My Thoughts on SQL Buddy
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across SQL Buddy - a web-based database administration tool in the same vein as PHPMyAdmin. Although I have always used PHPMyAdmin for all of my web development projects, I have always hated the user interface. Aside from feeling old and clunky, there is entirely too much information on every single screen. Nonetheless, I had grown accustomed to it and had settled on it as the best tool for the job at hand. After spending some time reading about SQL Buddy, I decided to give it a try and use it every time I needed to perform any operation for which I’d typically use PHPMyAdmin. Overall, I really like SQL Buddy.
One of the first things that you notice about SQL Buddy is the minimalistic interface. Aside from offering you only the essential options for each page on which you are working, it does a really good job of staying out of your way. It does not offer seemingly irrelevant options, and it does not try to compensate for more than it should for any given task. Furthermore, it does not rely on any fancy interfact elements - other than text links, text boxes, tables, and list items, SQL Buddy relies on little else to present its information. This not only makes the presentation very clear and clean, but it also makes the application load very fast.
Another thing that I really like about SQL Buddy is that it uses Ajax throughout the application. There are very, very few page loads that occur whenever using the tool. Whenever you click a link or load up a set of data, only relevant sections of the page change based on what you’re trying to accomplish. This gives a really seemless feel to the experience and makes it feel much more like a desktop application. On top of the slick use of Ajax, SQL Buddy also properly handles operations such as the back button. Whereas with most Ajax-enabled applications, you go back to the last previously fully loaded page whenever you hit ‘back’, SQL Buddy will return you to the previously loaded screen.
In addition to this proper handling of ‘back’ behavior, you can also bookmark whatever screen on which you’re currently working such that you can return to that page at any given time with the same data reloaded. This feature is really useful if you have several ongoing projects in that you can setup shortcuts to the database(s) or table(s) related to a given project rather than having to login and manually navigate to the proper location every single time.
Lastly, installation of SQL Buddy is a breeze. It is a simple matter of unarchiving the files to a directory on your webserver. There are no configuration files or any dependencies required. Once the files have been dropped into a directory on your server, then you are good to go.
Overall, SQL Buddy is a great tool. Aside from being lightweight and easy to install, navigating and using the application is a breeze. It runs fast and really does good job handling some of the quirks that many Ajax-enabled applications have. Though it may not be as powerful as PHPMyAdmin or offer as many options, SQL Buddy is great for a straight-forward database management tool.