														 Introduction
														 ------------

This is a beta version of the new MySQLGUI version 1.7.4

This release has two  new features, of which one is very important, 
and it also contains several bug fixes.

If you are using a binary package, you do not have to build mysqlgui
yourself. All you have to do is to run it. You may change location of
Options file and Help file in (~).my.cnf or in /etc/my.cnf (on Windows it is
c:/my.cnf), but if you do not specify path names, mysqlgui will default to
it's own values. 

Regarding bug fixes, one  memory leak has been fixed, plus some fixes
have been made in FLTK widgets. 

This version has been extensively tested with memory checking software, so there are no memory leaks in it.


										 New features in this release
										 ----------------------------

First of all, GIF image type is added to the native data types that
can be zoomed. If you go to the mysqlgui page:

htpp://www.mysql.com/downloads/gui-clients.html

and you click on Zooming screenshot, you will see mysqlgui with it's
zooming feature. That shot displays a single result set  spreadsheet
with several zooms from various spreadsheet cells: 

- one JPEG image
- one text widget
- one HTML widget (actually this is a first page of FLTK docs)
- and one GIF image

This are all native types supported with mysqlgui 1.7.4

There is a new feature, which is called polygraph feature. 

		 -------- Start of description of polygraph feature --------

This feature enables real time, on-line graphical monitoring of MySQL
server status variables.  

Unlike status window which gives only textual, present - state values
of the variables, polygraph feature  gives you view of the status of
up to last 24 hours. 

Usage of this feature is very simple. After starting status window,
you can start viewing graph of each MySQL status variable, simply by
clicking on the label of the variable. If a graph for the variable is
not started, it will show up. If it has been started, this window
shall pop-up and will gain focus. This also means that for each status
window you can open as many graphs as there are numeric variables.

Closing status window will close all graph windows. Closing any graph
window will hide it from the viewer. Clicking again on the label will
bring a window, with entire status variable history on screen. 

As it can be seen from the Polygraph shot on the above mentioned
mysqlgui page, you can run as many graphs as there are numeric status
variables. Each graph takes very small amount of memory (up to 5 Kb)
and they all get updated in the same time. On a modest computer, 16
graphs got updated in 1/10 of the second with 15 % of system
resources.

Name of the variable is a label on the window.

Most important characteristic of the feature is that data are
presented  in real-time and  on-line .

X axis of the graph displays clock time on server, while y axis
displays a value of the variable at that moment. Blue dot represents
present state, while red line represents history of values. The
aforementioned shot was made when X axis displayed elapsed time, but
this has been changed as clock time is much more usefull and
readable. 

Each axis has it's scroller, immediately close to graph and a ruler
below / beside a scroller. Scrollers can be used to change a portion
of the graph to be viewed, in such a manner that X and Y axis are
scrolled independently. Rulers enable independent changing of the zoom
for each axis.

After any graph has been started, timeout is set fix to 1 minute for
it's parent status window, when all graphs are updated
simultaneously. After update, scrollers and rulers are reset to their
original value, in such a manner that present state is in view,
regardless of it's value changes. All scaling and drawing are done by
the software automatically. 

You may of course also run several status windows, each with it's own
set of graphs. 

			-------- End  of description of polygraph feature --------

Future versions of mysqlgui might include two options for this
feature. First one would be to set a larger sampling period then one
minute, for those systems where running "show status" once every
minute may be too frequent. Another option can be also introduced in
which graphs could hold data for more then one day. Implementation of
these options depends on the feedback from the actual users. 
		 
Now, I will (finally) have to  port mysqlgui 1.7.4 to Windows and to merge GNU and Borland versions of MySQL++. Which means no more fun for me, but only work...




Cyprus, Larnaka, December 24  2000


