DB Explorer

Layout

By default the DB Explorer groups the objects in a database or schema into folders: Tables, Views, Functions, Types and so on. Four layouts let you change that for a single connection or for all of them.

Layouts

Standard is the default: every schema with its own Tables, Views, Functions and other folders.

The lego database in the Standard layout: Schemas, then public, then the Tables, Views, Functions and other type folders, with information_schema and pg_catalog alongside public

Simple lists tables and views directly under their schema and keeps the other types in folders. A database with a single schema, such as public on PostgreSQL or dbo on SQL Server, folds that schema away, so clicking the database shows its tables straight away.

The same lego database in the Simple layout: its eight tables listed directly under the database, the other types in folders, and a System Schemas folder at the bottom

Flat lists the object types you choose directly and keeps the rest in their folders. Choosing Flat asks which types to list: tables and views, functions and procedures, sequences, triggers, types, and jobs. Every type except Types is on by default, because an engine’s built-in types would otherwise fill the list. A single schema folds away the same way.

The What should Flat list directly? picker, with every type ticked except Types

The lego database in the Flat layout with the default types: its tables and sequences listed directly, Types still in a folder, and System Schemas at the bottom

By object type removes the schema layer, as SQL Server Management Studio does. The database shows Tables, Views, Functions and the other types, with every schema’s objects merged into each folder and named schema.object. A database with a single schema drops the prefix. A Schemas folder near the end lists the schemas themselves for creating, renaming or dropping them.

A database in the By object type layout: the Tables folder lists public.record, tenant_a.events and tenant_b.events, with a System sub-folder, and a Schemas folder further down

Simple, Flat and By object type set the engine’s own schemas aside. On PostgreSQL that is pg_catalog and information_schema, on SQL Server sys, INFORMATION_SCHEMA, guest and the db_* role schemas. Simple and Flat gather them into a System Schemas folder at the bottom of the database. By object type puts their objects into a System sub-folder inside each type folder. Standard leaves them where they are today.

Choosing a Layout

Right-click a connection and choose Explorer Layout… to pick a layout for that connection; the list opens on the one it shows now. The same choice sits in the connection editor under Advanced. A connection without its own choice follows the dbcode.explorer.layout setting; Reset to, the last entry in both places, puts a connection back on it.

The Explorer Layout picker for a PostgreSQL connection, with By object type marked current and Reset to Standard as the last entry

"dbcode.explorer.layout": "simple"

Actions Without Folders

When a type’s folder is gone, its right-click actions move to the row that now holds its objects. Right-click the database or schema and choose the entry named after the type, for example Tables…, to create, import, filter or refresh.

In By object type the merged folders keep their own menus. Create, Import Data and Entity Relationship Diagram ask which schema to use first. Filter works on the merged list and matches the names as shown, so a pattern such as sales.% keeps one schema’s objects.