Using WinMySQL Professional
Connection parameters
In the Client/Server architecture, WinMySQL Professional is the «client». It means that it is WinMySQL Professional which sends queries to the MySQL® daemon to obtain answers. These precisions may seem obvious but many people make a confusion between WinMySQL and MySQL®.
In this architecture, there is a direct link between the client and the database manager : it is not necessary to connect to Unix shell to send queries. In other terms, it is not necessary to declare MySQL® users in Unix (or NT®) : The database users must only be declared in MySQL®.
Users are identified by their name, password (and station). Then, to connect WinMySQL Professional to a database, you must own a pair username/password, the name fully qualified or not (or IP address) of the machine hosting the MySQL® server, the target database name and the TCP port .
To create a connection profile, select the submenu «Connection parameters» of menu «file» or perform the shortcut «Ctrl-P». When done, the window «Connection parameters» appears. Note that you can't enter the menu «Connection parameters» if you are already connected.
Fill the fields as follow :
MySQL Host : name or IP address of the machine hosting the database manager
TCP Port : number between 0 and 65535 supplied by your administrator (3306 is default)
Database : name of the target database
Username : valid username declared in MySQL®
Password : user's password (optional if «Need password» checkbox is unchecked)
To set the TCP Port, you either can use the «Up» and «Down» arrows (if the number is a neighbor, for instance) or enter directly the number required.
If you want to save these parameters to create a reusable connection profile, use the mouse contextual menu (by a right click) and select «Save parameters». Then, choose your filename and validate it. Note that it is dangerous to save a profile with the password even it is crypted in the profile file. Anybody loading a such profile could connect with the profile owner's privileges.
At the opposite, if you want to reuse a previous connection profile, use the mouse contextual menu an select «Load parameters». Then choose your profile filename and validate it.
The *.stc profile files are not compatible with the *.stp profile files of WinMySQL Regular 1.1 because of a different structure with the anticrash socket feature not implemented in the regular version.
If all the required fields are filled, the «Go» button enables, then click on it.
To prevent memory violations due to a killed or a lost connection during a transaction, you may check the «Anticrash socket» checkbox. Warning, this feature doesn't work properly with oldest versions of MySQL® because of a non-implemented API. In this case, WinMySQL Professional loses the link directly when the server receives the connection request.
If the connection failed, you are notified by an explicit error message and the activity led is lit red. Otherwise, you are notified that the link to the required database is established and the activity led is lit green.
If the target database is «mysql» (database managing privileges and users), some restrictions are applied in menus because the use of it could be very destructor for all the MySQL® target server. For instance, with menus, you are not allowed to drop database «mysql» !
You can destroy all you want using the line command editor, because WinMySQL Professional can do everything that your MySQL® server can do (see «Submenu Open>SQL query» section) , but for trivial security reasons, WinMySQL Professional doesn't allow numerous dangerous database handling using menus. If it does, you are notified by a popup message.
When you are connected to any database, the title bar displays the active user, the active database and the target host.
This operation enables the following menus (except the database «mysql») :
File>New>MySQL table from dBaseIII+
Output grid>Save output to delimited MS-Excel
Output grid>Save output to HTML file
Output grid>Custom report title
Output grid>Print setup enabled
Output grid>Print preview enabled
Output grid>Apply grid font to report
Server administration>Refresh privileges
Server administration>Old privileges system warning
Server administration>Shutdown the server
Server administration>Analyze database>Data dictionary
Server administration>Analyze database>Tables «create» SQL script
Server administration>New database
Server administration>Delete database
Server administration>Show databases
Server administration>MySQL server infos
Server administration>MySQL server status
Server administration>Connections list
Server administration>Kill connections
When you are connected to database named «mysql», two additional menus are enabled :
Server administration>Manage users privileges
Server administration>Manage hosts privileges