Tabs overview
Every active view in DataStar is a tab. There is no side-panel navigator; the tab strip is how you move around.
Opening a tab
Tabs open as a result of actions from menus and context menus. Nothing opens automatically until you ask for it.
| To open… | Do this |
|---|---|
| A component category grid | Data Components or Object Components menu → pick a category |
| A new deployment | Deployment → New Deployment (or New from Basket, Import from Task…, Deploy from Manifest…, Open File…) |
| The Release Workflow | Deployment → Release Workflow |
| The basket | Workspace → Basket, or the basket icon in the status bar (Ctrl+B) |
| Deployment history | Deployment → History |
| Package Manager | Deployment → Packages |
| Template Summary | Workspace → Template Summary |
| A template editor | Workspace → Data Templates or Object Templates → pick a template |
| Version-control views | Version Control menu (items differ for Git vs. TFS) |
| A component diff or history | Context menu on a component → Compare With… or Version Control → View History |
Tab kinds
Component tabs
One per component category, opened from the Data Components or Object Components menu. Each shows a grid of components with workspace / database / version-control state columns. Full walkthrough: the component grid.
Deployment tab
A deployment basket / manifest: the ordered list of components staged for a release. Full walkthrough: the basket overview.
Release Workflow tab
The four-step wizard: Work Item → Commit → Deployment File → Push. Full walkthrough: The Release Workflow.
Deployment History tab
The audit log of past deployments against the currently-connected database. This tab only has content if deployment auditing is enabled for the target database.
DataStar does not audit deployments by default. To populate this tab you need:
- A set of audit tables in the target database. These hold deployment history, per-component reversal scripts, and per-release summary rows. There are three tables: history, reversal, and summary.
- Their names and schema entered in Workspace → Settings → General (under Deployment History table names). The defaults work if you use the standard names.
- Deployments run with auditing enabled. Both the desktop client and
DataStar.Tools(--audit-enabled) will write audit rows when the tables exist and the settings are populated.DataStar.Tools --audit-initializecan create the tables for you on first use.
Until the audit tables exist and a deployment has written to them, this tab is empty. The Packages and Deployment Log tabs still work without auditing; the Deployment History tab is specifically the persistent audit record.
Template Editor / Template Summary
Editing a template's XML, or viewing the catalogue of all templates in the workspace.
SQL editors
Two variants:
- SQL Editor. Editable.
- Read-Only SQL Viewer. Display-only (e.g. generated scripts, previews).
These open contextually: opening a component's workspace file or viewing a generated script both produce an SQL tab.
Version-control tabs
Open from the Version Control menu. Different sets for each VCS:
Git: Outgoing, Incoming, Stash, Manage Branches. TFS: Pending Changes, Incoming Changes, History, Get Latest.
Dedicated Diff and History tabs also open from a component's context menu (Compare With… / Version Control → View History).
Deployment Log tab
Opens automatically after a deploy run to show the results.
Tab strip behaviour
- Tabs can be reordered by dragging.
- Tab headers can show extra markers: a DRAFT badge, an alert marker (
!), and a pencil icon for unsaved changes. - Right-click any tab for close / sort actions; see the main window overview.