enhancement: (add option) restore unsaved queries #140

penCsharpener · 2018-02-16T12:50:06Z

Current behavior

new queries open in a new tab and have a * when unsaved
on closing HeidiSQL user is asked whether to save those queries
unsaved queries are lost when restarting HeidiSQL next time

Expected behavior

Option for the user to restore unsaved queries next time
Notepad++ has it by default, that unsaved tabs are automatically saved and restored
also browser have option to restore tabs on next restart
if HeidiSQL crashes it won't lose those user queries

Possible solution

HeidiSQL could automatically save it's query tabs in %appdata%\HeidiSQL\unsaved Queries
if this in enabled HeidiSQL won't ask anymore to save them.

Environment

HeidiSQL version:
9.5.0.5248
Operating system:
Windows 10 1709

Comment

I use those queries for debugging. They are not relevant enough to save them for ever but I'd like them to be there for 1-2 weeks until they aren't relevant anymore.

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penCsharpener · 2018-02-16T12:57:57Z

additionally it would be nice to be useful to hit F2 on a query tab to rename it in place (without save file dialog) because Query 1, Query 2, Query 3, Query 4 is hard to tell apart.

I also often have multiple Windows open of HeidiSQL. In that case it could check whether ie. Query 1.sql already exists in the %appdata% folder and iterate the number up until there is no file collision.
When all HeidiSQL Windows are close and a new instance is started, all those unsaved queries would open again in one instance. This could get messy but I guess there is no way around that. That's the time to tidy up.

Thanks for the best SQL-Browser on Windows!

jcguevara · 2018-02-21T10:27:51Z

I think the problem with multiple instances could be partially solved if the unsaved tabs are saved in subfolders by connection name like:
%appdata%HeidiSQL\unsaved Queries\[CONNECTION_NAME]\query_*.sql in my case I'm used to have several instances opened but connected to a different DBs.

carlosfrutos · 2018-04-10T10:54:03Z

Please, remember this enhancement was requested for the first time in 2012:

https://sourceforge.net/p/heidisql/tickets/2991/

A couple of issue-tracker migrations since then...

Thank you for your efforts, guys. I really like HeidiSQL, but I'm scared of using it sometimes because it does not backup your work.

Kind regards

okneloper · 2018-08-17T11:20:35Z

I vote for this as well. Pretty simple (seemingly) change, but a major enhancement to the user experience!

sloboy · 2018-08-25T00:01:02Z

MySql workbench even reopens tabs that were saved but visible when the program is closed and reopened, not just unsaved queries. This is helpful when you are working on a project that needs input from several queries to figure out, but spans multiple days because of phb interruptions :)

kiltannen · 2018-10-30T09:32:27Z

I also would like to see this.

I use Heidi for any MySQL queries I do, and this would be a very nice enhancement.

johnnyPescarul · 2019-01-10T19:47:17Z

This is a critical feature. I love Heidi and appreciate all great effort, but I would prioritize this over other enhancements.

Miktarbad · 2019-01-24T13:31:46Z

This feature would greatly increase my workflow, since i do not have the time to save every query - but might need them later.

phiter · 2019-02-02T13:09:55Z

Been looking for this as well. My co-worker told me he loves Heidi but this is a feature that is missing and would help him a lot. Hope it gets implemented soon.

styler2go · 2019-02-15T08:14:37Z

I am also looking forward for this feature. Will improve my experience a lot.

mfaustusi · 2019-02-26T18:43:08Z

This would also save those who get frequent crashing of HeidiSQL and lose large queries that they were working on. Often when a crash occurs an exception dialog will popup and sometimes clicking on "continue" will actually close the program, or "continue" won't be available. In either case, trying to copy the query out of the tab before closing the exception box is not possible and unsaved queries are lost. Notepad++ also has this feature and it's saved me countless times.

penCsharpener · 2019-02-27T09:05:10Z

Hi @ansgarbecker, since quite a few people would find this useful can you give us an idea whether you have already been working on this or when we can expect this in a nightly version? Of course you have a bunch of other things in your 10.2 milestone. This is not to rush anything, just informational.

ansgarbecker · 2019-02-28T07:09:10Z

This is one of the most and longest wish from many users, so it will be one of the next feature I am going to implement.

phiter · 2019-02-28T12:36:02Z

Fantastic news, thanks @ansgarbecker !

ansgarbecker · 2019-03-10T07:32:14Z

Notepad++ has this restore-feature, and its preference dialog looks like this:

While HeidiSQL only has this option:

So, the approach in Notepad++ is missing the option to ignore unsaved text in a tab without even auto-saving it.

