07 Jun Navigation and Basic Filtering
Once you have created your snapshot you’re ready to start harnessing the power of SQLCompass’s filtering and navigation options
You’ll start off with an overview of the database with all objects visible in the tree view
Right click on the root (database) node and select Expand All to expand the sub nodes and see the actual objects:
… and you should see something like this:
SCHEMA AND NAME FILTERING
Start by filtering the objects by schema…
Type the text “p*|sales” into the Schema filter dropdown and press Enter
…you’ll see that objects are now restricted to those in a schema begining with ‘p’ or in the ‘sales’ schema
By default the schema filter uses ‘Like’ syntax where asterisk (*) will match any sequence of zero or more characters and pipe (|) may be used to separate alternate values
The different syntaxes which may be applied at Schema, Name or SQL level are:
Like
- Asterix (*) matches any character
- Pipe (|) may be used to separate alternate values
Equals
- Values must exactly match the entered text (not relevant to SQL)
Starts With
- Values must start with entered text (not relevant to SQL)
Contains
- Values must contain the entered text
Regex
- Values must match a user defined Regex
- To learn more about Regexes click here
Additionally, filtering may be modified by applying case sensitivity and whole word options to Schema, Name and SQL filters
And finally, the Invert Match option is very useful for finding objects which do not match a specific pattern
So, moving on to an example of filtering on both Schema and Name, type “prod*|*address*” into the Name filter and you should now see all objects in the “Sales” schema or schemas starting with “p” where the name of the object starts with “prod” or contains “address”
If you then invert the name filter you should now see all objects in the “Sales” schema or schemas starting with “p” where the name of the object does not start with “prod” and does not contain “address”
As you select objects in the tree view on the left you’ll see the SQL definition displayed in the Detail tab.
FILTERING ON SQL
Filtering on SQL is a larger topic and will be covered in another article
HISTORY
A history is maintained and updated as you visit each object allowing you to quickly navigate backwards 
and forwards 
through the objects in which you are interested
By right clicking on either the backwards or forwards button you can access a list of the most recently visited objects
This allows you to quickly move between the SQL you need to see to do your job
FILTER TOGGLE
If you need to quickly turnoff all filtering for a moment you can do this using the filter toggle 
Click the button once to remove all filtering and then again to reactivate
GOTO
If you already know the object you’re looking for you can use the Goto menu 
to quickly navigate to that object
First off use the filter toggle to remove all filters
Then press CTRL+G or click to open the Goto menu and type “humanres.empl”…
You’ll see the menu now displays all objects where the Schema and Name name roughly match the entered text
Then you can use the arrow keys or mouse to navigate to the desired object.
Just started working with or interested in learning about how SQL works? Click here.