Making life easier - Database Design Manual: Using MySQL for Windows - page 193

Making life easier 16

Other Tools

In the final chapter of this topic I thought I would introduce you to two more tools that can
make using MySQL easier. I did not mention these earlier because by using these tools from
the start you would not have been able to learn as much of the basic SQL that is required to
really use MySQL well. These programs are:

•

MySQL Control Centre, the new graphical console for MySQL from the developers.

•

PHPMyAdmin, a web-based interface to Administer MySQL functions.

MySQL Control Centre

MySQL Control Centre can be downloaded free from the Graphical clients section of the
MySQL.com downloads area:

http://www.mysql.com/downloads/

The control centre is distributed as a zip file which when uncompressed gives you a
setup program to run. The setup is reasonably standard but also installs various language
packs that you may wish to deselect to save space if not needed.
Once installed and running, you will see the screen shown in Figure 16.1. The left side
has a standard menu tree where you can select any of the MySQL objects. The currently
selected object in the figure is the Log table. When you select a table, the panel on the right-
hand side of the screen will give you some information about that table, similar to if you
had executed a DESCRIBE LOG command. This screen gives you a quick overview of the
whole system.
The control centre shows its power when you right click on an object. Figure 16.2 shows
the context menu that appears when you right click on the Log table. Here you are given a
menu which allows you to use the Log table to great extent.
Selecting the Edit Table option from the context menu reveals the screen shown in
Figure 16.3. Here you can change the design of your table with the graphical interface. You
will note that in the figure the Insert Row icon is just about to be selected. This allows you
to add a new column to the existing table without having to remember the ALTER TABLE
syntax. In this case the new column would be added before the Browser column.

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