Firebird Maestro Changelog

What's new in Firebird Maestro 14.1.0.1

Jan 3, 2014
  • New features:
  • This version of the software has been successfully tested with all the modern Firebird versions up to Firebird 3.0 Alpha 1 (the latest version available at the moment).
  • We have also implemented support for some Firebird 3.0 new features
  • Support for the Boolean datatype has been implemented. The values of this data type are represented in the data grids as checkboxes.
  • Support for identity columns has been added. Values of such columns are set automatically when the column is omitted in an INSERT statement.
  • Starting from this version Firebird Maestro generates ALTER commands for changing column/domain nullability (instead of direct modification of system tables).
  • Support for keyboard interactive SSH authentication has been implemented. This method provides for a multiple challenge-response dialog with the user in which the server sends a text query to the user, the user types in a response, and this process can repeat any number of times to ensure that the client is a human.
  • Get SQL Dump wizard has been significantly updated
  • Now it is possible to rename output columns in the result SQL script. To set a new target column name, enter a value to the Target column in the grid at the first step of the wizard.
  • You can also change the order of output columns using the appropriate commands of the popup menu or Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down shortcuts.
  • Starting with this version it is possible to specify the SQL syntax the result script to be written on. This feature allows you to restore the dump contents to a table in a different database server such as MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or SQLite.
  • Nullable Column Checker has been implemented. This feature allows you to refactor your database schema by enforcing omitted NOT NULL constraints. It is useful, for example, if you have got a legacy schema with a lot of columns allowing NULL values and plenty of data. To invoke the wizard, use the appropriate link in the Generate SQL section of the table popup menu at the Explorer tree.
  • SQL Editor: starting from this version you can copy the selected text from any editor to Clipboard as a ready-to-use string written in one of the following programming languages: C#, C++, Delphi (Object Pascal), and Java. This feature is accessible in the Export section of the editor area popup menu.
  • Data Import features
  • Starting with this version it's possible to import data from several files at a time. To import data from multiple files with the same structure, set the mask of the file names to the corresponding field. To see the list of matching files, use with the button on the right.
  • The Column Builder for text files with fixed column width has been redesigned. Now to set the correspondence between table columns and areas of a text file, you can either input offset and width for each column directly into the controls, or define these values by clicking the left mouse button in the right area of the tool.
  • Now it's possible to add current timestamp to the log file name using the %ts:TIMESTAMP_FORMAT% string template. Examples of valid datetime formats are: 'YYYY-MM-DD', 'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24-MI', 'YYYY-MM-DD-HH24-MI-SS', and so on.
  • Now each time you start the wizard to import data to a table it stores all the options as them were set on the previous session of working with this table.
  • Data Export: Support for Json file format has been implemented.
  • Hints for domains now include the name of the underlying data type.
  • Data Grid: the headers of required columns are marked with a red asterisk.

New in Firebird Maestro 12.10 (Jan 3, 2014)

  • New features:
  • This version comes with Report Designer, a simple-to-use and elegant tool to prepare data for reading, viewing, and printing in a polished look.
  • The Start Page has been redesigned in order to provide quick access to recently connected database profiles and display the latest company news.
  • SQL Editor: on executing several statements from a single editor tab, the corresponding result tab is marked with an appropriate image.
  • Database Explorer: now it is possible to assign a custom color to a certain database profile. For example, you can mark development and production databases in different colors in order to prevent casual metadata or data changes in the production. The desired color can be selected at the Options tab in the Edit Database Profile dialog.
  • Check editor: an ability of editing check condition in a separate window has been added.
  • Hints for foreign key columns now include the name of the parent table.
  • Drag-n-drop from Windows Explorer to SQL Editor and SQL Script Editor has been added. Now to open a file in one of these editors, just drag it at Windows Explorer and drop at the editor area.
  • The performance of SQL Script Editor has been significantly increased especially on large script editing. In addition to this the name of the file loaded to the editor area is now displayed at the right bottom corner of the window.
  • Script Runner has been slightly changed in appearance and performance
  • Now the name of the database the script to be run on is displayed at the top of the window, the name of the script file may be quoted, and the script files in the UTF-8 encoding may optionally start with a byte order mark.
  • Starting with this version it's possible to execute archived scripts directly from .zip files. The tool unpacks zip archives to temporary files by itself for further executing.
  • Data Grid features
  • Now it is possible to display images directly in the grid. To enable/disable this view mode or change the image fitting, use the Manage inline images item of the column popup menu.
  • Multi-column lookup editors become available. Such editors modify values of several columns in the record simultaneously in order to guarantee referential integrity.
  • Data Input Form has been significantly improved. Now it simplifies the input of data with lookup menus for columns linked with foreign keys and a calculator for DECIMAL columns.
  • Now the headers of primary and foreign key columns are marked with the 'gold key' and 'silver key' images accordingly. The existence of any column marked with a gold key in the dataset means that you can modify/delete the records of this dataset without risk of updating/deleting several records at a time.
  • Data Import features
  • From now on it is possible to import data from CSV files that contain multi-line strings.
  • A possibility of setting the correspondence between source and target columns by column name has been implemented (previous versions allow you to set such a correspondence only by column index).
  • Data Export: now it is possible to specify decimal and thousand separators for the generated files (when applicable).
  • The progress windows are redesigned in the modern style and become more informative.

