing data and testing out complicated SELECT queries. I didn't realize that many other people's usage patterns are different. Anyway, the feature of modifying table structures is in PSequel's roadmap.
Some feedback for you, though:
"I don't want to pay Apple for delivering a free app."
I can understand this out of context, but I don't think it's a reasonable answer to the question of why the app isn't code-signed (i.e. that has nothing to do with distribution). It's quite the favor to ask of your users for a closed-source app.
Still nice to see another good looking app in this field.
- DB Explorer (tab for exploring schema, allows you to search through large sets of tables and other items very easily - primo)
- SQL Formatting
- Well thought out user shortcuts for executing queries
- Intelligent auto-completion
Really, they essentially loaded it with every feature imaginable, which may make it feel clunky, but it's a total Clydesdale in terms of functionality.
Also it's scriptable data import function works nicely - we have it running here every 15 minutes, loading data from other systems into postgres.
I don't find the lag too noticeable; certainly not when you're in query mode. I do find the lack of Materialized View support lacking, though! They don't materialise anywhere..
Looking forward to giving this a try.
http://www.aquafold.com/aquadatastudio/table_data_editor.htm...
as a side note, everyone seems to be on a Mac... And nobody on desktop Linux. Didn't really think that possible that from a postgres (or a mysql) crowd.
1. The font rendering is bad on linux. Especially non-anti-aliased monospace fonts, for some reason, which is what I spend 90% of my day looking at.
2. Multimonitor support is a real pain to configure, whereas on OS X you just plug and go. I have cinema displays at home and at work, and I move around between them a lot. That's really painful on linux.
Are you using a somewhat recent KDE? At least on the three machines that I regularly use, the management UI looks like [0], and works at least as well as the one in Windows 7.
[0] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9XFAUJBqajo/TrrwUNlBE3I/AAAAAAAAGY...
I do, however, know that OS X does font rendering so much better that I have trouble with pretty much any alternative.
That's fine if that's what you like, but don't try and pretend that it's in any way objectively "better".
An aside: I don't work for them, and yes, I do buy their licenses.
Edit: Amazon Redshift is based on PostgreSQL 8.0.2 but PSequel uses libpq 9.3. I'll work on supporting Redshift if it gets enough demands. Anyone who wants a specific feature could fire a request at http://www.psequel.com/report_bugs
Here are a few gotchas with redshift: 1) OID and CTID columns show up in the catalog, but you can't access them.
2) Primary Keys and unique indices aren't actually enforced!! You can insert two rows with the same primary key.
3) Make sure you only access catalogs that exist in 8.0, eg. there is no pg_matviews before 9.3, there's no typcategory before 8.4 etc. (fortunately the PostgreSQL docs are very helpful)
4) When setting the "application_name" connection parameter, PostgreSQL will have to connect twice to a Redshift server. Recent versions of libpq do so automatically, but you should keep this in mind (eg. when using SSH tunnels, or when validating SSL certs)
However, all in all, it's pretty easy to add support for Redshift. (I know because I'm the developer of PG Commander)
My company[1] makes a database client that runs in your web browser that has explicit support for Redshift (as well as Postgres, MySQL, and more). I encourage you to check it out.
This looks like a promising tool, but its limit platform support kills it for me, for now.
(Probably not a high risk in this case, but on principle...)
You are right about "DROP TABLE" risk in this case but some other threats are mitigated by the sand boxing of apps.
How are you liking Swift by the way? I'm really enjoying it.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zlhcun6w26512s/Screenshot%202014-...
I know the Terminal in PG Commander isn't for everybody; maybe I'll change it in a future version.
UPDATE: added 8.3 version number.
(i.e. is it going to be FOSS?)