Navicat is a robust desktop application produced by Premium Soft. It
provides an excellent GUI for managing several type of databases. This
article will illustrate how to use Navicat with your MySQL Server hosted
on any of Hosting.com's [Only admins are allowed to see this link].
We will discuss how to add your MySQL database servers, create tables,
perform regular maintenance, work with importing and exporting data.

Download and install the latest version of [Only admins are allowed to see this link] for
Windows or Mac. The free non-commercial version, Navicat Lite comes
with more than enough features to get started. Upgrading to the full
version will give you access to several advanced features. Some of the
more notable items that come with Navicat Premium are GUI Query Builder,
Backup / Restore, Batch Job Schedules and Reports.

Adding Connections


Once installed to add your database as a new connection mouse over the Connection button and choose MySQL.

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Give your connection a name that makes sense to you. Unlike the other
items the Connection Name value does not correspond directly to MySQL
permissions.

Enter your MySQL server's IP address or Host Name.

Keep the port set to 3306 unless you have changed what port your MySQL server is listening on.

Enter an existing MySQL user and password. MySQL users should be
created by your database administrator to prevent unauthorized access.
Options in Navicat are directly related to the permission of the user
provided. If you are the database administrator you may wish to create a
more privileged user that has access to server administrative tasks
like user management. If you enter a user that has access to multiple
databases this connection will list them all.

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Click the Test Connection button to verify Navicat can access your
MySQL server. You should see Connection Successful if the information
entered works properly.

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Creating Tables


Once you have created a connection you're ready to get started
designing your database. First you'll need to open your connection and
an associated database. Simply double click on the connection name and
again on the database name.

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From here you can start creating tables by clicking on the New Table button.

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Here is an example of adding a "comments" table related to books and users.

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Click the Save button, give the table a name and click OK.

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Regular Maintenance


To perform regular maintenance on tables right click on the table and
move your mouse over "Maintain Tables". From here you can easily
analyze, check, optimize and repair tables.

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Importing, Exporting and Dump Files


Navicat comes with some very nice features to get data in and out of
your database. The Import and Export Wizards allow you to insert data or
get information out using a variety of formats. Using the Lite version
you may utilize .txt, .html, .xml and MS Windows Clipboard.

Dump files are handled apart from the Import and Export wizard. To
create a dump file for all tables right click on the database name an
choose Dump SQL File...

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To make a dump file of only specific tables hold down the Ctrl button
on your keyboard and click on each table. Then right click on any
highlighted table and choose Dump SQL File...

To execute (or import from) a dump file or any SQL file right click on the database name and choose Execute SQL File...

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Browse to the dump file, check off any of the optional items you may want and click start.