In order not to break this old feature of HeidiSQL, I should add a new "Files" tab to the preferences dialog, containing that old "Prompt to save" checkbox. Additionally, we will have a new checkbox like in Notepad++, labelled "Automatically backup unsaved files". This option applies to tabs left open when exiting HeidiSQL, not to closed tabs, in contrast to the Prompt option.

And finally I think there is no need to even customize the interval for saving these backups, like in Notepad++. Instead, Heidi should save these temporary files every 10 seconds, and only if content was changed.

By the way, is it a good idea to leave out files bigger than let's say 10MB? I'm quite sure such bigger files are normally automatically generated. And it may introduce a performance issue if HeidiSQL e.g. has to save a 5GB file every 10 seconds.

penCsharpener · 2019-03-10T07:43:12Z

10MB sound way too much I find. If I export data as SQL and paste it in a tab, then I don't want that saved.
10kb or 100kb would already be very big queries.
What about putting the file size as another option if you already create a new settings tab? My limit would likely be around 10kb.

phiter · 2019-03-11T11:00:52Z

Yeah I think 10MB is huge for a file. If you want to go full customization, this can be a configurable field where you set max size in kb.

mfaustusi · 2019-03-11T17:49:04Z

To ensure this feature is done right there should be some forethought about being able to recover from a corrupt cache that prevents HeidiSQL from loading properly, such as a command line option to skip loading background-saved queries, or on launch after a crash give the option to skip loading background saved queries that may be preventing it from starting up.

Also, in regards to file size I would assume it would be fairly trivial to compress the queries before saving to disk since SQL text is highly compressible. Very large queries likely have a lot of repeating text and could be reduced in size drastically with most compression algorithms.

pipanni · 2019-03-12T13:36:47Z

I would like this feature very much. I would also like some sushi.

dig314 · 2019-03-12T18:26:01Z

I would appreciate this feature.

…ile save" checkbox there, and introduce two new checkboxes for restoring opened and unsaved query tab contents (both new yet without functionality in their back)

…ame>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\Backups\*.sql, and tab setup in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\tabs.ini

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-07T11:35:09Z

I think I have most parts of this new feature ready to use. Some translation strings are missing yet, and probably not done enough testing yet. For all who want to test the new auto-restore feature:

update to the new nightly build
watch out for unsaved query tabs, either after loading a file from harddisk or without a file in the back
if you want to know more exactly what's going on:
- activate Preferences > Logging > "Debug" messages
- watch the auto-created directory C:\Users\<yourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\Backups\
- watch the new setup file C:\Users\<yourUsername>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\tabs.ini

The auto-restore feature is activated by default, and can be disabled in Preferences > Files > "Reopen previously used SQL files..."

…an 10MB

* fix: very last tab backup was not yet done * tell user about activated auto-restore feature in very last question dialog for saving tab * add missing translation strings

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-08T18:58:45Z

I think the current implementation is not yet safe against running multiple instances... Please be aware of that if you already use this feature.

penCsharpener · 2019-04-08T19:01:04Z

nothing important should remain unsaved anyway. It can't be worse than before the feature implementation when all the unsaved queries were gone by default.