New in Firebird Maestro 11.11.0.2 (Jan 16, 2012)

  • Server management extensions:
  • The Split Table Wizard has been implemented. This feature allows you to refactor your database schema vertically splitting an existing table into two tables that is useful, for example, if you need to enforce referential integrity on a set of columns. Generated SQL scripts will modify the primary table, create a secondary table with a primary key from shared columns (i.e. columns that exist in both primary and secondary tables), and then transfer data from the primary table to the secondary one without duplicating of data. To invoke the wizard, use the popup menu of the corresponding node at the Explorer tree or the Main Menu | Object | Split Table menu item.
  • Transaction Browser becomes available for embedded servers ver. 2.5+.
  • DML Stored Procedure Generator: now Firebird Maestro automatically grants the corresponding permissions for generated procedures to manipulate with source tables.
  • Interface improvements:
  • The SQL editor component has been dramatically improved (applied to SQL Editor, SQL Script Editor, and editors of objects containing SQL bodies such as views, stored procedures, and triggers)
  • Table Editor features
  • The Execute at cursor command has been added to SQL Editor (available in the Navigation bar or with Ctrl+F9 shortcut). Use this command to execute statements the cursor is over without selecting them.
  • Database Designer features
  • The Execute at cursor command has been added to SQL Editor (available in the Navigation bar or with Ctrl+F9 shortcut). Use this command to execute statements the cursor is over without selecting them.
  • Database Designer features
  • Visual Query Builder: the Create view from SQL link has been added to the Navigation panel. This feature allows you to create a view based on a SELECT query prepared within the builder as quickly as possible.
  • BLOB Viewer: starting with this version it's possible to view or edit BLOB data as PDF document.
  • Prepared database reports now run fine on UNIX systems.
  • Table Editor Options: starting with this version it's possible to allow the application to open details at the Data tab automatically.
  • A Spanish translation is now included into the installation package. Other available languages are English, German, French and Italian.
  • Data Import: now each time you start the wizard to import data to a table it stores all the options as them were set on the previous session of working with this table.
  • In addition to this, several bugs have been fixed and some other minor improvements and corrections have been made

New in Firebird Maestro 11.2.0.2 (Jul 21, 2011)

