Query editor - WitDatabase

Ctrl+T opens a query tab. It belongs to one connection for its lifetime, and the toolbar carries that connection's name and colour.

A query tab: the editor above, the four result panels below, the connection name and colour at the edge of the toolbar.

A tab keeps running against the connection it was opened with however the tree selection moves. A tab whose connection has been closed cannot run and says so, which is a different thing from Studio having no database open.

Writing

The editor highlights WitSQL, completes names, and underlines errors in the text as you type.

The editor with a syntax error underlined in place, and the error bar beneath the editor showing the engine's own message with a line number.

The message under the editor is the engine's, in the engine's words. Studio frames it and does not paraphrase it, so what you read is what the parser said and can be searched for.

Ctrl+Shift+F formats the statement.

Running

Key	Runs
`F5`	The statement under the cursor
`Ctrl+Shift+F5`	The whole script
`Ctrl+Return`	The selection
`Escape`	Stops what is running

F5 is the one to use while writing. A tab can hold a dozen half-finished statements and you can still try the one you are on, without commenting anything out.

A script runs one statement at a time and each reports separately.

The four panels

They are always there, in this order, and each answers a different question.

Result is the rows. Row count and elapsed time sit in the footer.

The Result panel with rows, the footer showing total rows and elapsed time.

Right-click gives you Copy, Copy with Headers, Copy as INSERT, Copy All Rows, Copy All as INSERT, and Export Results. Copy as INSERT is the one worth remembering: it turns a selection into statements you can paste into another database.

Messages is a line per statement of the script: its number, what it did, how long it took.

The Messages panel after a multi-statement script, one numbered line per statement, one of them an error.

Plan is EXPLAIN without running the query.

The Plan panel, with the note that the plan is built without running the query and that this engine reports no row counts or costs.

The panel says so itself: the plan is built without executing anything, and this engine reports no row counts and no costs. What it answers is which access path was chosen, which is the question behind most queries that are slower than expected. See indexing.

History is what has been run, searchable.

The History panel with a search over past statements, and the note about retention.

History, and what is not in it

Query history is kept in a WitDatabase of Studio's own. Thirty days or five thousand entries, whichever comes first.

Connection strings and parameter values are never written to it. The statement text is, so the history is useful, and the things that would make a history file dangerous to hand to somebody are not.

Worth noticing what this means about the tool: Studio's own storage is the engine it inspects.

Find and replace

The find band open over the editor with a term, match count, and replace field.

Key	Does
`Ctrl+F`	Find
`Ctrl+H`	Replace
`F3`	Next
`Shift+F3`	Previous
`Escape`	Close the band

One band per tab, because the term, the toggles and the place in the text all belong to the text being edited.

Transactions

A tab can hold a transaction open across several executions, with the isolation level set before it begins.

The toolbar with a transaction open: isolation level shown, Commit and Rollback available, the tab marked as holding uncommitted work.

The tab is marked while a transaction is open and closing it asks first. An open transaction holds a write lock, so this is not a thing to leave and forget. See transactions.

Files

Ctrl+S saves the tab to a .sql file, Ctrl+Shift+S saves it as a new one, and a modified tab is marked. Ctrl+W closes a tab and Ctrl+Shift+T brings back the last one closed.

Tabs can be pinned, which keeps them out of the way of Ctrl+W.

Where to go next

Data and editing, what the Result panel can do
Import and export, where Export Results leads
WitSQL, the language
Settings and shortcuts, the full keyboard map