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    Using dbForge Fusion for MySQL
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    This article provides basic information about dbForge Fusion for MySQL. The article explains what dbForge Fusion is, where it can be downloaded, and how to install and start using it. For detailed information on dbForge Fusion please refer to its own documentation.

    This article consists of following sections:

    Introduction

    dbForge Fusion is a powerful tool designed to automate and simplify MySQL database development process. It integrates into Visual Studio making all database development and administration tasks available from your favorite IDE. Using dbForge Fusion, you can:

    Screenshot of dbForge Fusion for MySQL

    Versions and Compatibility

    Devart issues dbForge Fusion for MySQL for integrating into different versions of Microsoft Visual Studio (2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019). There are also versions that do not require an IDE (dbForge Studio for MySQL) and that are designed for Oracle server (dbForge Studio for Oracle product line). You can find the full list of Devart database tools on the web site.

    All registered customers of dotConnect for MySQL Developer Edition are granted the right to download and use dbForge Fusion for Visual Studio.

    Downloading and Installing

    Before installing dbForge Fusion make sure that there is no earlier version of the software installed for the target IDE.

    Download an appropriate dbForge Fusion version from the dedicated webpage: https://devart.com/dbforge/mysql/fusion/download.html. After you download the file, close all open IDE instances, launch the downloaded installer and follow the instructions of the wizard.

    Basic Usage Instructions

    Creating, modifying and deleting database connections

    Database Explorer displays database connections at the top level of the tree hierarchy. After a connection is established, you can open it to retrieve and manipulate the data provided.

    To add a database connection in Database Explorer

    1. On the Database Explorer window toolbar, press the New Connection button or select the corresponding item from the popup menu.
    2. On the Data Source tab of the Database Connection Properties dialog box, choose the required database server from list.
    3. On the Connection tab of the Database Connection Properties dialog box, provide the main logon information required to connect to the server.
    4. On the Parameters tab of the Database Connection Properties dialog box, provide all specific connection properties you need.
    5. You can optionally perform connection test by clicking the Test Connection button.
    6. Click OK to establish a database connection.

    Then the Database Connection Properties dialog box is closed, and the new database connection is displayed at the top level of the tree and the database can now be accessed.

    You can modify database connection properties from the Database Connection Properties dialog box. To open it, select Modify Connection from the popup menu of the root node. After you apply changes to the existing connection by pressing the OK button, the database connection is closed and reopened.

    To drop database connection choose Delete from the popup menu of the node.

    Displaying server specific database schema information in tree view

    After the database connection is created and opened, you can explore the database schema hierarchy by expanding the tree nodes. Database Explorer allows you to view, edit, create and drop database objects. To see the actions available for a specific node, right-click it to display its popup menu.

    As other users modify the database, you can refresh the list of the database objects displayed in Database Explorer and their properties by clicking the Refresh button.

    You may click the database object in the Database Explorer and view its parameters in the Object Viewer or Properties window.

    Designing Databases

    dbForge Fusion provides two ways of database design:

    Database projects have significantly improved database development, giving developers a number of great opportunities.

    A database project is an offline representation of a database schema with extended opportunities for offline schema development. It is a collection of logically organized SQL scripts and query files, which are used both to create a new database and update the existing one.

    Database development is clear and logical within a database project. It takes you to do the following:

    1. Create a database project with the help of the wizard, either empty or with database objects imported from the required database.
    2. Manage SQL scripts and query files in the project and edit their contents.
    3. Build the ready project to create a script that will deploy all the project changes to the database on the server.
    4. Deploy either the entire project or only certain changes to the server.

    Visit the Database Projects - Modern Approach in Database Development article on our website to learn more about using Database Projects.

    Database Designer is a powerful visual design tool for database development that allows you to build a clear and effective database structure visually and to see the complete picture representing all the tables, foreign key relations between them, views, and stored routines of your database on a database diagram. It allows you to view and edit your database in a convenient visual way.

    To create a database diagram, click the Create New Database Diagram button on the main application toolbar, then drag the existing database objects to the diagram. After this you can use the dbForge toolbar buttons or diagram popup menu to align objects and create new ones.

