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Re-organize the Show List window

This is a suggestion for re-organizing the Show List ("SL") window (invoked via the button at the top right of the tabs, showing the list of tabs and their contents).

 

I often have many tabs open at one time, and I'm usually working with a few different databases and tables broken down roughly by "issue." For example, I'll be working on issue 1 with database/tables D1/T1,T2 and issue 2 with databases D2/T1,T2, etc. When I want to "switch" to the other issue, I use SL to find the tab(s) I left open for it.

 

In SL the tabs are listed in the order the tabs are in (which I'm calling the "physical tab order", or PTO):

 

Tabs:     tab1: D1/T2     tab2: D2/T1        tab3: D1/T1

Show List Window:

      D1/T2

      D2/T1

      D1/T1

 

Having the list in this order doesn't really provide much additional value - I still have to scan the entire list serially to find the one I want. Also, there is little benefit to showing the list in PTO, aside from allowing me to have a general sense of where to start my search.

 

My idea here is to rearrange that list so it becomes easier to search. Some suggestions are:

 

  1. group tabs by database
  2. order tabs by database name
  3. make 2 fixed-size columns (Database Name and Table/SQL_Cmdr Name) so it's visually easier to search
  4. add a "quick filter" box to show only matching tabs
  5. add the Database Name to SQL Commander tabs
  6. keep SQL Commander tabs together
  7. for "Untitled" SQL Commander tabs, provide some identifying information from the SQL edit buffer, like:

  • the first "FROM" clause (if present)
  • info from the current line (based on the cursor position)
  • info from the current SQL command (based on the cursor position)
  • a "tooltip" with any of the above information - this could be available even for named SQL Commander tabs

For maximum convenience, there could be option boxes in the window (with accelerator keys) that change the list (I am showing "Tab #" here, but I'm not sure it would be of any use):

   

    [ x ] Group by Database
    [ x ] Sort by Table Name
    [ x ] Keep SQL Commander tabs together
   Quick Filter: invoice____________

Tab#  DB	Tab Title
3  DB1	Customer_Invoice
12  DB1	Invoice_History
1        DB1	All Invoices.sql
15      DB1	Move Invoices.sql
 7       DB2	Customer_Invoice
4        DB2	Untitled - "Copy all invoices to another table"

 In addition, there could be a button that re-orders the tabs so the PTO will be the same as the currently displayed order (reordering would ignore the Quick Filter's value). 

 

Finally, There should be a Key Binding that opens SL (if there already is one, I haven't been able to find it).

 

These suggestions could be implemented independently of one another (that is, 1 and 3 but not 2). Adding *any* of them would make the Show List box much more valuable.

 

Thanks for listening!!

 

Charles


1 Comment

Hi Charles,


Thanks for the suggestion and all details. We will look into this.


Regards


Roger

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