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User guide

  • Getting started
  • Technical requirements: supported databases, adding a JDBC driver and database type, and behavior that differs by database
  • Application settings: the BroadSQL.ini / broadsqlux.ini file, every setting it supports
  • Export & Dump: writing query results and whole tables to XLSX, ODS, CSV, TXT, or MDB (the latter a legacy, frozen format)
  • Loading data from a file: LOAD and BATCHLOAD insert or update rows in a table from a CSV file, such as one a business user sends you built in Excel
  • PULL: copying a query's results into a table of a local H2 database, a tab of a spreadsheet, or a flat file (CSV, TXT, JSON, Markdown, or HTML), under one unified syntax
  • SQL Library & Scripts: saving, browsing, searching, editing, and safely running reusable queries (LIB *) and multi-statement scripts (SCRIPT *), with a shared metadata format, environment scoping, and archive-based delete with undo
  • Light scripting with JS: running a JavaScript file or one-line snippet (JS RUN/JS EVAL) that can hold several database connections open at once and drive them with ordinary loops and conditionals, a lower-friction alternative to a custom command JAR
  • Command reference: every command, its arguments and examples (generated from the source code, always up to date)
  • Macro commands, usable inside any SQL query:
    • <@fileName>: expands to a comma-separated, quoted list read from a file, e.g. select count(*) from TEST where id in <@c:\codes.txt>
    • @<fileName>: runs the SQL commands stored in a file, e.g. @c:\dbRestore.sql;. A relative fileName resolves against the folder BroadSQL was started from, so @scripts\myfile.sql; runs a script from the scripts folder shipped with the install (see Installation); the same script can also be run by name with SCRIPT RUN, see SQL Library & Scripts
    • /: re-runs the previous query
  • Command activity log: keep a per-connection, per-day trail of every command and its output
  • Extending BroadSQL with custom commands

Business case: mass updating data from a file business users send you

A common pattern: a business user maintains data in Excel and sends you the file to apply as updates. Save the sheet as CSV, then LOAD or BATCHLOAD it straight into the target table.