Php My Admin Sucks

phpmyadmin sucks because it's useful only in conditions when you only have a Web browser available. Otherwise, offline tools are superior to phpmyadmin.

Just a sidenote, you can always install VNC on the server and set it to accept HTTP connections. When you only have an old or bad web browser, phpmyadmin would become useful --DorKleiman

Phpmyadmin does not suck in all cases, but nothing in the universe sucks in all cases.

Why phpmyadmin does not suck (even though that is not what this page is mainly about):

phpmyadmin does not suck as an experiment. It shows you what complex things can really be done inside a web browser. (You can play cute video games inside web browsers too, but who the heck cares?)
phpmyadmin does not suck in rare situations. i.e. You are in a hotel on some deserted island, you only have a "web browser computer" with no operating system. You can't download and install anything, you are restricted to the browser only. Or for some other bizarre reason, such as the computer not having room on its hard drive for an installation of an offline tool. Or maybe you are trying to set a world record to see what can be accomplished with a web-browser only, without using any other software.

To reduce confusion, the phrase "offline tool" means: any tool that is not a browser, but rather an application, software, or a program. In some cases, offline tools can "connect" online (example, an email client), but is labeled "an offline tool", because it's installed on your computer offline, and works on your computer offline, and it does not require an online connection to the internet all the time.

Why phpmyadmin can or does suck:

Widespread use is one reason it sucks. Widespread use of the tool is causing everyone to assume it is the productive tool to use. The fact is, any offline tool is far more productive and as easy to obtain.
It sucks because it isn't as efficient of a tool in near all situations. The only time one would be more productive using a browser based tool would be if the computer did not allow you to install software on it, and you were forced to use a browser for some bizarre reason. There are situations where this bizarre situation can occur: if you access a computer at a library for example, or a hotel, you are not allowed to install software on the PC you are using. So a browser based tool would be proficient on this rare occasion.
It sucks because the people using it just don't realize how inefficient it really is compared to offline tools. Even small websites with small databases will immediately consider phpmyadmin sucky once they try using an offline tool (Remember when you tried webmail for the first time, and then you used a real tool, called an email client? even for small emails and small email accounts, offline email tools (outlook, eudora, procmail, sylpheed claws, etc.) are just better, in so many ways, than browser based mail)
One could argue that it's not phpmyadmin that sucks itself, but the users that promote it and overuse and abuse it. It still sucks, because phpmyadmin is not just a tool, but a term used all over the internet. It's a problem related to phpmyadmin. So it sucks. If phpmyadmin was a secondary emergency tool used in situations only where one was limited to browser access (on a holiday, at a library), then it would not suck.
Some people who use phpmyadmin use it because they're unfamiliar with offline tools or they never knew that there were such things as offline tools. phpmyadmin sucks because it's a tool being used like an offline tool, in a situation where offline tools are available.
phpmyadmin does not suck as a browser based tool. This page is to inform users about why it sucks as a general tool, not for specific rare cases in which it doesn't suck.

"offline tools are superior to phpmyadmin." In what ways is phpmyadmin inferior? What tools are superior?

It is to be noted that this page was not created to bash phpmyadmin as a browser tool or a web application. It was created to inform users about possible BrowserAbuseSyndrome, and to add constructive criticism, alternatives, discuss why offline tools rule, and more.

No doubt, offline tools are better, but when your ISP offers you access to your database only via a Web browser, PhpMyAdmin? is quite convenient. Yes, you could download your tables and play with them locally, but most small tasks can be completed surprisingly quickly and efficiently over the Web interface.

the ISP argument is invalid, because there are many hosts out there for the same price who offer remote access. As a simple example, the market is flooded with CPANEL accounts, which allow remote access and filtering, etc. When a market is flooded, it means prices are low.
The small tasks argument is not a productive one: small tasks can be completed surprisingly quickly and efficiently over an OFFLINE interface too.

