Discover what DbVisualizer 24.2 has to offer in this in-depth review and learn why it represents the biggest DbVisualizer release to date
DbVisualizer 24.2 marks a major step for the database client with the highest user satisfaction rate on the market, taking it to the next level thanks to a refined user interface and many other improvements.
In this review, you’ll discover why DbVisualizer underwent a UI redesign, what new features and improvements version 24.2 has introduced, and how to try this latest release.
Let’s find out what an experienced developer and database administrator thinks of DbVisualizer 24.2 in my review!
The Need for a Restyling of DbVisualizer
As you may already know, DbVisualizer has been the database client of choice for years according to top companies, government agencies, and individual developers.
According to the official site, over the years, more than 6 million users have downloaded the software, and more than 28,000 companies spanning 145 countries are currently using the commercial Pro version.
The company proudly states that Tesla, NASA, Apple, Netflix, and many other leading companies have chosen DbVisualizer for their database operations.
No surprise, over 216 users on G2 and more than 96 users on Capterra have given it top-notch positive reviews. With a rating of 4.6/5 on G2 and 4.8/5 on Capterra, DbVisualizer has the highest user satisfaction rate in the market. Try DbVisualizer, and you’ll agree with them!
The secret of its success? Well, it must be the support for more than 50 databases and a Java core, which makes the tool multi-platform and extremely reliable.
However, in my opinion as an experienced developer, what sets DbVisualizer apart from other database clients is its extensive range of capabilities. The software offers a stunning number of utilities, options, and functionalities, appealing to both beginners and professional database administrators with years of experience. That’s impressive!
Actually, you can easily tell that the development team behind DbVisualizer has focused their efforts on providing robust, powerful, easy-to-use, and time-saving features.
With DbVisualizer 24.2, the team appears to have put the same dedication into improving the UI and UX, aiming to elevate the database client we all love to the next level.
Time to find out more about this new version of DbVisualizer!
DbVisualizer 24.2: The Biggest Update So Far
Released in June 2024, DbVisualizer 24.2 has been presented as the most significant update in the history of DbVisualizer (as of this writing, at least).
This new version introduces numerous changes, with the most noticeable being the revamped user interface:
As you can see, that’s definitely a remarkable improvement!
The new UI now appears more intuitive, modern, and user-friendly. In addition to the impressive new interface and updated themes, the 24.2 release introduces:
- 7 new features
- 17 improvements
- 11 bug fixes
These additions include support for persistent connections via the dbviscmd CLI tool, dedicated actions to select the previous/next statement in the SQL editor, support for Azure Synapse Analytics, enhanced autocomplete capabilities, full support for roles in PostgreSQL, automatic theme switching, support for Databricks, and many others. Those are a lot of new features!
Discover all the changes provided by DbVisualizer 24.2 in the release notes.
What’s New in DbVisualizer 24.2?
Easy question! Just have a look at the summary table below. You’ll discover the most important changes introduced in this major release of DbVisualizer:
| Type | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| New Feature | UX/UI | Full window support on macOS. Automatic theme switching, new dark and light themes, new scalable icons |
| New Feature | Command Line Support (dbviscmd) |
Add support for creating persistent database connections using dbviscmd
|
| New Feature | DB Support: Azure Synapse | Add support for Azure Synapse Analytics |
| New Feature | DB Support: Databricks | Add basic support for Databricks |
| New Feature | DB Support: MariaDB/Oracle | Navigate between procedures and functions in the package body editor |
| New Feature | Export | Add support for generating MERGE statements when exporting data as SQL and for trimming text values when exporting data |
| New Feature | SQL Editor | Add actions to select the previous/next statement in the editor (Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down) |
| Improvement | Auto-Completion | Automatically qualify columns when the column name alone is ambiguous |
| Improvement | Cell Viewer/Editor/Grid Component | Add support for SVG images in the cell viewer and the data grid |
| Improvement | Create/Alter Table/DB Support: PostgreSQL | Add support for sequence names in auto-generated columns in PostgreSQL |
| Improvement | DB Support: PostgreSQL | Add support for roles in PostgreSQL (replacing users and groups) |
| Improvement | DB Support: Redshift | Add support for materialized views in Redshift |
| Improvement | General | Improved support for arrays |
| Improvement | Security | Add the option to reset the master password also when a master password is required |
| Bug Fix | Create/Alter Table/DB Support: PostgreSQL |
NOT NULL can be omitted in the DDL for auto-generated columns in PostgreSQL |
| Bug Fix | DB Support: ClickHouse | Can't list databases in older versions of ClickHouse |
| Bug Fix | Export/Import User Settings | Passwords are not included when exporting/importing SSH configurations |
| Bug Fix | Query Builder | When loading a query containing an unsupported operator into the query builder, it’s replaced with "=" |
Let me now review each of the most interesting changes introduced by DbVisualizer 24.2!
