Aug 11, 2008 10:16:40 AM

Tags: Mysql

UPDATE (August 24): phpMyAdmin 3.0.0-beta is now available.

phpMyAdmin, that ubiquitous tool we all use for low-level MySQL database access (and some of us for content management as well), has released version 3.0.0-alpha. I had high expectations of the next major version of this tool, which have not been met in this alpha.

Before continuing, here is the changelog distributed with the download:

3.0.0.0 (not yet released)
+ [export] properly handle line breaks for YAML, thanks to Dan Barry -
danbarry
+ [navi] new parameter $cfg['LeftDefaultTabTable']
+ [table] support MySQL 5.1 PARTITION: CREATE TABLE / Table structure,
  partition maintenance
+ [privileges] support for EVENT and TRIGGER
+ [error handler] NEW handle errors to prevent path disclosure and display/collect errors
+ [mysqlnd] do not display $strMysqlLibDiffersServerVersion if the client
  is mysqlnd
+ [webapp] experimental Mozilla Prism support
+ [export] new plugin "codegen" for NHibernate, thanks to caocao; I'm
  looking for a name more descriptive than codegen, taking into account
  that it might later support other formats like JSON in the same plugin
+ [export] new export to Texy! markup
+ [lang] Finnish update, thanks to Jouni Kahkonen
+ [config] new parameter $cfg['CheckConfigurationPermissions']
+ [config] new parameter $cfg['Servers'][$i]['ShowDatabasesCommand']
+ [config] new parameter $cfg['Servers'][$i]['CountTables']
+ rfe #1775288 [transformation] proper display if IP-address stored as INT
+ rfe #1758177 [core] Add the Geometry DataTypes
+ rfe #1741101, patch #1798184 UUID default for CHAR(36) PRIMARY KEY,
  thanks to Gert Palok - gert_p
- bug #1664240 [GUI] css height makes cfg TextareaRows useless
- bug #1724217 [Create PHP Code] doesn't include newlines for text fields
- bug #1845605 [i18n] translators.html still uses iso-8859-1
- bug #1823018 [charset] Edit(Delete) img-links pointing to wrong row
- bug #1826205 [export] Problems with yaml text export
- bug #1344768 [database] create/alter table new field can not have empty string
               as default
+ rfe #1840165 [interface] Enlarge column name field in vertical mode
+ patch #1847534 [interface] New "Inside field" in db search,
  thanks to obiserver
+ [GUI] Mootools js library (http://mootools.net) and new parameter
  $cfg['InitialSlidersState']
* [core] cache some MySQL stats (do not query them with every page request)
+ [view] clearer dialog WITH (CASCADED | LOCAL) CHECK OPTION
+ [lang] Norwegian update, thanks to Sven-Erik Andersen
+ [lang] Japanese update, thanks to Ishigaki Kenichi
+ [lang] Italian update, thanks to Luca Rebellato
+ [gui] Events
   * minimal support on db structure page
   * export
+ [pdf] Merged tcpdf 2.2.002 (PHP5 version), thanks to Nicola Asuni
+ [engines] Maria support
+ [engines] MyISAM and InnoDB: support ROW_FORMAT table option
+ prevent search indexes from indexing phpMyAdmin installations
+ [engines] PBXT: table options, foreign key (relation view, designer)
+ [lang] New Bangla, thanks to Raquibul Islam and Joy Kumar Nag
+ [interface] Display options (work in progress); thanks to Dave Grijalva
  for the idea about showing the display field while browsing
- bug #1910621 [display] part 2: do not display a BINARY content as text
+ [auth] support SweKey hardware authentication
  see http://store.swekey.com/index.php?promo=pma
  (todo: Documentation.html, improve code formatting)
+ rfe #1962383 [designer] Option to create a PDF page
- patch #2007196, Typos in comments, thanks to knittl - knittl
- bug #1982315 [GUI] Comma and quote in ENUM, thanks to Joshua Hogendorn
+ [GUI] Color picker
- bug #1970836 [parser] SQL parser is slow, thanks to Christian Schmidt
+ rfe #1692928 [transformation] Option to disable browser transformations
+ [import] Speed optimization to be able to import the sakila database
+ [doc] Documentation for distributing phpMyAdmin in README.VENDOR.
+ [display] headwords for sorted column
- bug #2033962 [import] Cannot import zip file

My main gripe with phpMyAdmin is that it's incredibly bloated, making remote administration on high-latency connections a nightmare. I've often fallen back to SSH when phpMyAdmin became unusable. This has by no means been resolved in the latest release.

phpMyAdmin 3.0.0-alpha

The new version has introduced some more usability issues as well, despite employing the MooTools Javascript library. For instance, the handy <- T -> link, used to expand text fields truncated to fit on the screen, is now a three-click procedure. The same can be said for custom search options, which are now hidden under a javascript rollout instead of being visible when searching.

I'm sure that some of the smaller bugs will be ironed out -- the most glaring for me is that the Browse quick-link next to table names no longer works -- but to be honest, I think a lot more could have been done to improve phpMyAdmin's footprint and usability.

Anyway, judge for yourself.

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Avi

Aug 31, 2008 4:15:33 AM

Have you ever tried turbodbadmin? I don't know if it has all the features of phpmyadmin, but its "axajified" so latency is less of an issue. If not that, why not go for a desktop app such as sqlyog? Or even using microsoft access over an odbc connection?

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