3vcloud · 2019-04-12T15:21:40Z

This only seems to restore the first tab for me atm

Edit: Looks like the tab restore function needs to be offset by 1 when restoring? I exit with 4 query tabs open (unsaved), then restart HeidiSQL, and I get 3 query tabs back

... and then after trying it again after typing this, it consistently auto-restores. Not going to delete this comment myself just incase this needs looking into

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-13T06:50:03Z

I just tested with a blank setup and the latest build. I can reproduce that if I am very quickly closing HeidSQL, before the 10 seconds timer for storing the tab setup has reached its first end. So I think the call of MainForm.StoreTabs when closing HeidiSQL is not fired for some reason.

=> fixed

* store tab setup when application exits, as the TimerStoreTabs interval may not yet be reached * remember startup value of asRestoreTabs option, which may change while the application runs, which in turn may cause problems when RestoreTabs wasn't called

…d don't restore tabs from other running processes. If the process no longer runs, restore such tab sections again, so nothing gets lost with multiple running application instances.

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-13T08:58:56Z

Next nightly build should work stable with multiple HeidiSQL instances, each of them managing its own tab setup, writing to the same tabs.ini file. Tabs get restored if no other running instance is using them.

Any more issues here? Please report if you find one.

okneloper · 2019-04-13T20:40:54Z

What an awesome improvement to my day-to-day work! Thanks for taking the time to implement this!

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-16T18:50:17Z

I am closing this issue now, as there are no complaints for some days, and I can also find nothing to change. Please shout if you find more issues.

igitur · 2019-04-30T09:03:07Z

I think this was a great improvement, but I think the norm with other applications (e.g. Notepad++) is that when the user manually closes a Window it always asks him for confirmation to save the contents or not. Only when the program is closed (e.g. when it is upgrading to a new version) does the auto-backup apply.

3vcloud · 2019-04-30T09:10:37Z

I agree with @igitur , this is a bug to do with this change. Tabs still need to prompt if the user closes them within the application

ansgarbecker · 2019-04-30T09:28:09Z

Yes, when you close a tab, it should ask you. But this is the case, at least if you did not disable this prompt:

Is this not intuitive in some way? Or maybe because the user tends to disable the option?

igitur · 2019-04-30T09:31:57Z

Ah, then I misunderstood that question. I assumed it meant specifically to "Keep asking this question" when closing the files in bulk (e.g. when closing/upgrading the application).

3vcloud · 2019-04-30T09:33:40Z

I have that box ticked, and my application doesn't prompt me when I close a tab. I may have unticked Keep asking this question in the past, but that should just update Prompt to save modified files on tab close, yes?

Edit: No, you're right - its my settings!

ansgarbecker · 2019-06-03T14:28:37Z

Still an issue, described in the forum: physically existing files loaded into a tab are restored even when the user closed them in the previous session.

…ed some physical file. Fixes wrongly restored tabs which were closed in previous session.

ansgarbecker · 2019-06-03T18:34:32Z

Just fixed that for the next build. Closed tabs with manually loaded files should no longer be restored in the next session.

ilpssun · 2019-06-04T05:46:00Z

Can confirm the fix in build 10.1.0.5585.

…their filename

WesleyM77 · 2019-06-24T18:50:06Z

Should bound parameters also be restored?

ansgarbecker · 2019-06-24T19:47:06Z

They are not currently, but I guess they should be, right? But please file another issue for solving that.

…(). Also, use its own Write() method instead of StreamWrite(), which encodes UTF8 first, so the new approach is probably faster. Probably also helps with non-writable tab backups on some systems.

…M, now load them in this encoding, not in UTF8 with BOM * see deab987 * see https://www.heidisql.com/forum.php?t=35551

ansgarbecker · 2022-08-17T08:48:42Z

Note that since v12.1, the auto-created backup file of a user-closed tab is now deleted to the recycle bin. Previously, they were just deleted without any possibility to restore. So, even when you closed a tab, by accident or not, you may restore its content.

