EditDB Project Page
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EditDB (Database Editor)

Overview
Usage: [ Setup and start of EditDB | Connecting to a database | Database details | Database tables | Editing table content ]
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Overview

EditDB is a database front-end written in Java (Java 1.5 required, JDBC used) for editing content of databases. Various details about database structure can be viewed. In edit mode, special help is provided to the user when s/he edits foreign or private keys.

Setup and start of EditDB

Extract the archive you have downloaded.

Modify content of file EditDB.cfg. The file contains default values for database connection. The default content of this file defines database connection to HSQL (Hypersonic SQL) database:

default.driver=org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver
default.url=jdbc:hsqldb:hsql://localhost/SomeDB
default.user=sa

Start EditDB. You can invoke run.bat under Windows. Also double-click on EditDB.jar should work. To start EditDB from command-line use java -jar EditDB.jar EditDB.cfg. EditDB accepts one parameter from command-line: the name of configuration file. The user can have more database connection definition files and may select which one should be used. If no parameter is specified then EditDB.cfg is used by default.

When EditDB is started, the main window should look like the following picture:

Connecting to a database

Click on connect button (or use menu: Database > Connect, F5 is hotkey) and the following dialog will appear:

Modify default values if required and press OK button. The database should open. EditDB has bundled Hypersonic SQL 1.8.0 in its binaries. If you need to use another database, add all required libraries to classpath when invoking EditDB (for example: java -cp MyDbLib.jar -jar EditDB.jar MyDb.cfg).

When a database is opened, the tree is filled with names all schemas and tables from the database:

Database details

Select URL of the database to see detailed information about it:

Database details are shown in Database tab.

Database tables

Select a table from the tree and various information about the selected table will be visible:

The information about the selected table is split into the following tabs:

• Table: General information about the table (name, schema, catalog, ...)
• Columns: Description of table columns (name, type, default value, is nullable, ...)
• PKs: Primary keys defined for the selected table (name, column)
• FKs: Foreign keys defined for the selected table (name, column, update/delete strategy, ...)
• Data: Content of the table

Editing table content

Select a table to edit (in the tree) and then select Data tab. The content of the table will be shown. Only first NNN rows from each table will be displayed (default value for NNN is 100). The user may change the NNN value using menu: Options > Rows shown for table.

Select a row to edit and press Edit row button (or use menu: Edit > Edit row, F4 is hotkey). The following dialog will appear:

Some column values may be edited directly. Other values cannot be edited (the value is read only, is generated by the database, ...). Foreign keys (references to primary keys of other tables) have associated [FK] button for selecting a value. More information about columns can be obtained by pressing Info button:

In our example, the ID is Autoincrement (so cannot be edited, it is generated by the database). AUTHOR is foreign key that references other table (table AUTHORS in our example).

To change value of a foreign key, press [FK] button associated with the appropriate value. The content of table that contains all primary keys that may be used as foreign keys in the selected table will be shown:

Select a row that contains the required information and press OK. The row's primary key will be used as foreign key in the edited table. This approach works only for "simple" primary and foreign keys -- only for keys that consist of single cell; there is no support for keys that are composed of more columns.

Download

This software is distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL) and WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY!

See EditDB project page for more details or download EditDB directly.

Written by Voltik, 2006-05-26