Freddie Sorensen wrote:

The *only* way you can change the table layout is by using the ALTER sql syntax. This applies to GUIs and anything else that does not require you to type in the ALTER TABLE ... .

I don't know about you, but it is rather clear to me that anytime you introduce another "buffer" level between you, the operator, and the schema of the database, you can introduce bugs. Under certain circumstances the bugs can and will result in data loss. It happened to me on a test database.

Using MySQL Administrator or MySQL CC to monitor the database or even manage users is fine. These are not exactly critical things. MySQL Administrator is especially nice at visualizing status information. *BUT* I would not recommend that people try to change database schema with any of these tools on a production databases; things can go wrong, really wrong and you end up loosing an entire column or two just because you wanted to change its order! :P

Anyway, maybe it is just me, but people that can't issue simple ALTER TABLE commands should not be managing any SQL database in the first place.

- Adam

PS. In a nutshell, I'm saying that software is inherently buggy. Don't trust it to do the things you think it should do :)