A Fresh New UI
In release 24.2, DbVisualizer’s UI has been significantly refined. As the GIF below suggests, that’s not just a color adjustment but a complete UI overhaul.
According to the release notes, the goal of the development was to create a balanced work environment for both light and dark theme users:
Well, I think they achieved their goal brilliantly! The new UI just looks fresh and intuitive.
The dark theme has become darker, and the light theme has become lighter, with DbVisualizer that can now automatically match the dark or light setting of your OS.
You can tell that the team worked hard to balance the look and colors, as well as introduce small improvements to margins around elements and line heights in lists.
Another improvement made by the team in DbVisualizer 24.2 is a new set of icons. They replaced the old icons with modern and scalable SVG icons, ensuring they look good on any screen and resolution settings:
To avoid disappointing or disorienting DbVisualizer veterans, the organization of UI elements remains largely unchanged. Only the placement of some buttons has been improved to enhance usability and make daily use more intuitive. (Thank you for considering us, DbVisualizer team!)
Check out the docs to see how to get the most out of the new UI.
Improved Database Support
Below are the database support improvements added in version 24.2:
- Azure Synapse Analytics: DbVisualizer now has extended support for dedicated and serverless SQL pools in Azure Synapse Analytics. That includes support for database-scoped credentials, external file formats and data sources, and external tables. For more information, see the Azure Synapse Dedicated and Azure Synapse Serverless pages on the official site.
- Cassandra: Added support for the JDBC wrapper of the Java driver for Cassandra, which is more powerful and future-proof than previous alternatives. Moreover, other Cassandra-related improvements have been implemented, such as support for overloaded functions and error marking in the Procedure Editor.
- Databricks: Introduced basic database support for Databricks, with a pre-defined entry for Databricks in the driver manager for simplified setup.
- Greenplum: Database integration extended to Greenplum 7, including adjustments for partitioned tables, generated columns, constraints, procedures, functions, aggregates, and sequences.
- MariaDB: New navigation panel added to the Package Body Editor, making it easier to navigate between procedures and functions in a package.
- MySQL: Added the possibility to create and update generated columns in the Create Table and Alter Table dialogs.
- Oracle: The same improvement added for MariaDB has also been introduced for Oracle.
- PostgreSQL: Support for PostgreSQL has been extended to include role management. Also, users can now specify the sequence name when defining auto-generated columns.
- Redshift: Added support for materialized views in Redshift.
- Snowflake: Introduced support for additional table types in Snowflake, including dynamic tables, event tables, hybrid tables, and iceberg tables.
Enhanced Data Export Options
Among the tons of features supported by DbVisualizer is the ability to export databases/schemas and tables.
The first option is ideal for exporting DDL for objects such as tables, views, procedures, functions, triggers, packages, and package bodies in a database/schema. The second option is instead dedicated to exporting table data in various formats, including as an SQL file or to the system clipboard.
With DbVisualizer 24.2, when exporting data in SQL format, users can now select between INSERT statements and MERGE statements:
Compared to INSERT statements, MERGE statements allow for the merging of data from the source table to the target table.
That ensures that existing rows in the target table are updated, while new rows are inserted, offering an efficient and robust way to synchronize data between tables.
Support for text functions has also been added to the data export dialog. When selected, the text function will be applied to all text columns that are exported. Currently, the available options are:
- Keep the text as is
- Trim both ends
- Trim the right end
- Trim the left end
Another tweak introduced in the new version of DbVisualizer I found amazing is that, when exporting data to a file,** the correct filename extension is now appended automatically depending on the selected output format**.
When the user selects a format, the export file name is updated accordingly with the appropriate extension. That saves you a lot of unwanted errors, trust me!
As an additional improvement, when previewing the export in SQL format, syntax highlighting is also applied to the generated code to make it easier to read.
