Bug #65569 Unable to select range in result set, limited to single-cell copying via mouse.
Submitted: 8 Jun 2012 17:11 Modified: 27 Jul 2012 7:48
Reporter: Mike Reid Email Updates:
Status: Closed Impact on me:
None 
Category:MySQL Workbench: SQL Editor Severity:S3 (Non-critical)
Version:5.2.40 OS:MacOS (10.7.4, 10.5.6)
Assigned to: CPU Architecture:Any
Tags: cell, copy, mouse, range, results, SELECT

[8 Jun 2012 17:11] Mike Reid
Description:
In MySQL Workbench on Windows, you can "drag" to form a custom selection of a given result set. You can even hold "CTRL" to include individual cells as part of your selection, which you can then copy (using CTRL + C) to easily extract ONLY the data you want from your query results onto your clipboard. It's a fantastic feature.

On OS X, however, there are some unfortunate differences:

1) You can only select a single cell at a time. "Dragging" to select a range also does not work.

2) The Command + C hotkey does not provide a "quick copy" of your current selection as it does with Windows. You are forced to use the Context Menu and the mouse.

How to repeat:
1. Open Workbench (on Mac) and connect to database

2. Run a query (e.g. select * from mysql.user; )

3. Select a cell and hit "Command + C" to attempt Copying the contents. Nothing is placed on your clipboard. Try and select multiple cells (using CTRL or Command), or even by dragging, and watch as you are limited to highlighting a single cell at a time.

MySQL Workbench on Windows makes it SO much easier to quickly capture a custom selection (spanning multiple columns / rows) from a query result to your clipboard, and even provides the most common "Copy" hotkey, to boot.

Suggested fix:
1. Enable "Command + C" hotkey to Copy current selection to clipboard
2. Allow selecting multiple cells (e.g. a range) at a time
[8 Jun 2012 17:14] Valeriy Kravchuk
Thank you for the problem report.
[25 Jul 2012 15:06] Mike Reid
I see that this has been addressed in the v5.2.41 release :) (1. Command+C to copy + 2. Multiple row select for copy)

I am wondering if anyone else can confirm if the new "Command+C" hotkey only works the _first_ time after running a new query?

It seems I can reliably reproduce this, where it works once for copying a result, but any subsequent "Command+C" copy attempts do not work.

Nevertheless, thank you very much for the recent improvements, and hopefully you find this feedback helpful.
[27 Jul 2012 7:48] Philip Olson
Fixed as of Workbench 5.2.41, and here's the changelog entry:

It is now possible to select a range of rows using the key. And on Mac OS X, 
the key will now allow the selection of individual rows
[4 Sep 2012 22:49] jason wilcox
I can confirm that the 'command + copy' works until the workbench loses window focus.

1. issue a query
2. change window focus to another application or simply click on the desktop to release window focus from the workbench.
3. click back to the workbench to assign window focus.
4. click on the 'edit' drop-down from the context menu. notice the 'greyed out' 'Copy' selection from the workbench context menu.
5. launch a new tab in the workbench.
6. navigate back to your original tab containing the query results. focus should be in the query results. 
7. click on the 'edit' drop-down from the context menu. notice the ability to 'Copy' from the menu.
[4 Sep 2012 22:53] jason wilcox
mysql workbench: version 5.2.42

OS: Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun  7 16:33:36 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_I386 i386