Administration Component

The Administration Component is part of the Extended Edition of AQT, and is in evaluation mode for the Standard Edition. The Extended Edition is a separately purchasable component of AQT that allows you to manipulate objects in your database - not just tables but also indexes, tablespaces, procedures, triggers etc.

For all of these types of objects you can:

• create the object
• alter the object
• drop the object
• generate DDL for the object
• manage the security of the object
• run various actions against the object

Even if you have not purchased this component, you will still see it in AQT. You will be in evaluation mode of the Admin Component; you will be able to use it, however you will not be able to run any of the SQL scripts. This lets you see how it works, and decide whether you would find it a useful tool. If you are not interested in seeing the Admin Component, you can hide it with Options > User Rights > Hide Admin Component.

The Admin Component is currently available for the following databases:

• DB2/UDB
• DB2 z/OS
• DB2/400
• Oracle
• SQL Server
• Sybase ASE
• Sybase Anywhere
• PostgreSQL
• Informix
• MySql
• Pervasive.SQL
• SQLBase
• MS Access
• Interbase/Firebird

Other databases can be configured, if sufficient people request them.

Running the Admin Component

Run the Admin Component in any of the following ways:

• the Database Explorer window has a toolbar at the top of the Object Display (the middle grid of the Database Explorer). This toolbar has buttons for the various administration actions that can be performed on the database object you have selected.
• the Admin toolbar can be displayed / not displayed by selecting View > Admin Toolbar.
• the Database Explorer window has a menu option Create. This has menu items for creating most of the common database objects.
• the Run SQL window has a menu option Create. This will have options for creating objects from your query (such as Views and Summary Tables).

If you do not see any of these items then either:

• the Admin Component has not been configured for your database
• you have hidden the Admin Component. This is done with Options > User Rights > Hide Admin Component

Generic architecture

The Administration Component is written as a generic component, controlled by a config file. The config file specifies the definition of the objects in your database, and the administrative actions that can be performed against each object. By designing AQT in this way, we are able to customize the administration function for each different database type. In addition, we are able to implement new administrative functions quickly, with no changes needed to AQT code.

In the Database Explorer window, you can view the way that the Admin Component has been configured for your database with Tools > Configure Admin Component.

The Admin Component does a lot of work and may take a few seconds to return a result. There are two reasons for this:

• To display all the attributes of your database objects, AQT often has to run several queries against your system tables. If you have a slow connection to your database, you may notice a delay before the object properties are displayed.
• The definition of your objects is not hard-coded in AQT, but is specified in the config file entries. AQT needs to read and "interpret" these definitions. This doesn't take a noticeable amount of time if your PC has a fast processor, however if you are running AQT on a PC with a slow processor you may notice a delay.

Admin Component windows

The Admin Component consists of seven windows:

• manage tables is used for creating, displaying or altering tables
• manage objects is used for creating, displaying or altering objects other than tables
• the perform actions on multiple objects window is used for dropping objects, renaming objects, managing table/column comments, running analyze/runstats against your tables, and other functions.
• generate DDL will generate the DDL (Data Definition Language) statements for your objects
• manage authorities is used to manage the security rights of your objects and users
• compare objects. This allows you to compare the definition of your objects.
• system monitor. This monitors processes and other internal information on your database.

A generic window is used for different functions. Features of the windows vary according to function, object, and database type. We've aimed to provide the clearest explanation, however this Help won't cover every attribute of all screen displays for all objects in all database types.

Hiding the Admin Component

If you do not wish to see the Admin Component, you can hide it: Options > User Rights > Hide Admin Component. You can lock this setting if you are deploying AQT to a number of users who do not need to use this component.