How to explore (and edit) a MySQL server’s content conveniently in Eclipse.

Prerequisites

1. mysql is running
2. mysql-server is localhost (if not, substitute localhost with <your-server-name>)

Tested on Ubuntu 8.04, but should run everywhere with some modifications.

MySQL JDBC Connector

This library serves as driver for the SQL Explorer:

libPath=$HOME/lib
cd /tmp
wget ftp://sunsite.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/mirror/www.mysql.com/Downloads/Connector-J/mysql-connector-java-5.1.7.tar.gz
tar zxvf mysql-connector-java-5.1.7.tar.gz
cp mysql-connector-java-5.1.7/mysql-connector-java-5.1.7-bin.jar $libPath

Homepage: http://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/Connector-J/mysql-connector-java-5.1.7.tar.gz/from/pick#mirrors

(There’s a No thanks, just take me to the downloads! link on the bottom.)

SQL Explorer

• Update-Site: http://eclipsesql.sourceforge.net/
• Homepage: http://eclipsesql.sourceforge.net/

Window ‣ Open Perspective ‣ Other ‣ SQL Explorer

Create new Connection:

Connection ‣ Create New Connection Profile (first button)

• Name: give it a name (e.g. root@localhost)

• Driver: Add/Edit Drivers

  • select MySQL > Edit

    • Extra Class Path > Add > $libPath/mysql-connector-java-5.1.7-bin.jar
    • List Drivers (com.mysql.jdbc.Driver is fine)
    • OK

  • OK

• URL: jdbc:mysql://localhost/

• everything else is self-explanatory