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Easy-to-Fix Usability Problems in SDC12
jfisher
Posts: 7
All,
I absolutely LOVE SQL Data Compare, but the latest version has some serious usability problems that need to be addressed. I want to say thank you to the support team for monitoring these forums and responding to feedback. As a software developer myself I greatly appreciate the responsiveness.
I love this software so much that I took the time to create a Google Slides presentation of the issues I am encountering with the hopes that truly understanding the problems will lead to an expedited solution. Moreover, I'm not asking for any work to be done that wasn't already something that existed in previous versions. I just want the new version to preserve or enhance the level of usability
Please see my Google Slides document here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZPhUssxNncNEepNIBkn91UdAnFsZJVY4wdQgcOuQx4M/edit?usp=sharing
In short there are just a few issues that can be fixed very easily and make this product way more usable:
1.) As discussed in my previous topic post the only way to select a short list of tables at once is using the spacebar which simply isn't intuitive. Need to be able to check the box and have it check the box on all tables like previous versions did.
2.) There are serious layout issues in the default comparison screen where you choose your tables and setup your where clauses. I can't read the name of my tables anymore and there are only 5-8 tables that fit on the screen at once. I MUST change the layout of the screen every single time I use this app now just to get started.
3.) Changing the direction of the compare is now de-emphasized significantly in the latest version. This should be as easy as it was before.
I absolutely LOVE SQL Data Compare, but the latest version has some serious usability problems that need to be addressed. I want to say thank you to the support team for monitoring these forums and responding to feedback. As a software developer myself I greatly appreciate the responsiveness.
I love this software so much that I took the time to create a Google Slides presentation of the issues I am encountering with the hopes that truly understanding the problems will lead to an expedited solution. Moreover, I'm not asking for any work to be done that wasn't already something that existed in previous versions. I just want the new version to preserve or enhance the level of usability
Please see my Google Slides document here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZPhUssxNncNEepNIBkn91UdAnFsZJVY4wdQgcOuQx4M/edit?usp=sharing
In short there are just a few issues that can be fixed very easily and make this product way more usable:
1.) As discussed in my previous topic post the only way to select a short list of tables at once is using the spacebar which simply isn't intuitive. Need to be able to check the box and have it check the box on all tables like previous versions did.
2.) There are serious layout issues in the default comparison screen where you choose your tables and setup your where clauses. I can't read the name of my tables anymore and there are only 5-8 tables that fit on the screen at once. I MUST change the layout of the screen every single time I use this app now just to get started.
3.) Changing the direction of the compare is now de-emphasized significantly in the latest version. This should be as easy as it was before.
Comments
Thanks for your feedback, its always good to hear from someone who enjoys our products. Your Google slides do a good job of explaining your concerns.
1. We did some research as to what other products did in similar situations, and we believed that the current behaviour would be what we would expect to happen. Following your feedback and feedback from other people, we've decided to return to the behaviour in V11. I've logged this with reference SDC-2210.
2. Looking at your screenshot I completely agree the space is not being utilised correct here. Out of interest do you have an schemas or comparison key columns with very long names in the example you have shown? This will need some investigation as the columns here are trying to automatically size (and failing). This is logged as SDC-2211.
3. We are having some discussions about introducing a "reverse direction" button alongside the deployment button at the top of the main grid at the moment. I will keep you posted on our thoughts in this area.
Redgate Software
Regarding your question on comparison keys - YES. Some of the key names here are really long. EX: PK_ClientTesteeRelationshipAttribute. I won't be naive enough to suggest a solution, but this certainly seems like it's contributing to the problem.
Redgate Software