Not to forget, it is usually recommended for security reasons not to have MySQL listen on a public port. Therefore it hardly can be remotely accessed.

Public, no. Specifying your current IP address at your current workstation to be allowed remote access, is not a security problem - in comparison to having localhost open. Access to the database is only temporary - so allowing your current IP access is not a security issue. You'd be wiser spending time looking at web logs and stats than worrying about the IP issue, since you are only allowing your IP to have remote access. If you spend a lot of time messing inside your browser using phpmyadmin, you could be utilizing that time for more productive causes.

Making it 100% public would not be wise, no (but this just isn't the case. Who would make their sql database public?)

There are many hidden gems on the internet, and usually hidden gems are hard to find when we are flooded with tools that are "widespread". Usually, some widespread tools are good tools. It is being interpreted as "the tool" to use. When we are flooded with phpmyadmin everywhere, the gems won't show up. phpmyadmin sucks because it is flooding and almost brainwashing people into thinking that it is the tool, and in some cases "the only tool" to use. Many users will go online and look for information on mysql and they will be flooded with information on phpmyadmin. It's not necessarily used because it is the best tool for the job, but rather because "it's what everyone seems to use".

phpmyadmin sucks because:

When trying to upload sql commands using the phpmyadmin textbox, there is more chance of broken connections, errors, php.ini setting conflicts (magic quotes, etc.)
You have to fool around with cutting, pasting.
the text box is small and you can't see what you doing. You most likely have to use an offline text editor anyway before you cut and paste.. so you might as well use other offline tools.
you are limited to what the browser can do. Offline tools can even be reprogrammed or hacked easier to do what you need to do.
even amateur programmers can quickly create a database client that accesses their database if they use for example delphi. phpmyadmin sucks therefore, due to the lack of software/offline tool research (research laziness) of some users.

Analogy: why do you not justify editing a c++ and compiling a c++ file in a browser? The only time I'd edit a c++ file in a browser is if I had to go to a public library and access my computer somehow remotely from a vacation island that I was on. Or maybe I had to use a computer with only a web browser on it. (when and where in the world are you ever going to be in these situations?)_It's like driving a bus to the store just to get a pack of gum. It'd only be wise to do this if the bus was the only tool available, otherwise it's wasteful.

Analogy: using neomail is a convenient way to access email quickly in a browser. Great for when you only have a browser available, or you don't have a operating system that allows you to have an email client installed on it (maybe a cell phone or some pda). But to use webmail as your main tool on a desktop, or a workstation?

There's no advantage doing small work in the browser and then main database work in the offline tool. It'd be wiser to do the small work in an offline lighter or smaller client. A browser shouldn't be abused for a lite client, when it isn't one

Analogy: Why would you fire up your browser to do small work on a C++ file, and then fire up your real editor to do main work on it? Editing a C++ file in a smaller editor is the solution. The solution is not to use a browser for lite work.

Analogy: It is just as efficient to browse the internet with only a mouse and no keyboard "sometimes", but since you are used to the keyboard, and you should be thinking long term- it'd be better to use the keyboard. In this analogy you should recognize that the keyboard is equivalent to the offline tool and the mouse is equivalent to phpmyadmin.

It would be nice if one of you could recommend a few good tools the rest of us could try. I was stuck using PhpMyAdmin? because that's what my ISP provided, and they didn't allow SSH connections. So, I learned enough to get my own Linux Web Server running, but don't know what good tools there are to manage MySQL other than the command line.

I've never read such a load of blather. This page claims not to be a 'rant', but then I read stuff like "brainwashing" and so on. Get a grip guys.

"Offline tools can even be reprogrammed or hacked easier to do what you need to do."

Yeah, right. What the F. Since when is PHP, a scripting language, HARDER to program than a c/c++/java/x desktop application? Get a clue seriously. [Maybe you don't use delphi, a component based system that allows you reusable code. Ever since Delphi 1 and now c# is trying to fake components by hiring the Borland Employees and paying them off big. I write delphi applications and I can tell you all my delphi applications are deployed faster than all my PHP applications - and software is more complex than web.]

