FAQ

EMS SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird is a high-performance tool for administering InterBase and Firebird. It provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for maintaining databases and database objects, managing table data, building SQL queries, administering users and their privileges, extracting, printing, and searching metadata, etc. IB Manager has a lot of advanced features, such as: Visual Database Designer, SP Debugger, Visual Query Builder, HTML Report Generator, BLOB Viewer/Editor, Graphical Plan Analyzer, Export Data to 15 available formats and Import Data from most popular formats, Grant and User Managers, SQL Script processor, Third-party plugin support and others.

These editions of EMS SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird differ in their functionality. Being a light edition, SQL Manager Freeware has certain restrictions, for example, it can handle not more than 5 databases, and some others. You can view the list of all functional differences between full and freeware versions at our Features page.

First of all you must have an opportunity to connect to some local or remote InterBase/Firebird server. Besides you need your computer to satisfy the system requirements of EMS SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird.

EMS Data Export/Import for InterBase/Firebird includes some additional features, which are not available in SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird such as:
  • export/import data from/to several tables at once;
  • export/import data from/to tables selected from different databases on one host;
  • command line utility to export/import data using the configuration file with all the export/import options.

First of all, EMS SQL Query for InterBase/FireBird works faster as it is a much lighter product. Besides it provides additional features for query building, e.g.:

  • "favorite" queries to find and execute often-used queries quickly;
  • keeping query history, which allows you to rollback to any edited query;
  • various interface improvements for more productive and easy work.

EMS DB Extract for InterBase/Firebird includes some additional features, which are not available in SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird, such as:

  • extracting metadata from several databases on one host;
  • console application for executing extract in one-touch;
  • faster execution speed.

Database Registration Info dialog contains Log tab where you can enable logging metadata changes which are performed on a database, and SQL statements that are executed in SQL Editor.

Follow the steps below to change the directory.

  • Right click on the database you need in DB Explorer and click on "Database Registration Info..." item in popup menu (you can also find this item in main menu "Database"). The Database Properties form will be opened.
  • Click on the "Save Options" tab.
  • In the "Default Directory for Export Data" section you can choose the default directory for export file.

“Export As SQL Script” is intended to export table data that will be inserted into a database system other than InterBase or Firebird server. Use “Extract Database” to copy data to a table on InterBase server.

There is "DLL Hell" problem of Firebird 1.5 server. That means that EMS SQL Manager for InterBase/Firebird can't use a gds32.dll library installed in your system directory. You need to build a "legacy-compatible" gds32.dll and install it to your system directory by using a instclient.exe program from the ..\bin directory of Firebird. It is essential to read the release notes and the accompanying README_library_install.txt (in the ..\doc subdirectory) before performing this change.

The ‘DDL‘ tab of all the object editors is read-only. It displays the SQL text of the operations you carry over the object on other editor tabs. To modify this text you can copy it to the clipboard and modify it using SQL Script Editor.

You can customize all display formats: integer, float, date, time and date/time in the Environment Options window.

To show system tables in the DB Explorer check option "Show system tables" on the Additional page of the Database Registration Dialog. You can call this dialog even after the database is registered, just right-click the database in the DB Explorer and select the "Database Registration Info" item in the popup menu. You can also place all the system tables in a separate node, please find the appropriate option on the DB Explorer page of the Environment Options dialog.

To get data source in a report you need to add a dialog form to the report (menu 'Edit' \ 'Add dialog form' of Report Designer), then place database and query components from the left designer panel on it and set connection and query properties. Then the query appears in data source lists.

You need to set Grid Mode for the table to 'Load Visible Rows'. Please right click on the table's grid and select 'Grid Mode' \ 'Load Visible Rows'.

The Export Data function exports only records those are currently selected in the grid view. The selection is limited by 1000 by default, so you should increase this value to select all the records to be able to export them all. Also you can set the default limit value on the Grid tab of the Environment Options dialog.

SQL Manager stores all your settings in the Windows registry. It means that the only way to transfer your database data is to get access to the Windows registry. You can do it by loading OS from your old HDD (if possible) or by opening the registry file with a special editor program. If you managed it, you can unload the 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EMS\IB Manager4' branch to the *.REG file, transfer this file to a new system and add information to the registry by double-clicking the file.