The ObjectsViewDef element define all views for the object types in the objects tree. These views are displayed in the Object View area for the selected object. Which views should appear when selecting a node in the tree is based on the object type for the tree node and the corresponding object view definition.

<ObjectsViewDef extends="true">
   <ObjectView type="xxx">
      <DataView id="yyy" label="yyy">
         ...
      </DataView>
   </ObjectView>
</ObjectsViewDef>

The extends="true" attribute specifies that this definition will extend the ObjectsViewDef definition in the database profile being extended. 

When an object is opened in the database tree (sa in the screenshot below) a corresponding object view tab is created (right in the sample). Each of the DataView elements in the ObjectView will appear as sub tabs in the object view tab. The selected object and its information is passed to each of the data views for processing and presentation. The following example show the Object View in DbVisualizer and its ObjectView element definition.

Representation in DbVisualizer

XML definition

<ObjectView type="Logins"> <DataView type="Logins" label="Logins" viewer="grid"> <Command idref="sybase-ase.getLogins"/> </DataView> </ObjectView> <ObjectView type="Login"> <DataView type="Info" label="Info" viewer="node-form"/> <DataView type="Databases" label="Databases" viewer="grid"> <Command idref="sybase-ase.getLoginDatabases"/> </DataView> <DataView type="Roles" label="Roles" viewer="grid"> <Command idref="sybase-ase.getLoginRoles"/> </DataView> </ObjectView>

The screenshot and the database tree show both the Logins node and its child nodes, jstask, probe and sa. These nodes are instances of the object types Logins (labeled Logins in the screenshot) and Login (the three sub nodes: jstask, sa and probe).

The ObjectView XML definitions above shows the data views for these two types, Logins and Login. Opening the node labeled Logins in the tree will show the object view for the <ObjectView type="Logins"> definition while opening the node labeled jstask, probe or sa will show the object view for the <ObjectView type="Login"> . 

The example shows sa being selected. Its DataView definitions displayed as tabs in the object view are (by label):

• Info
• Databases
• Roles

XML element - ObjectView

The ObjectView element is associated with an object type and groups all DataView elements that appear when the object type is selected in the database objects tree. Here follows the ObjectView definition for the Login object type.

<ObjectView type="Login">
  ...
</ObjectView>

The type attribute value is used when a node is clicked in the database objects tree to map with the corresponding ObjectView definition. The following lists the attributes for ObjectView:

XML element - DataView

The DataView element is comparable with the DataNode element in the ObjectsTreeDef. It defines what SQL (command) should be executed, labeling, viewer type (presentation form) and other characteristics. The following is the DataView definitions for the Login object type. (The ObjectView element is part of the sample just for clarification).

<ObjectView type="Login">
  <DataView type="sybasease-login-info" icon="Info" label="Info" viewer="node-form"/>
  <DataView type="sybasease-login-databases" icon="Databases" label="Databases" viewer="grid">
    <Command idref="sybase-ase.getLoginDatabases"/>
  </DataView>
  <DataView type="sybasease-login-roles" icon="Roles" label="Roles" viewer="grid">
    <Command idref="sybase-ase.getLoginRoles"/>
  </DataView>
</ObjectView>

All three DataView elements have a viewer attribute identifying how the data in the view should be be presented, e.g., as a grid or a form. See the next sections for a list of viewers. The following lists all attributes for DataView:

Viewers

The viewer attribute for a DataView define how the data for the viewer should be presented. The following sections walk through the supported viewers.

The following sample illustrates the viewer attribute.

<ObjectView type="Login">
  <DataView type="Info" label="Info" viewer="node-form"/>
</ObjectView>

DataView definitions may be nested and the viewers are then presented with the nested DataView in the lower part of the screen.

Viewer - grid

The grid viewer presents a result set in a grid with standard grid features such as search, copy, fit columns, export and so on. The result set is presented exactly as it is produced by the associated Command and any optional Output processing. 

Here is a sample of the XML for the grid viewer:

<DataView type="oracle-columns-columns" icon="Columns" label="Columns" viewer="grid">
  <Command idref="oracle.getColumns">
    <Input name="owner" value="${schema}"/>
    <Input name="table" value="${objectname}"/>
  </Command>
</DataView>

And here is a screenshot of the standard grid viewer created from the above definition.