DRSDavidSoft · 2023-04-02T20:05:03Z

@ansgarbecker You just saved me from a heart attack! I had some important information in a few queries, and the tabs were closed. I'm so relieved that I found the content in the recycle bin! 😄

rentalhost added the enhancement label Feb 16, 2018

penCsharpener mentioned this issue Mar 9, 2018

Show multiple tables at once (extra 'Data' tabs) #155

Closed

ansgarbecker added this to the v10.1 milestone Jan 3, 2019

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Apr 7, 2019

Issue #140: Auto-backup unsaved query tab contents to C:\Users\<usern…

3069456

…ame>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\Backups\*.sql, and tab setup in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\HeidiSQL\tabs.ini

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Apr 7, 2019

Issue #140: Do not auto backup unsaved tab contents if it's larger th…

561a0ed

…an 10MB

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Apr 8, 2019

Issue #140:

f43c37a

* fix: very last tab backup was not yet done * tell user about activated auto-restore feature in very last question dialog for saving tab * add missing translation strings

ansgarbecker closed this as completed Apr 16, 2019

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Apr 21, 2019

Issue #140: Flag query editor as modified after pasting text

4fd77f4

ansgarbecker reopened this Jun 3, 2019

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Jun 3, 2019

Issue #140: Erase ini section of a closed tab, in which the user load…

19775ef

…ed some physical file. Fixes wrongly restored tabs which were closed in previous session.

ansgarbecker closed this as completed Jun 3, 2019

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Jun 9, 2019

Issue #140: restore width and height of query tab editors along with …

5995a40

…their filename

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Oct 15, 2019

Issue #140: Be sure to write tab backup files in UTF8 without BOM

deab987

ansgarbecker added a commit that referenced this issue Feb 20, 2020

Issue #140: As a complement to writing tab backups in UTF8 without BO…

88c3560

…M, now load them in this encoding, not in UTF8 with BOM * see deab987 * see https://www.heidisql.com/forum.php?t=35551

ansgarbecker added feature and removed enhancement labels Feb 27, 2020

enhancement: (add option) restore unsaved queries #140

enhancement: (add option) restore unsaved queries #140

Comments

penCsharpener commented Feb 16, 2018 • edited

Current behavior

Expected behavior

Possible solution

Environment

Comment

penCsharpener commented Feb 16, 2018 • edited

jcguevara commented Feb 21, 2018 • edited

carlosfrutos commented Apr 10, 2018

okneloper commented Aug 17, 2018

sloboy commented Aug 25, 2018

kiltannen commented Oct 30, 2018

johnnyPescarul commented Jan 10, 2019

Miktarbad commented Jan 24, 2019

phiter commented Feb 2, 2019

styler2go commented Feb 15, 2019

mfaustusi commented Feb 26, 2019

penCsharpener commented Feb 27, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Feb 28, 2019

phiter commented Feb 28, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Mar 10, 2019

penCsharpener commented Mar 10, 2019 • edited

phiter commented Mar 11, 2019

mfaustusi commented Mar 11, 2019

pipanni commented Mar 12, 2019

dig314 commented Mar 12, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Apr 7, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Apr 8, 2019

penCsharpener commented Apr 8, 2019

3vcloud commented Apr 12, 2019 • edited

ansgarbecker commented Apr 13, 2019 • edited

ansgarbecker commented Apr 13, 2019

okneloper commented Apr 13, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Apr 16, 2019

igitur commented Apr 30, 2019

3vcloud commented Apr 30, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Apr 30, 2019

igitur commented Apr 30, 2019

3vcloud commented Apr 30, 2019 • edited

ansgarbecker commented Jun 3, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Jun 3, 2019

ilpssun commented Jun 4, 2019 • edited

WesleyM77 commented Jun 24, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Jun 24, 2019

ansgarbecker commented Aug 17, 2022

DRSDavidSoft commented Apr 2, 2023

penCsharpener commented Feb 16, 2018 •

edited

penCsharpener commented Feb 16, 2018 •

edited

jcguevara commented Feb 21, 2018 •

edited

penCsharpener commented Mar 10, 2019 •

edited

3vcloud commented Apr 12, 2019 •

edited

ansgarbecker commented Apr 13, 2019 •

edited

3vcloud commented Apr 30, 2019 •

edited

ilpssun commented Jun 4, 2019 •

edited