The story of Steven Mapes, an experienced software developer who has been using SQLyog MySQL GUI since 2002.
We were so thrilled to speak with Steven Mapes for two simple reasons. One, he is an ardent user of SQLyog. Two, he has been using the tool since 2002 (we had released the GA version of SQLyog in 2002). And, it is users like Steven who make the product successful with their constant support and feedback that keeps us going.
We go down memory lane and learn some interesting facts about SQLyog that made Steven stick with the tool for more than a decade.
Steven Mapes is a self-employed software solutions provider who develops web-based polyglot solutions for clients often hosted within the cloud since 2012. Before it, he was the Head of IT for Moko Social Media in the UK. When asked about how he came across SQLyog and the need to use the tool, Steven says,”My first exposure to SQLyog was back in 2002 when the company I worked for at the time introduced a MySQL database to run their new web applications alongside their existing MSSQL server.”
Finding a MySQL client tool
As a software engineer and DBA, Steven wanted to use a tool that would help him manage the MySQL database in a way that felt familiar to the MSSQL Query Analyzer tool. He wanted the tool to include syntax checking, data export, multiple queries, connections to multiple databases, along with GUI tools to manage users to ease the task for his colleagues. For the same reason, he evaluated numerous other IDEs such as the MySQL CLI client, SQL Workbench, Zend Studios, PHPEdit, to name a few.
Why SQLyog?
He found SQLyog to be the most natural fit to his requirements. Steven’s primary purpose of using SQLyog was to develop and test SQL queries, create and manage stored procedures and compare database schemas across different connections. As he puts it,
“SQLyog provides easy to use backup features, schema comparisons and data transfer which meant that I could easily compare the development schemas to the live schema (this was pre-framework code) while using an interface to query the database that felt familiar and did not have the memory leaks of SQL Workbench.”
He finds backup and data/schema export extremely useful along with the schema comparison tools. Stefan has clients who do not use framework based ORMs, and so SQLyog’s schema comparison is perfect to rapidly compare live and development schemas. SQLyog made any migrations rapid and obvious especially when it comes to collation and charset differences.
Customer happiness
SQLyog decreased the management time and at the same time accelerate the development process. According to Steven,
‘It is a tool that I have introduced to various companies and individuals, and it is still my go-to choice as a GUI tool to connect to MySQL whether it’s from a Windows or Linux client. It is an excellent product.’
The only improvement Steven would see in SQLyog is to have a native Linux client which would help with some rendering bugs which occur when you run the product over WINE. We hear you Steven, and we aim to make SQLyog as perfect a tool to help users like you.
SQLyog delivers more robust operation than free database administration tools and comes with useful features that help you get the most out of your DBA tasks. Download SQLyog free trial.