The nesting capability for grid viewers is really powerful, as it can be used to create a drill-down view of the data. Consider the scenario with a grid viewer showing all Trigger objects. Wouldn't it be nice to offer the user the capability to display the trigger source when selecting a row in the list? This is easily accomplished with the following definition:

<DataView id="oracle-table-triggers" icon="Trigger" label="Triggers" viewer="grid">
   <Command idref="oracle.getTriggers">
      <Input name="owner" value="${schema}"/>
      <Input name="condition" value="${triggersCondition}"/>
   </Command>
   <DataView id="oracle-table-triggers-source" icon="Source" label="Source" viewer="text">
      <Input name="dataColumn" value="text"/>
      <Input name="formatSQL" value="true"/>
      <Command idref="oracle.getTriggerSource">
         <Input name="owner" value="${OWNER}"/>
         <Input name="name" value="${TRIGGER_NAME}"/>
      </Command>
   </DataView>
   <DataView id="oracle-table-triggers-info" icon="Info" label="Info" viewer="node-form"/>
</DataView>

• The first DataView element define the top grid viewer labeled Triggers and the command to get the result set for it

• The next DataView is the nested text viewer labeled Source, specifying various input parameter for the viewer along with the command to get the source for the trigger. The difference here is that the input parameters for this command reference column names in the top grid. Since this viewer is nested, it will automatically be notified whenever an entry in the top grid is selected

• The third DataView labeled Info is presented as a tab next to the Source viewer, and presents additional information about the selected trigger

The following screenshot illustrates the above sample:

Adding custom menu items in the grid

The grid right-click menu contain a lot of standard actions. Custom commands can be defined in the DataView element and these will appear last in the menu. 

<Input name="menuItem" value="Open in New Tab...">
   <Input name="action" value="open-object-in-new-tab-command ${schema||OWNER}${object||TABLE_NAME}"/>
</Input>
<Input name="menuItem" value="Open in Floating Tab...">
   <Input name="action" value="open-object-in-floating-tab-command ${schema||OWNER}${object||TABLE_NAME}"/>
</Input>
   <Input name="menuItem" value="Script: SELECT ALL">
   <Input name="command" value="select * from ${schema||OWNER}${object||TABLE_NAME}"/>
</Input>
   <Input name="menuItem" value="Script: DROP TABLE">
   <Input name="command" value="drop table ${schema||OWNER}${object||TABLE_NAME}"/>
</Input>

The <Input name="menuItem"> element define a menu item entry that should appear in the grid right-click menu. The value for the menuItem is the label for the item as it will appear in the menu while the child Input element with name="command" is the SQL command that should be produced for all selected rows when the menu item is selected. Invoking a custom menu item will not execute the produced SQL directly but rather copy the statements to a SQL Editor. In the SQL Editor you will then need to manually execute the script and track the result.

The name="action" attribute declare that the value is a pre-defined action. Valid actions are:

• open-object-in-new-tab-command
• open-object-in-floating-tab-command

Any variables in the SQL statement should identify column names in the result set. The user may select any cells in the grid and choose a custom menu item. It is only the actual rows that are picked from the selection as the columns are predefined by the menuItem declaration. 

The variables specified in these examples starts with ${schema=...} and ${object=...}. These define that the first variable represents a schema variable while the second defines an object. This is needed for DbVisualizer to determine whether delimited identifiers should be used and if identifiers should be qualified, as defined in the connection properties for the database.

Here is a sample:

Setting initial max column width

Some result sets may contain wide columns. The following parameter sets an initial maximum width for all columns in the grid.

<Input name="columnWidth" value=""/>

Viewer - text

The text viewer presents data from one column in a result set in a text browser (read only). This viewer is typically used to present large chunks of data, such as source code, SQL statements, etc. If the result set contain several rows, the text viewer reads the data in the column for each row and present the combined data. 

Here is a sample of the XML for the text viewer:

<DataView id="oracle-table-triggers-source" icon="Source" label="Source" viewer="text">
   <Input name="dataColumn" value="text"/>
   <Input name="formatSQL" value="true"/>
   <Input name="newline" value""/>
   <Command idref="oracle.getTriggerSource">
      <Input name="owner" value="${OWNER}"/>
      <Input name="name" value="${TRIGGER_NAME}"/>
   </Command>
</DataView>

And here is a screenshot of the Source tab based on the previous definition.

Specify what column to browse

By default, the text viewer uses the data in first column. This behavior can be controlled by using the dataColumn input parameter. Simply specify the name of the column in the result set or its index (starting at 1 from the left).

<Input name="dataColumn" value=""/>

Enable SQL formatting of the data

The text viewer have the SQL Formatting function, which when invoked formats the SQL buffer in the viewer. The formatSQL input parameter is used to control whether formatting should be made automatically when the data first displayed. If formatSQL is not specified, no initial formatting is made.

