Red Hat Database: Graphical Tools Guide
Prev	Chapter 3. RHDB Administrator	Next

Using RHDB Administrator

You can navigate within RHDB Administrator in a number of ways. The quickest way to get started is by use of the Tree View, which shows the overall structure of the database clusters. Click the + to the left of any object to view its sub-objects and - to hide them again.

Objects in the Tree View are cached for quick access, thus making refreshes necessary when you add new objects.

Navigating RHDB Administrator

The Menu Bar

Figure 3-3. The Menu Bar

There are four menus in the menu bar at the top of the main window:

File

File contains three items:

Add Cluster opens the Add Cluster dialog
Refresh Tree collapses all objects in all clusters
Exit closes RHDB Administrator.

Edit

Edit contains Cluster Configuration, which enables you to add, modify, or delete clusters.

View

View contains three items:

Show System Objects causes RHDB Administrator to display both user-created and system-created objects, instead of user-created objects, only. Turning this option off somewhat increases performance, but hyperlinks to a system objects will take you to the parent cluster of that system object instead. (This option is on by default.)
Ask For Confirmations controls whether you are asked for confirmation when you attempt to perform certain actions that are potentially dangerous and irreversible, such as dropping database objects. (This option is on by default.)
If Show SQL Log Window is enabled, a separate window displays a running log of all backend SQL queries that are made by the tool. This option is primarily for debugging and is off by default.

Help

Help contains information about RHDB Administrator in the About menu item.

Some menu-bar functions can be activated from the keyboard. Hold [Alt] and press the underlined letter in the menu title (for example, "f" for File).

The Tool Bar

Figure 3-4. The Tool Bar

Once an object in the Tree View has been clicked on or a hyperlink has been followed, the left-pointing arrow in the Tool Bar becomes active. This button functions just like a Back button in web browsers—it takes you to the previously visited location. Once the Back button has been used, the Forward button becomes active and functions as the inverse of the Back button. To complete the hyperlink-traversing functions, there is a Home button that moves the current location to the parent cluster of the currently selected object.

To the right of the Home button is the Refresh button, which refreshes the View Pane contents. Beside the Refresh button is the final button on the navigation bar: the Stop button. Pressing this during the expansion of an object in the Tree View or during the display of a detailed view stops the current action. The RHDB cube at the end of the Tool Bar is the progress indicator. The background of each cube alternates black and red as operations are being performed.

To refresh the nodes under an object, right-click on it and select Refresh (this level). To refresh the View Pane contents, click again on the selected object or click the Refresh button on the Tool Bar.

The Tree View and View Pane

Figure 3-5. The Tree View and View Pane

Clicking on an object in the Tree View displays its information in the View Pane. In the detailed view of certain database objects, some text is in blue. This indicates that text functions as a hyperlink, taking you to the detailed view for that particular object.

In addition to mouse-based movement, you can use the keyboard to traverse the Tree View. For this type of movement to function, the Tree View must be "in focus". You can accomplish this by pressing the [Tab] key to move through the various objects and stopping when the focus is on the Tree View, or by clicking on the Tree View.

Once the focus is on the Tree View, you can traverse the tree with presses of the arrow keys. [Up-Arrow] and [Down-Arrow] move the focus vertically in the tree, traversing the "deepest" path possible through an expanded tree. [Right-Arrow] and [Left-Arrow] expand and collapse objects in the Tree View respectively. [SpaceBar] and [+] will also expand the tree at the current location and [-] will collapse like [Left-Arrow].

The current location in the Tree View is denoted by a dashed rectangular outline. This location can move independently of the object for which the detailed view is selected, which is highlighted in blue. To bring up the detailed view for the object at the current location, press [Enter].

[Page Up] and [Page Down] move the focus to the top and the bottom of the visible portions of the Tree View respectively. Pressing [Home] moves the focus to the topmost cluster node of the Tree View, while pressing [End] moves the focus to the very last node of the Tree View.

Both the Tree View and the View Pane may have contents that are of such length or width that scroll bars need to be used to adjust the view. In addition to moving under direct mouse or keyboard control, the scroll bars will respond to a mouse scroll wheel.