Faster, smarter SQL query builder

Sometimes we get a question from our customers: what do we get on upgrading Active Query Builder to the third version?

Honestly saying, almost nothing. But your end-users will get a lot! :)

Most of the core and API improvements have been delayed to the next major version. The component's user interface has been significantly changed to improve the user experience.

In this article, we tried to sum up more than four years of the component development.

Means to customize the user interface

• The visual interface now consists of separate controls. You can combine them the way you like.
• Dockable panels help to keep essential controls at your fingertips without clogging the UI.

Usability

• Buttons next to fields involved in foreign key relationships let add linked objects in a single click.
• The new properties bar allows setting the query, link and datasource properties in a handy way.
• The new Sub-query Navigation Bar lets work with UNION sub-queries and Common Table Expression (sub-queries in the WITH clause) conveniently.
• Search and filtration in fields of datasources on the Design pane helps quickly find the needed field.
• Reusable queries panel allows for organising user queries and using them in other queries just like ordinary database views.

Care

• New tips help users eliminate common issues in their queries.
• Smart notifications about erroneous SQL expressions the user typed let quickly switch to the place where error origins and correct the mistake.

Speed

• Speeded-up database schema tree loads thousands of objects almost instantly.
• Optimized metadata loading process.

If you have any thoughts about what we can do better in Active Query Builder, please share them in the comments to this article.