  • Server management extensions:
  • This version has been successfully tested with Firebird 2.5 (the latest Firebird version available at the moment). Also the 2.5 embedded server library is now included into the installation package.
  • Support for Global Temporary Tables has been implemented (Firebird 2.1+). Such tables are stored in the system catalogue with permanent metadata, but with temporary data.
  • It is now possible to use a domain when declaring the data types of arguments in stored procedures (Firebird 2.1+). Suppression of the domain check and default value (the TYPE OF clause) is also supported.
  • Support for default values for stored procedure arguments has been implemented (Firebird 2.1+).
  • Invalid procedures and triggers are now displayed in red (Firebird 2.1+). Of course the color can be changed in the program options.
  • User accounts become manageable by SQL statements (Firebird 2.5+).
  • From now on it becomes possible to enable/disable all the triggers for a table in a single mouse click.
  • Now it's allowed to create DML procedures automatically. These procedures are the most efficient choice for accomplishing the CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, and Delete).
  • It is possible to create the procedures for a single table or for several tables at once (even for all the tables in the database). To accomplish these tasks, use the popup menu of the corresponding node at the Explorer tree and the Main Menu | Object | Generate DML Procedures wizard accordingly.
  • Along with stored procedures the new version allows you to generate updatable views for your tables in a few mouse clicks; moreover, the Insert, Update, and Delete operations can be enabled or disabled at your choice. The updatable views can be generated at the same manner as CRUD procedures (see above).
  • Interface improvements:
  • This release has been successfully tested with 64-bit operating systems including Windows 7 x64.
  • Table Editor features:
  • A possibility of importing data from Clipboard has been implemented. It is supposed that columns within the data block are separated by the tabulation symbol, records are separated by newlines and the first line of the data block contains column headers.
  • The same data format is supported by a lot of other applications, so it is easy to use this feature to quickly copy data from MS Excel, another table or view, or even from a data set from a different DBMS especially if it is opened with an appropriate our product.
  • An ability to upload files as BLOBs into a table has been implemented. The file names must contain the information on the record they need to be placed to: the files need to be named in the same manner and their names have to include content of one or several table columns that can uniquely identify each row.
  • Data Analysis tool has been updated:
  • Starting with this version it is possible to use a wide spectrum of aggregate functions such as maximum, minimum, average value, etc. for subtotals (the only available function for the previous versions was sum of values).
  • A possibility of sorting data by summary columns has been added. This means, for example, the product you'll see first is not the one which starts with an A or Z, but rather the one that has the most or least sales.
  • You can also specify the number of top rows that are displayed to view, for example, only a specific number of best-selling or worst-selling products for each year, month, customer, etc. This will help you to concentrate on only the most important information and avoid being overload with a lot of superfluous data.
  • Dependency tracker now allows you to browse tables referenced to the selected one and domains the table is based on.
  • The Script Runner window can now be invoked directly from the Tools menu. Also the productivity of this tool has been significantly improved.
  • Data Import: starting with this version it becomes possible to import data from any database accessible via an ODBC driver or OLE DB provider, such as SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, MS Access, Sybase, DB2, PostgreSQL, etc. Let's look through some details of the new feature:
  • To import data in this way, you have to specify a connection string and select appropriate identifier quote characters to escape improper symbols and blanks in object names according to the source database (for example, double quotes for Oracle and PostgreSQL, backticks for MySQL, or square brackets for SQL Server and MS Access).
  • Another thing to note is that this kind of import completely supports BLOBs (if they are supported by the ODBC driver / OLE DB provider used).
  • Data Grid: the Clone current record command has been added to the popup menu. Use it to add a new record which is substantially similar to an existing one.
  • BLOB editor: starting with this version it is possible to select a BLOB column to edit directly within the editor window.
  • The Case Insensitive option has been added to data grid filter settings (ON by default).
  • Application Options: now it's possible to specify default directories for data export/import/extract/etc to be used on database profiles creating.

New in Firebird Maestro 10.3 (Jul 21, 2011)

  • Server management extensions:
  • This version has been successfully tested with Firebird 2.5 RC2 (the latest Firebird version available at the moment). Also we have added support for some Firebird 2.5 new features:
  • Binary BLOBs are now extracted into output scripts as hexadecimal literals (Get SQL Dump and Extract Database wizards).
  • Field Editor: starting with this version it is possible to change the expression for the computed columns.
  • Multiple database connections become available for the embedded server i.e. the Do not open separated connection option now works as expected in this case.
  • SQL Editor: now our software displays the results for the INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE statements containing the RETURNING clause (Firebird 2.1+).
  • The Update Existing Records option has been added to the Data Import wizard. If this option is turned ON, the records will be either updated or inserted (Firebird 2.1+).
  • Create Database Wizard and all the wizards available in the Maintenance menu (Backup Database, Restore Database, etc.) now work fine with Firebird servers installed on non-standard ports.
  • Interface improvements:
  • Database profile management improvements:
  • Starting with this version it is possible to reorder servers in the Explorer Tree as well as reorder databases from the same server. You can also sort servers and databases in an alphabetical order.
  • Now all the database profiles related to the same server may be deleted at once.
  • The Rename Database Profile command has been added to the popup menu. Use this command to rename a profile without opening its editor.
  • Data Grid features the following things:
  • Multi-column sorting has been implemented. To sort data on multiple columns, use the Advanced sort command from the grid's header popup menu.
  • Starting with this version the number of grouped records is displayed for the group's header.
  • SQL Editor: the Go to Line command has been added to the popup menu (Ctrl+G shortcut). Also field data types are now displayed in the Code completion window.
  • BLOB Viewer/Editor: starting with this version it's possible to customize PHP syntax highlighting for the text representation of BLOBs.
  • Database Designer: a possibility to select objects with Ctrl has been implemented.

