With the latest release of the Pragmatic Workbench, we are exposed to the Object Browser. The Object Browser is a very cool feature that is party of the DBA xPress package of tools designed with the database administrator in mind. This is the first time I’m exploring this tool, so I wanted to walk through the feature with you and give my take on it (even though I’m not a DBA, but nonetheless…).

When you first launch Object Browser, you must first point to the server where your database exists. So far so good.

After connecting, we’re immediately treated to a nifty tree view of our database and the objects within that database. In this case, of course, I’ve connected to the Adventure Works DW 2008 R2 database.

The browser is extremely responsive and very quick. Drilling down and exploring the database is slick and fast. Once you’ve connected to the database, you can browse it and search for a single object using the search function. All I had to do is type in my search term and the tree view filtered faster than Google.

One of the really cool features is that you can see the SQL script to create the object you’ve selected. whether it’s a table, a view, a column in a table, a procedure, or a role. Very handy! We can also hover over the objects and view the meta data for that object.

Another neat feature is the ability to take a snapshot of the database. Click the Take Snapshot button at the top of the Object Browser. A nice, clean XML file is the output and can be saved to the location of your choosing.

To learn more about DBA xPress and download the free trial, head here.