PocketQuery - New Version of the Usable SQL Plugin

Ghost -

We at Scandio are proud to announce our new release 1.10 of our PocketQuery plugin. If there are still people out there in the Confluence world who have never heard of PocketQuery (I know, there are none - right?), let me introduce this plugin once more…

What’s PocketQuery?

PocketQuery is a free plugin developed by Scandio that enables to execute SQL queries to different external databases (via JDBC) and visualize the results as tables and charts in Confluence pages. Since creation and management of queries, databases and templates is restricted to Confluence administrators, secure access to sensible data is granted at any time. Database queries are executed and parametrized by users on pages in permitted spaces using the PocketQuery macro.

What’s new in version 1.10?

Our new version 1.10 provides quite a few improvements. Especially in terms of usability,
the world of PocketQuery has undeniably evolved.

Dynamic Macro Browser

In earlier releases, the PocketQuery macro browser basically provided two textfields:
one for the query to execute and one for its parameters. The parameters had to be entered as one string with a predefined syntax. Users had to know exactly what to enter - fairly inconvenient.

With version 1.10, the macro browser got completely dynamic: all queries available in the current space are now read and provided in a dropdown menu such that users do not have to know the exact names beforehand. Then, when one query is selected, one input field for every parameter, along with its name is shown on the screen.

Autocompletion for database drivers

Previously, when databases were configured by Confluence administrators, the paths of the drivers had to be entered manually. These drivers are now set automatically after the URL to the database was entered. To support edge cases, it is still possible for the administrator to change these auto-filled default drivers.

Also

  • Support for all Confluence versions 4.0 - 5.3
  • Included “spacekey” wildcard for query parameters in PocketQuery macro.
  • Changed entity handling in Confluence admin. Dismissed the “view” button that displayed entity data with disabled field values. When an entity is clicked, it can now immediately be edited.
  • Added logging information to “cannot connect to database” error message in PocketQuery admin.
  • Better handling of advanced editor in admin. Double-click in textarea does not open editor anymore. Link position changed. Fixed editor size bug.
  • Support for anonymous users. Previously, there was a problem when the macro was executed when anonymous users visited the target pages.
  • Improved logging for analysis of PocketQuery behaviour.
  • Several bugfixes, among others the “AJS.MacroBrowser is undefined” JavaScript error that occured in different cases.

What to do?

First of all, check out our plugin at the Atlassian Marketplace. Install it on your Confluence system and get going! Also read our documentation and our teaser. Then, please let us know what you think of PocketQuery. Leave a review at the Atlassian Marketplace. Contact us if you have any problems or if you discover bugs (which of course, there are none of - ehm…).