"The solution is not to use a browser for lite work."

... OK. So what, pray tell, do I use a browser for then? Heavy, client intensive operations? Nice one, bruv.

"phpmyadmin sucks therefore, due to laziness of some users."

Bullsh!t. Basically you're implying that phpMyAdmin is easier to use, so it must suck.

No, If people would just go online and spend some time finding some software (offline tools), they would be better off. They are lazy in regards to their research, not because phpMyAdmin is easier to use. In fact, phpMyAdmin is not easier to use. Again, I'll say this one more time: what is easier for you to use, a web based tool for editing your c++ files, or Pas files, or java files, or C files, or an offline one? SQL is a language/database, not an online dating website or a web forum

As a point, I use both phpMyAdmin and MySQL Control Center, and I like both of them. I find phpMyAdmin has more features, such as being able to dump out a database quickly and easily. There are tons of tools that dump out the database in many different flavors and forms. I'd link you to some if I had my bookmarks handy, but I don't. Will do that later.

I couldn't give a rats ass what you use, and if everyone is using phpMyAdmin on the net and somehow this influences your decision to use it AND you're upset about it, then you're a moron.

[then don't visit this page please, considering deleting comment]

Please don't take this page so seriously, it is in fact a sucks page, and should be seen as so.

I'm not at all influenced by the tool, but others are. If everyone bought gas for their automobiles, you would to. But if a small group of people knew that he/she could run his/her car off water, he/she would hopefully make an effort to tell you. Visiting some "gas sucks" pages and submitting information about alternatives to gas (water) would make sense.

I usually go against the crowd or away from the trends, don't you? Followers, not leaders or Leaders, not followers?

What seems to be happening on this page here: to inform users that offline tools are good tools to use for database work. Sometimes we need to be extreme and use the word like "suck" or "sucks" in order to get a point across and add a bit of humor. If you visit "sucks" pages, you will always find something positive: knowledge, experience, alternatives, and even some humor and satire.

I'll use another analogy (getting tired of seeing them on this page yet?). When I hear about my friend Bob or my friend Jane, and that they are using webmail.. say hotmail, and that they check their email online quite frequently, I tell them about something called an email client, or an offline tool. Once again, yes, in the rare case that Bob and Jane are on a deserted island in the middle of no where, with nothing but a web browser installed on the computer... then I might recommend phpmyadmin-ahem I mean, webmail, sorry about that.

OK!!!! PhpMyAdmin? is supposed to be a quick web interface into MySQL. No freaking kidding you need to edit your SQL outside of it and the editor isn't the best. Yes offline tools are better since machine based apps always will be.

Sincerely,

A real coder!

"A real coder" you are missing the main drift of this wiki web page. People are not using it as a quick web interface.. they are using it all the time as their main tool.

And as for it being a "quick web interface", who cares? Hotmail and webmail are "quick web interfaces" too, but that doesn't mean quick at all, in realtion to an email client (offline tool). In fact, I don't know where you get the idea it is quick - quick compared to what? Ebay? Sure, it's quick compared to some websites, but that has nothing to do with the issue at hand. The issue at hand is what tools should we use to get our database work done, and if one sucks more severely than the other, we should use the other.

Again, I will rehash the same analogies: Do you prefer to use an email client over hotmail, or webmail? Do you prefer to edit C++ files or .pas files, or java files, or python files in your web browser? (rhetorical questions, no need to think hard about your decision). Once again, I will ask some similar questions, all analogies: Do you prefer to organize your email on the web in a browser, or in an email client? Would you run excel, or staroffice, or Calc inside a web browser? There is absolutely no need to edit your sql in an external editor and then run inside your browser and upload it. You can do that with an offline tool. Just like when you check your email in an offline tool, and email client, download it directly.

