Different special icon for foreign key rel Join Conditions

DavidHerbst

I have additional matches enabled for "Column names" and "Data types" for cases where I am joining tables that do not have a foreign key relationship explicitly defined.

However when I am joining tables that have a foreign key relationship, I use column(s) in a foreign key relationship for my JOIN condition. Currently there isn't any way to distinguish these entries in the candidate list from other candidates based on "Column names" and "Data types". All three are using the same paper clip icon.

Would it be possible for you to enhance SQL Prompt to use a different special icon for foreign key relationship JOIN condition candidates to distinguish them from "Column names" and "Data types" JOIN condition candidates?

JasonC

This is a nice idea. On the one hand, we don't want to have too many different icons (this would make it tricky for novice users), and unlike a foreign key relationship that you discussed in your other post, the column name/datatype join conditions can be distinguished.

But on the other hand, it would be very useful for quickly browsing a long list of join candidates, so we may put it in the next version. Thanks again for your suggestions.

DavidHerbst

I hear what you are saying about too many icons being confusing. On the other hand foreign key columns frequently have the same name in both tables so at a quick glance they wouldn't be distinguished from candidates based only on the column names. E.g. Customer.CustomerID and CustomerAddress.CustomerID.

Possibly you could use the same paper clip image but a different overlay for each icon variation.

E.g.
1) A paper clip overlaid with a key for candidates based on a foreign key.
2) A paper clip overlaid with "N" for candidates based on matching column names.
3) A paper clip overlaid with "T" for candidates based on matching data types.

JasonC

Yes, this would be rather good. I see what you mean about same column names with different owners. I'll suggest this to the UI developers / usability people and see what we can do.

Cheers, Jason