    Most of database objects displayed in the Database Explorer tree can be modified. There are two kinds of object editors: a popup dialog box and a toolwindow based editor. When you launch a popup dialog editor from the tree view changes are applied to the database right after you click the OK button. Unlike the dialog box, the editor based on a toolwindow can post or discard changes several times without closing the editor. In addition, dbForge Fusion allows you to open more than one toolwindow based editor simultaneously.

    For every object that has some properties a special window is available where you can see all the properties of a given element such as tables, indexes, connections and so on.

    To drop a database object, navigate to it, right-click it, and choose Delete in the popup menu.

    Debugging stored routines and SQL scripts

    dbForge Fusion has a professional tool for debugging stored routines and SQL scripts with MySQL. The full-featured Debugger automates all time consuming tasks connected with debugging and provides full code control. It enables you to do the following:

    To debug a stored routine you must compile it with debug information. To do this, right-click the required routine in Database Explorer and select Compile for Debugging from the Debug submenu of the popup menu. To start stored routine debugging, right-click the stored routine in the Database Explorer or a stored routine source window and use the Step Into command from the Debug submenu of the popup menu. Then you can step through the debugger execution using the Step Into, Step Over and Step Out debugger commands from the debugger toolbar or the Debug menu.

    To debug SQL Script open the required script in the SQL editor and choose Start from the Debug menu. The breakpoints can be set at SQL statements. If some statement is invalid the error message appears in the error list, though debugging process continues. The debugging of SQL script can be suspended by Pause command. You can also use Step commands of the Debug menu to trace SQL script.

    Comparing and synchronizing database schema and data

    dbForge Fusion for MySQL gives you a perfect opportunity to compare schema and data between different databases with many useful features. New Schema Comparison and New Data Comparison wizards provide easy ways to set comparison parameters. You can open these wizards from the Tools -> dbForge Fusion for MySQL -> Database menu. Then choose the objects to be synchronized and click the Show Synchronization Wizard button on the Comparison toolbar to start synchronization.

    Creating and executing SQL statements with SQL editor

    dbForge Fusion allows you to execute all kinds of queries. Click the Create New SQL button on the toolbar to create a new SQL document. Type your query in it and click the Execute button to run it. Results of the query as well as error messages are redirected to the common Output window. You can view the dataset returned from a SELECT query in the Data tab (on the View menu, click Data if it is not visible yet).

    Designing queries visually using Query Builder

    You can switch to the Design mode to construct a query using Query Builder. In this mode you can create SELECT statements easily and quickly. To open Query Builder, click the corresponding menu item on the View menu. Note that if you have had a correct SELECT statement in the SQL editor, it is automatically inserted into Query Builder. Now you can drag and drop tables from Database Explorer, use a special tabbed editor to easily setup JOIN options as well as WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY clauses.

    Viewing and editing data using grid based editor

    Database objects representing tables and views allow you to view and edit their data using special data editor. It is accessible from object popup menu. When you open editor it is automatically filled with data from table. To apply inserting of a new row in a table press ENTER; to cancel changes press ESC. To refresh data from a table, click Refresh in the popup menu.

    Creating new components by dragging items from Database Explorer

    You can drag connections, tables and stored procedures from Database Explorer and drop them onto Visual Studio designers, the integrated development environment (IDE) automatically creates new components that reference the resources selected. For example, if you drag a table from Database Explorer onto a Visual Studio designer, the IDE automatically creates new instances of MySqlConnection and MySqlDataAdapter components preconfigured to reference that particular table.

    Taking advantage of component designers' extended capabilities

    dbForge Fusion extends the functionality of component designers by adding new commands to provide easy access to useful operations. Click a command to open the corresponding wizard and setup the component. This feature makes common operations far more handy. For example, the MySqlConnection designer has a new "Open in Database Explorer" command; MySqlCommand has capabilities of editing SQL statements using "SQL Editor..." and "Query Builder..." as well as editing a target object using "Object Editor..." command; the MySqlDataAdapter and MySqlDataTable designers have a handy "Query Builder..." command that calls Query Builder. You can quickly setup a connection string for MySqlConnection by clicking the "Connection String..." command and choosing an existing connection to inherit its parameters.

    Complete Documentation

    dbForge Fusion has its own comprehensive documentation that describes every aspect of using the software, contains walkthroughs and reference information. There are several ways to open the documentation:

     

     

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