SQLEditor 2.5 – now with native database drivers and process separation

I’m really happy to say that SQLEditor 2.5 [60MB zip] has just been released. This has some interesting new features that have been in development for some time. Native database drivers have been something I’ve been hoping to support for ages, while process separation should improve stability and performance.

Native database drivers

SQLEditor 2.5 now includes native database support bundled with the app.
Native drivers are bundled for SQLite (using standard sqlite), MySQL/Drizzle (using the Drizzle driver library) and Postgres (using Postgres client libraries).

The native drivers don’t use Java at all, which gives a marginal performance improvement. Although if you’re using SQLEditor in standard, graphical mode you probably won’t notice.

Native driver support means that SQLEditor should now be zero configuration for many users. Just install the app and start using it. This should be a big win, as opposed to finding, downloading and installing the JDBC drivers. It also gives a predictable and standard configuration to test, which should reduce bugs.

SQLEditor still supports JDBC drivers as before, but if you definitely don’t require them, the JDBC driver loading can be turned off entirely.
(Preferences->Database->Database Options->Enable Java (JDBC) Driver Support)

Database process separation

SQLEditor 2.5 now splits off database operations and anything involving Java into a separate process. This was primarily to provide more protection with native drivers, if they crash. However it also means that there is no Java VM running in the main process at all, which should make SQLEditor open an editable document faster from cold start. The worker thread is started, but can then load java separately, you don’t need to wait for this to happen.There is also better stability should JDBC driver discovery hang or crash, because this is running in a third process.

Overall there are more processes, but it doesn’t seem to make that much difference memory wise. Plus Chrome does something similar, so SQLEditor is in good company (or so I’m hoping).

The new version is available to download today:

SQLEditor 2.5 [60MB zip, 10.6+]

Alternatively the in-app updater should be offering the upgrade right now.

Upgrading via the in-app updater also reduces the download size, because, in many cases, it only downloads the changes between versions, rather than the whole app.
(thanks Sparkle)

I hope that you like the new release, if you have comments or wish to report a bug please do email at support@malcolmhardie.com 

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