<Input name="formatSQL" value=""/>

Adding newline to each row

For a result set containing multiple rows and all rows should be displayed in a text viewer, the newline parameter define the character(s) that should separate the rows in the viewer. A \n somewhere in the value will be converted to a platform dependent newline sequence in the viewer. By default there is no newline sequence between multiple rows.

<Input name="newline" value="\n"/>
<Input name="newline" value="as-sql"/>

The as-sql value will append an SQL statement delimiter and a platform specific newline sequence at the end of every row.

Viewer - form

The form viewer displays row(s) from a result set in a form. If several rows are in the result, they are presented in a list. Selecting one row from the list presents all columns and data for that row in a form.

Here is a sample of the XML for the form viewer:

<DataView id="oracle-table-info" icon="Info" label="Info" viewer="form" order-before="0">
   <Command idref="oracle.getTable">
      <Input name="owner" value="${schema}"/>
      <Input name="table" value="${objectname}"/>
   </Command>
</DataView>

And here is a screenshot of the Info tab based on the previous definition.

Viewer - node-form

The node-form viewer presents all data associated with the selected DataNode (variables). Here is a sample of the XML for the node-form viewer:

Hiding columns

There may be data associated with the object that you don't want to present in the node form. The hidecolumn input parameter control what data for the object that should be invisible and you may repeat this option as many times you like to handle multiple variables that shouldn't be displayed.

<Input name="hidecolumn" value="oracle.getKeys.TABLE_OWNER"/>

Viewer - table-refs

The table-refs viewer shows the references graph for the current object (this must be an object supporting referential integrity constraints, such as a Table),

Here is a sample of the XML for the table-refs viewer:

<DataView id="generic-table-references" icon="References" label="References" viewer="table-refs"/>

And here is a screenshot of the References tab based on the previous definition.

Viewer - tables-refs

The tables-refs viewer shows the references graph for several tables in the result set (the result set must contain objects supporting referential integrity constraints, such as a Table). Here is a sample of the XML for the tables-refs viewer:

<DataView id="oracle-tables-references" icon="References" label="References" viewer="tables-refs">
   <Command idref="oracle.getTables">
      <Input name="owner" value="${schema}"/>
      <ProcessDataSet action="renamecolumn" index="OWNER" name="TABLE_SCHEM"/>
      <ProcessDataSet action="renamecolumn" index="TABLE_NAME" name="TABLE_NAME"/>
   </Command>
</DataView>

And here is a screenshot of the References tab based on the previous definition.

Viewer - table-data

The table-data viewer shows the data for a table in a grid with various features such as filtering and editing (if licensed) functionality. 

Here is a sample of the XML for the table-data viewer:

<DataView id="oracle-view-data" icon="Data" label="Data" viewer="table-data"/>
   <Input name="disableEdit" value="false"/>
</DataView>

And here is a screenshot of the Data tab based on the previous definition.

Disable data editing

The default strategy for the table-data viewer is to automatically check whether the data can be edited or not. If editing is allowed a few related buttons will appear in the toolbar. However, sometimes you may want to disable editing completely for the table-data viewer. Do this with the following input element:

<Input name="editDisabled" value="true"/>

Viewer - table-rowcount

The table-rowcount viewer shows the row count for a (table) object.

Here is a sample of the XML for the table-rowcount viewer:

<DataView id="generic-table-rowcount" icon="RowCount" label="Row Count" viewer="table-rowcount"/>

XML element - Command

Check the commands section for more information.

XML element - Input

The Input element is supported for some of the data viewers. Check the viewer sections for more information. 

XML element - Message

The Message element is very simple as it just define a message that should appear at the top of the viewer. The text in the message may contain HTML tags such as <b> (bold), <i> (italic), <br> (line break), etc.

Here is a sample of the XML for using the message element in a grid viewer:

<ObjectView type="RecycleBin">
   <DataView id="oracle-recyclebin-recyclebin" icon="RecycleBin" label="Recycle Bin" viewer="grid">
      <Command idref="oracle.getRecycleBin">
         <Input name="schema" value="${schema}"/>
         <Input name="login_schema" value="${dbvis-defaultCatalogOrSchema}"/>
      </Command>
      <Message>
         <![CDATA[
<html>
These are the tables currently in the recycle bin for this schema. Right click on a bin
table in objects tree to restore or permanently purge it.<br>
<b>Note: The recycle bin is always empty if not looking at the bin for your
login schema (default).</b>
</html>
         ]]>
      </Message>
   </DataView>
</ObjectView>

And here is a screenshot of the Recycle Bin tab based on the previous definition.