Improved Table Navigation

I like the ability to navigate through tables using the navigator, but it would also be great to be able to easily navigate from table to table in the References tab. In this case it would not depend on any particular row of data, but would just give the ability to explore a path through the database. The idea would be that if you right click on a table in the (graph view of the) References tab, there would be an option like 'Jump to' that would then make the selected table the central item and show the links to that table. This is almost the same as is already possible with the 'Show in Window...' option, but I don't want to create loads of windows and keep selecting the references tab while traversing a path. At the same time it would be great if there were a 'Back' button so that I could retrace my steps through the data model. Browsing the data model then becomes very similar to following links in a web browser. Not a critical feature, but it would be nice to have... Simon

Hi Simon, Just to clarify, when you select "Jump to", are you saying that the content of the graph should change to the same content as you today see when selecting the References tab for a single table? If so, would simply switching the view to the References tab for the select table be a usable alternative, to keep the selected node and the Object View content in sync. Instead of clicking a Back button, you would then select the appropriate node (Tables or an individual table) in the objects tree to "navigate back". Best Regards, Hans

Yes. The idea is that you select table A and look at the references. You then notice that table A is linked to table B. You select table B in the references graph and choose 'Jump to' or 'Navigate To' or some similar mechanism, and then table B would become the selected table and the centre of the references graph. You are right that the back button with a stack history is not really necessary if you can navigate as described. The key idea is to be able to navigate from entity to entity to help discover relational paths through the database. Once you have discovered the path from one entity to another, you might then use the navigator feature to explore the links at the individual or row-based level.

Hi Simon, Thanks for the clarification. I've added your suggestion to our feature tracking system. Just in case you are not aware of it, there is References tab for the Tables node (in addition to the References tab for a specific table), showing the references between all (or selected) tables in a schema. It may be part of what you're looking for. Best Regards, Hans