Refined SQL Editor
As all DbVisualier users know, one of its most beloved features is its fully-featured SQL editor.
In release 24.2, tthe editor has been further improved with several enhancements:
-
Advanced substitution in Find and Replace: The Find and Replace panel now includes buttons to add newlines and supports literals
\nand\t. Also, it accepts\Land\Ufor lowercase and uppercase manipulation, respectively.
Smarter auto-completion: When auto-completing column names, these will now be automatically qualified if the column name alone is ambiguous. See the details in the documentation.
Select next/previous statement: Added support for the
CTRL+ALT+UPandCTRL+ALT+DOWNshortcuts to select the next and previous statements in the current SQL script, respectively.Support for a list of choices in custom variables: Introduced the possibility of defining variables with a list of available values for advanced scripting.
Other Changes Worth Mentioning
While I would love to dig into each of the updates and improvements added by DbVisualizer 24.2, they’re just too many. Thus, here are some other noteworthy changes:
- Improved support for arrays: DbVisualizer now supports a JSON-based syntax for presenting and editing arrays. Additionally, it has extended support for understanding the content and structure of array objects. This enables you to validate the input before sending data to the database.
- Uncommitted SQL statements: When warning about auto-commit being turned off, DbVisualizer now displays which statements will be committed as a result of the commit.
- Special characters in text fields: Newlines and tabs in text fields are now rendered as symbols in the Data grid.
- Images in the Data grid: Binary columns containing SVG images are now displayed in the Data grid. The team has also implemented multi-threading rendering for faster image loading.
- Persistent database connections via CLI: The DbVisualizer CLI now supports the creation of persistent database connections via the command line.
To learn how to make the most of all new features, check out DbVisualizer 24.2 User Guide.
Is 24.2 the Best Version of DbVisualizer?
Yes, I have no doubt that version 24.2 is the best release of DbVisualizer ever!
That’s clear when you consider the pros and cons of this new version:
👍 Pros:
- A fresh, modern UI
- New SVG icons
- Over 10 bug fixes for a more reliable experience
- Support for Azure Synapse Analytics
- Improved SQL editor
- Enhanced autocomplete capabilities
- Improved support for arrays
- New data export options
- Persistent connections via
dbviscmdin the command line - Basic support for Databricks
- Support for SVG images in the Data view
- Improved Find and Replace feature
- New shortcuts
👎 Cons:
- Adapting to the new UI might take some time
The list of advantages outweighs the drawbacks. The only notable disadvantage is the adaptation to the new UI, which might throw into confusion some veteran users (like me). Still, that’s the inevitable price to pay for a revamped and more modern user interface.
At the end of the day, our habits as users change as technology evolves, and software UIs must evolve accordingly.
The good news is that the team has introduced other tweaks and UX optimizations to greatly reduce the feeling of disorientation. Surprisingly, the new UI just feels familiar. Give it a try, and you'll see what I mean!
How To Try DbVisualizer 24.2
If you’re already a DbVisualizer user, simply upgrade the software to the latest version. If you need assistance with this process, refer to the guide in the official documentation.
If you want to test DbVisualizer 24.2 as a new user, you can download it for free. That’ll give you access to essential features, documented in a helpful User Guide and an active Community forum.
To access all DbVisualizer features, consider that you need to upgrade to the Pro plan. Upon purchase, you’ll also receive additional guidance from the development team for the first 60 days.
For enterprises, businesses, and individuals needing priority assistance throughout the subscription period, there’s a special Pro plan available.
For more details, visit the pricing page on the official website or explore the comparison between the Free and Pro plans.
To test all the features of the Pro version, you can also evaluate DbVisualizer tool for 21 days via a free trial.
Final Verdict
In this review, I had the chance to try out DbVisualizer 24.2 and see why it’s a huge leap forward for one of the most loved database clients out there.
The development team didn’t just build on its already great features—they’ve also polished the user interface to meet modern standards of usability and style. This perfect mix of functionality and design keeps DbVisualizer at the top for both seasoned pros and newcomers in the database world.
If you’re excited to explore DbVisualizer 24.2 further, check out the links below:
I can confidently say that version 24.2 is the best DbVisualizer has ever been. Whether you’re upgrading from an older version or checking it out for the first time, now is a great time to experience its new features.
Review score: 9.5/10
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