I've just bought a new computer, and as an exercise I tried to give pgAdmin 4
another chance, because my previous attempts frustrated me immensely after just
a few minutes of use and made me go back to pgAdmin 3. My last attempt was on
pgAdmin 4 version 1.2, my current attempt was on version 1.5. My computer has
the latest Windows 10, x64, i7 7700K CPU, 32 GB RAM, running pgAdmin 4
standalone.
So, after forcing myself to use pgAdmin 4 for 2 days, things are not looking
good and I will go back to pgAdmin 3 again. Today pgAdmin 4 is kind of usable,
for simple stuff. But really, it hurts productivity so much compared to pgAdmin
3, and feels so awkward and slow, that I won't keep punishing myself by using
it. Under these circumstances, I don't know how you can say stuff like this on
your site: "WARNING: pgAdmin 3 is no longer supported. It is recommended that
you download pgAdmin 4 instead."
And now the issues I encountered while using pgAdmin 4:
General:
- On the plus side, the Windows app UI is actually a browser control,
so the Control + "+" and Control + "-" keyboard shortcuts work to bring the UI
to a decent size on High DPI displays just like in browsers. But it would be
nice if the app would respect the Windows scaling settings automatically,
because at the default scale the UI elements are way too small and my 175%
scaling setting I configured in Windows for my display is ignored. If that's
not possible, the browser scaling controls should be made available in the
settings or a menu, I doubt many people would think of using browser keyboard
shortcuts to zoom.
- The app doesn't save empty passwords and keeps asking for them.
- The app seems use a lot of CPU even when doing nothing, it constantly
uses 7% CPU while connected to 4 databases. Most likely caused by the dashboard
feature.
- There is no way to disable the dashboard feature.
- The app feels extremely slow and unresponsive, even with Intel i7
7700K CPU running at 4.2 GHz. I mean I just opening the app takes over 20
seconds. Without connecting to a database. pgAdmin 3 on my old laptop starts in
just 3 seconds.
Query window:
- Control + S in a query window doesn't save modified files.
- Using Control + "+" to scale the UI to a decent level truncates the
result header:
http://i.imgur.com/UyLZDIf.png
- there is no list of recently used SQL files
- some of the commented SQL text is not grayed out, it grays it out
only for the first few lines
- The file picker is still not ideal:
- truncating file names after just a few characters,
- showing HTTP encoding like %20 for spaces in the hover
tooltips
- mixing directories with the rest of the files in the item
list.
- you can't change sorting by clicking on columns
- double clicking on a file doesn't open it
- it doesn't remember the view settings (table view) after you
close it and open it again.
- You can't switch to another server/database in a query window
- The copy and download as CSV buttons don't seem to do anything, even
after you select records in the result table.
- The is no timer shown during query execution.
- Query tab headers don't show any indication that something is
executing, so you have to check each tab individually from time to time.
- Query tab headers don't show the database name
- no confirmation asked when closing unsaved tabs
- no option to copy cell/row/table contents in the query results by
right clicking on them with a context menu.
Dashboard:
- Doesn't show session SQL, query start, transaction start, last state
change, blocking sessions
- Can't copy SQL from a session
- Can't copy the session list
- Can't cancel a query/kill a session
Browser:
- Using Control + "+" to scale the UI to a decent level results in
blurred icons in the browser tree:
http://i.imgur.com/EKKYqU8.png
To conclude, sure, pgAdmin 3 is not perfect, it has a variety of issues too.
And while some of the issues from pgAdmin 3 are fixed by pgAdmin 4, the
regressions far overweigh any advantages at this point.
When deciding to make revolutionary changes, instead of evolutionary changes,
you should always keep in mind the Superiority story by Arthur C. Clarke:
http://www.mayofamily.com/RLM/txt_Clarke_Superiority.html
“The ultimate cause of our failure was a simple one: despite all statements to
the contrary, it was not due to lack of bravery on the part of our men, or to
any fault of the Fleet's. We were defeated by one thing only - by the inferior
science of our enemies. I repeat - by the inferior science of our enemies.”
Thanks,
Vlad
