MAIN TOPIC: Opening a database
DETAIL: To open a database, use the File-> Open Database menu item and select a file from the file browser.||The file browser will be presented when a new window opens automatically.||You can also double-click a database built in MesaSQLite, and it will open a new window with a connection to that database.
MAIN TOPIC: Full file path of your database
DETAIL: To view the full file path of your database, mouse over the database selection popup in the toolbar and wait for the help tag to show. It will show the full system file path.
MAIN TOPIC: Preferences
DETAIL: MesaSQLite is built to make viewing and editing resident data a very quick process. Setting your preferences will help make your workflow as fast and natural as possible. The following are default settings: ||Window opens to the position it was in when last closed||Queries in the content screen are limited to 1000 records (just 10 records in DEMO mode)| |Your last 20 special queries are stored||Text encoding is set to Unicode8 (UTF8)
MAIN TOPIC: Table Content
DETAIL: Your content screen is designed to make creating various types of recordsets quickly.||All databases on the window's connection are available.||Once you select a table, you can build specific queries with the parameter controls directly beneath the table name. To add parameters, hit the most senior "+" button.||Keep in mind you can have recordsets returned upon selection of the table name if you like, as a setting in the preferences pane. You can also limit the size of the record sets in the preferences pane.||"Show All" will return all records from a table.||"Go" will return the record set defined by the parameters in front of it.||"Last XXX" will return the last XXX rows in a table. The last entry in the table will be at the bottom of the listbox.||Note that all of these buttons will create a query to the table. The query syntax can be read in the bottom of the window.
SUBTOPIC: Text Encoding
DETAIL: Depending on the text encoding of the actual database file you are opening in Mesa, some characters may not appear at all or be shown as incorrect characters.||You can mitigate this by setting your preferred text encoding using the popupmenu at the bottom of the Table Content screen.||When you first install MesaMySQL, the encoding will be set to UTF8, which is a unicode encoding.||Your database file may be encoded for example, in Win Latin 1 (ISO-8859-1). for text to appear correctly in the content listbox, Mesa encoding must be set to Win Latin 1.||You can set a preference in your preferences window to open Mesa with a given encoding every time a new window opens.||Recordsets shown in the Custom Query screen will be displayed using the encoding set on the Table Content popup.
SUBTOPIC: Loading Records
DETAIL: Select a table to view its records. Records will be presented in the text encoding indicated in the popup at the bottom of the content screen.||To change the encoding for viewing, simply change the value of the popup. The current recordset will reload in the new encoding.||To load records immediately upon table selection, set that preference in the preferences window.
SUBTOPIC: Limiting Records
DETAIL: The number of records can be limited by setting the returned row count directly in the content screen. ||A default setting can be made in the preferences window.||To view adjacent similar sized recordsets, click the arrow toggle as needed and hit the "Go" button.||You can get the most recent records added to the table by using the "Last XXX" button. The most recent record will be at the bottom of the table.
SUBTOPIC: Searching records
DETAIL: Add and specify as many search conditions as needed by hitting the most senior "add parameter button". Use the "Search" button to return the matching recordset. The number of rows returned is shown in the lower left area of the screen. Complex searches are not supported. You must use all "AND"s or "OR"s to set the parameters for your search.||Select a field for each parameter - after the table has been selected.||The popup for the input text field for the parameter will show you resident values in this field in the table IF the unique values do not exceed 250 in number.
SUBTOPIC: Hiding Columns
DETAIL: You can select the columns you want to view by hitting the "Limit Columns" button and using the checkboxes. Return to viewing all rows by hitting the "Select All" button next to it.|| You can also right-click or control-click a column header to quickly choose "hide column". To return it to visible, hit the "Select All" columns button.
SUBTOPIC: Drag Reorder Columns
DETAIL: To move a column next to another for viewing, grab the column on the header and drag it to the location you want.
SUBTOPIC: Sorting a recordset
DETAIL: Click on the title bar of a column to sort the recordset by that column. Click it again to sort it by descending order.
SUBTOPIC: Multiple Field Sort
DETAIL: To view a multiple sort, hit the "Sort Button" and select the fields in the order you would like to see the sort. This sort is not retained and needs to be redone each time you need it.
SUBTOPIC: Edit many rows at once
DETAIL: Select all the rows and hit the "Global Edit" button and specify the column and the data.||To select adjacent rows, shift-click the second row.||To add non-adjacent rows to the selection, use the command key-click on MAC and option-click on Windows.
SUBTOPIC: Auto-Set Column Widths
DETAIL: Make it easier to view tables with many columns by hitting the "Relax columns" button, which will stretch or shrink the column widths to a more natural width.||Text and Blob fields are left alone.
SUBTOPIC: Totaling Numeric Rows
DETAIL: Hit the calculator button to have Mesa add a row to the bottom of the table and populate it with the summation of the data in the column.||Only numeric columns are treated.
SUBTOPIC: Editing Cells
DETAIL: To edit a single cell, double click into it and make your change.||Cells with data longer than the cell itself will open in an new editor window for viewing ease. ||Cells edits are sent to the database when the selection changes from the row on which the cells were edited.||To run down a column of edits, click into a cell and to make the edit, hit the RETURN key to move to the next row in the same column.||Hit the ENTER key to render the change only.
SUBTOPIC: Drag Select Cells
DETAIL: Click and drag on the the cells to create a set of highlighted cells which can then be copied to the clipboard.
SUBTOPIC: Capture Cells to clipboard
DETAIL: To capture selected cells to the clipboard, the cells will be orange in color, not the normal row selection color.||Use Command-C on Mac and Control-C on Windows to place the cell contents on the clipboard. You can then paste into any other program. If you paste into Excel, rows and columns will be preserved.||You can also use the clipboard button to place selected cells on the clipboard.||Always check formatting of pasted data after you have pasted in excel. Columns with leading zeros are a particular issue with Excel. For instance a New Jersey zip code such as 08083 my arrive in Excel as 8083.
SUBTOPIC: Saving a content set as VIEW
DETAIL: You can save an Table Content set as a VIEW by hitting the Save as VIEW button on the bottom of the Table Content screen and giving the VIEW a name. The VIEW will be immediately available in the VIEWS tab.
MAIN TOPIC: Views
DETAIL: VIEWS are recordsets produced using sql SELECT statements you define. They are most likely queries you tend to want to see with some regularity. Views are stored in the database itself using a name you define. Make sure you don't use a table name for a VIEW.||Since VIEWS are created by select statements, their resulting rows are not in-line editable like the Table Content recorsets, which have their primary key available for unique identification. Also, VIEWS may contain data from any number of tables. As a result