To be blunt:using offline tools that directly connect to a database when you want them to reduce all the wasted time cutting and pasting and Alt-Tabbing or changing windows. This is just one advantage, and an obvious one.

There are some really amazing quick offline email clients out there (offline tools). It's funny that people use them! Why not just put up with online web mail, surely it's easier to use on the web, since phpmyadmin is easier to use. Again, these are analogies.

Real world situation:

Give me 50 minutes to do an intensive operation on a database, or
give me a simple, easy, routine maintenance task requiring 2 minutes of work on a database

Result: both tasks were more enjoyable and far less annoying to complete using the offline tool.

Please understand that when "offline tool" is mentioned on this web page, it means any tool or program used "outside of the browser", an application, a program, that does not need a connection to the internet. This does not mean they are not capable of uploading or downloading and connecting to a database. Similar terms include: "not browser based" or "non-browser based".

If other tools really better, why not give a few examples. Why not refer to them by name? All these vague references to generaic "offline tools" without a single example is not informative, just irritating.

You should have a look onto clients such as http://squirrelsql.org/, I only use phpMyAdmin for small tasks, but I was really thankful for such a tool when I first got into the DB world. And, indeed, an offline client sems to be faster than any Web-based one.
If you want to pay, there is Toad (http://www.toadsoft.com). Although, I think their MySQL version is in beta.
The first place you should have already thought of looking is, you guessed it, the MYSQL website. They have MYSQL tools.
I could build you a mysql tool faster than I could download PHPmyadmin, and I could customize this application to act as a content manager for the website, not just a pure database manager. Offline tools rule.

This page is just nonsensical. A web app "sucks" because it requires a web browser and it's less perfect than some other tools for some situations? Golly. Maybe if they renamed it to "PhpMyWebApplicationAdminThatGetsSeveralUsefulTasksDoneThroughABrowserInterfaceThoughNotNecessarilyAllOfThem" it might serve to satisfy. I submit it has some suckage for being written in PHP (which IMNSHO sucks in general), having forked the codebase for every DB it's ported to (there's forks for pgsql, firebird, and oracle that I know of) because it's basically hacked together without any db abstractions (e.g. PEAR).

CategorySucks, CategoryRant (must be)

I would agree that what makes PHPMyAdmin suck is when it is exclusively used for database access, rather than only at times where it would be superior to the console client or OpenOffice BASE/WorkBench?/Toad to list a couple of free open source GUI based local clients. The most obvious and valid uses for PHPMyAdmin: When maintenance needs to be done remotely, example... You are on holiday, there is an emergency. When you need a quick convenient view of a small table or the database structure. You are given no other way to access your DB (which sucks). In my experience, these cases represent 1% or less of the cases where I need to access a MySQL database. I find it hard to imagine that any professional or serious environment with half decent system and DB admins would have any difficulty providing direct DB access by some means. The only reasons I can imagine where that wouldn't be done, security (potentially misguided).

The problem with this exclusive use is that (evidently) it tends to make the user suck. The only online "interface" you should ever need is the MySQL online manual. PMY does not motivate programmers to use the manual and learn MySQL thoroughly in my experience. It appears to be often used as a replacement to fully learning the workings of MySQL on a syntactical level which is the minimum one should learn. However, it is uncertain as whether over-reliance is the cause of generally being rubbish at MySQL, or the symptom of a rubbish MySQL dependent programmer.

I have always found the command line client to be far superior in speed than PMA and rely on it almost exclusively. Subjectively, typing speed could have an effect. When it is deficient in a task, PMA is rarely a capable lternative and custom scripts are used. Given this experience, I feel that much of the use of PMA I encounter is both unnecessary and counter productive. Note: This experience comes from working with programmers who couple MySQL with PHP, and exclusively use PMA for anything MySQL related outside of their PHP code.