New in Firebird Maestro 9.5.0.2 (May 26, 2009)

  • Server management extensions:
  • Now it is possible to disable database triggers in the Create Database Profile and Edit Database Profile windows (Firebird 2.1 and higher). This option should be used only by database owners and SYSDBAs.
  • Interface improvements:
  • Data Export wizard has been significantly improved:
  • Now you can select the result file encoding (ANSI, UTF8, UTF16, UTF32, OEM, Mac).
  • Support for Microsoft Office Excel 2007, Microsoft Office Word 2007, OpenDocument Spreadsheed, and OpenDocument Text file formats has been implemented.
  • The wizard has been completely redesigned to increase the usability. In particular, the export process now can be started at any step of the wizard.
  • Data Import wizard has been updated too:
  • Now you can import data from Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and Microsoft Office Access 2007 file formats along with Microsoft Office Excel 97-2003, Microsoft Office Access, CSV, DBF, and Text files supported in the previous versions.
  • Starting with this version you can import Text and CSV data files stored in different encodings.
  • Now it is possible to empty the target table as well as execute custom SQL scripts before and after import.
  • The wizard has been completely redesigned to improve the look and feel and increase the usability.
  • Get SQL Dump: now you can specify the encoding on the generating dump to a file.
  • Trigger Editor: the Code Completion feature becomes available for the NEW and OLD keywords.
  • SQL Editor: starting with this version Firebird Maestro highlights the error line after executing an erroneous query.
  • BLOB Viewer: Unicode support has been added to the Non-BLOB data grid.
  • Data grid features the following things:
  • Starting with this version it is possible to allow displaying row numbers in grids. Of course you can adjust the corresponding column to yours liking.
  • Now you can fix grid columns to view them permanently when working with other grid data. To fix a column, choose the corresponding item from the grid's header popup menu.

New in Firebird Maestro 9.1.0.1 (Jan 7, 2009)

  • Server management extensions:
  • SQL Editor: starting with this version you can execute queries either in autocommit mode (default value) or manage transactions manually. In the second case you have to issue COMMIT or ROLLBACK statements from the editor or use the corresponding links at the editor's navigation bar.
  • Field Editor: now it is possible to select some predefined default values such as CURRENT_USER for the string columns or CURRENT_TIMESTAMP for TIMESTAMP columns from the list instead of entering them manually.
  • Get SQL Dump Wizard has been redesigned to increase the usability.
  • Interface improvements:
  • Visual Query Builder has been dramatically improved. Now it can produce INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE statements as well as the SELECT statements containing subqueries and/or UNIONs.
  • The Dependency tracker tool has been implemented (Main Menu | Tools | Dependency tracker). Use this tool to browse all-level dependencies of a schema object (table, view, procedure, etc).
  • Tabbed MDI interface: a popup menu has been added to each tab.
  • An Italian localization is now included into the installation package.
  • Database Explorer: the Data management group has been added to table and view nodes popup menus. Use this group items to run Data Export, Data Import, and Get SQL Dump wizards for the selected table or view without opening its editor (the Empty Table command has been moved to this group too). The Go to foreign table command is now available for all the foreign keys.
  • Database Designer settings: the "Show hints" options has been added. Also it is now possible to select the default graphic file format to export diagrams as images.

New in Firebird Maestro 7.7.0.1 (Jul 31, 2007)

  • The most important thing added in this version of Firebird Maestro is support of UTF-8 data.
  • Since this version Firebird Maestro works fine with embedded Firebird server. The corresponding changes were added to Create Database wizard, Create Database Profiles wizard and Edit Database Profile window.
  • Transaction Browser is implemented. This feature is very useful for DBAs who want to monitor the users' activity (in fact, there are potentially thousands of transactions in a database at any one time). You can view details for each transaction (such as user, connect time, database name, client host, last SQL statement executed and more) as well as group and filter sessions by client host, connected user, database, client application, etc.
  • To access the Transaction Browser window, select the corresponding item from the Tools menu.
  • Support of database triggers from Firebird 2.1 is added to the software (see Firebird 2.1 release notes). You can create new database triggers and edit existing ones.
  • Database Designer: a possibility of locking/unlocking diagram objects is added. This feature prevents your diagram from unforeseen changes: when the diagram is locked, you can neither move/resize/delete existing objects nor add new ones.
  • Some new features are incorporated into SQL Editor and SQL Script Editor.