MySQL Bugs: #70455: Allow viewing of multiple query tabs at once

Bug #70455	Allow viewing of multiple query tabs at once
Submitted:	27 Sep 2013 16:48	Modified:	31 Jan 2018 16:10
Reporter:	James R	Email Updates:
Status:	Verified	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Workbench: SQL Editor	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:	6.3.10	OS:	Any
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	monitors, multiple, query, resize, tab, table, VIEW

Description:
It would be very useful to be able to take advantage of extra screen real estate to view query result tabs side by side instead of only one at a time. For example, if I have two tables, one of which references the other, I may need to look at both at the same time to make sense of the data.

As far as I can tell, this is impossible, as you cannot open more than once instance of MySQL Workbench (at least on Windows, trying to do so just starts another connection in the same window) and you cannot resize a query tab (it always takes 100% of the available height and width).

How to repeat:
This is not a bug. Open a database, run a query (e.g., top 1000). The results appear under the query editor in a full-width, full-height pane. The size relative to other panes can be adjusted, but the size of the result pane relative to its contents cannot be adjusted - it will always be completely filled, even if by white space.

Suggested fix:
The best solution would be to allow tabs to be pulled out into their own window, similar to how one can pull a tab from Chrome off the parent window and have it become its own window. This is preferable in that it allows easy use of multiple monitors as you can snap the new pane to its own monitor.

Another solution would be to allow tabs to have window-like behavior where they can be resized and dragged around within their parent pane, for example, the way you can view two workbooks in one copy of Excel at the same time.

Yet another solution, which I suggest just in case it is easier (I don't think it is the "right" solution) is to allow at least a single extra simultaneous display area in some way. For example, allow the tab area to be split in half, or allow the tab area to replace the right hand "SQL Additions" area.

Looks like multiple monitor support just isn't a priority.  This issue has been voice on this forum since 2012 but ignored.

https://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=66679

Why is Workbench stuck in 1990s UI constructs?  Who even uses a single display for working with DBs?  Running a second instance of Workbench is a poor substitute, since that introduces unnecessary overhead to simply keep schema on a different monitor, and queries separated vertically to compare side by side.

When you say "Running a second instance of Workbench is a poor substitute..." do you mean if they were to implement that, or is it possible now? As I noted in my original post, I thought that if you tried to start another instance of Workbench, it just creates a new connection within the existing Workbench instance (at least on Windows). However, I have not tried this for a while -- maybe the latest versions of Workbench behave differently. I'd be OK with the overhead since, while perhaps not ideal, at least it allows me to do what I need in some manner. Adding, e.g., memory to my machine would be a small price to pay. Synchronization might be more of an issue. Would each window automatically reflect changes made in the other?

But, I guess if they aren't going to add this feature, nitpicking the pros and cons of how to implement it isn't very useful... oh well!

To be fair, I do have to say: MySQL is free. It's owned by Oracle, and they obviously can't have it becoming an Oracle replacement. And, it's pretty darn good at many things. So, when they won't add a feature that perhaps Oracle (or other paid products like SQL Server) has, it's tough to really complain. Well, actually it's easy to complain -- it's tough to have that complaint carry much weight ;)

Thank you for the feature request.