workbench-en.a4

Chapter 7. Creating Tables
7.1. Adding Tables to the Physical Schemata
Double clicking the Add table icon in the Physical Schemata section of the MySQL Model page adds a table with the
default name of table1. If a table with this name already exists, the new table is named table2.
Adding a new table automatically opens the table editor docked at the bottom of the application. Using the table editor is described
in Section 7.3, “The MySQL Table Editor”.
Right clicking a table opens a pop-up menu with the following options:
• RENAME
• CUT 'TABLE_NAME'
• COPY 'TABLE_NAME'
• EDIT TABLE...
• EDIT IN NEW WINDOW
• COPY SQL TO CLIPBOARD
• DELETE 'TABLE_NAME'
If the table editor is not open the EDIT TABLE ... option opens it. If it is already open, the selected table replaces the previous one.
EDIT IN NEW WINDOW opens a new table editor tab.
The cut and copy options are useful for copying tables between different schemata and COPY SQL TO CLIPBOARD copies the CRE-
ATE TABLE statement to the clipboard.
Warning
Use the DELETE 'TABLE_NAME' to remove a table from the database. There will be no confirmation dialog box.
Any tables added to the Physical Schemata also show up in the Catalog palette on the right side of the application. They
may be added to an EER Diagram by dragging and dropping them from this palette.
7.2. Adding Tables to an EER Diagram
Tables can also be added to an EER Diagram using the table tool on the vertical toolbar. To do this make sure that the EER
Diagram tab is selected, and right click the table icon on the vertical toolbar. The table icon is the rectangular tabular icon.
Clicking the mouse on this icon changes the mouse pointer to a table pointer. You can also change the mouse pointer to a table
pointer by pressing the T key.
Choosing the table tool changes the contents of the toolbar that appears immediately below the menu bar. When the Tables
pointer is active, this toolbar contains a drop down list box of schemata, a drop down list box of engines, a drop down list box of
collations, and a drop down color chart. Use these list boxes to select the appropriate schema, engine, collation, and color accent for
the new table. Make sure that you associate the new table with a database. The engine and collation of a table can easily be changed
from the table editor and the color of your table can be changed later using the Properties palette. The Default Engine
and Default Collation values refer to the database defaults.
Create a table by clicking anywhere on the EER Diagram canvas. Doing this creates a new table with the default name table1.
To revert to the default mouse pointer, click the arrow icon at the top of the vertical toolbar.
Figure 7.1. A table on an EER diagram
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