PopSQL

The PopSQL desktop app updates itself upon restart, but previously there was no visibility into that process. So if you kept the app open for weeks, you wouldn't know you were missing out on a new version. We’ve made a few updates to increase the visibility and ensure you never miss out on new features 😎

*   When loading the app, we will show you that we are updating it if there’s a new version.
    
*   While you’re using the app, we'll notify you if a new version is released. We limit these notifications to only once every 36 hours so you don’t get bombarded with notices!
    
*   If you’re using a significantly older version of the app and we can’t automatically update it, we’ll let you know that you need to download a new version to upgrade.

New update notification for the desktop app

First, the big news 🎉 You can now send scheduled reports directly to teammates in Slack instead of a channel (here’s a refresher on how our [Slack integration](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/slack) and [Slack scheduling](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/scheduled-dashboards) features work).

If you have a scheduled query or dashboard that’s only relevant for certain teammates, all you have to do is:

*   Navigate to the `Notifications` tab when scheduling a query or dashboard
    
*   Click the dropdown menu under `Channel` and select `Slack`
    
*   Type in the username of the person you want to direct message in the row below
    

But that’s not all! The links in your scheduled Slack messages (and emails) will now automatically follow the same settings as your presentation links. If you set a presentation link to be public, users won’t have to sign in when they click on your Slack or email link 🙏

Slide into Slack DMs & simplify access with our updated scheduling features

To define a query variable, you used to have to write a word and wrap it in {{ }}. If you removed it from a query, we’d try to delete it for you, but it would sometimes lead to downstream problems in presentation links.

So we’re changing the user experience to make it more bulletproof and squash any bugs 🐛

Now you’ll need to explicitly create and delete query variables (please see our [docs](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/query-variables) for more details on query variables).

There are two ways to create a query variable:

1.  Click the {} button
    
2.  Write the variable directly in SQL. You’ll see a yellow underline warning you it doesn’t exist. Hover over the query variable to see the warning and click `Quick Fix..`
    

To delete a query variable, go to its `Settings` → three-dot menu → `Delete variable`.

Plus, you’ll now see inline feedback in your SQL code in case you accidentally make a mistake in a query variable or any other [Liquid](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/query-variables#liquid) statement 🕵️

We hope this update makes your query variable experience more robust and bug-free!

Changes to how you create & delete query variables

When someone shares a web-based query link with you, it opens in your browser. But if you prefer to use the desktop app, you can now let us know and we’ll remember 🧠

The next time you open a web link, PopSQL will ask you, “Open in the desktop app?”

If you click `Open in app`, we’ll open it in your PopSQL desktop app. And if you check `Remember choice`, we’ll make sure all links you click in the future automatically open in the desktop app.

You can always change your preferences by going to `Account` → `Preferences` → `General` → `Link Sharing`. See our [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/open-links-in-the-desktop-app) for more details.

Whether you're team browser or team desktop, we’ve got you covered 😊

Save your preferences for working with PopSQL in a browser or on desktop

Quickly creating new charts is great 📊 Having more control over how they’re viewed and shared is even better 🙌

PopSQL users can now:

*   Zoom in and out of charts as needed
    
*   Export charts as an image (perfect for when you want to help someone visualize data but a presentation link just won’t do)
    
*   Add or remove a data series from charts by clicking on it in the legend
    

Want to see it in action? Check out our [screen recording](https://www.loom.com/share/95945048b3ad44f8919257664b17cd76) of these new features. And stay tuned for more chart visualization updates coming to a SQL editor near you 😁

Say hello to our new and improved charting library

We've had the ability to zoom in and out of the PopSQL app using [keyboard shortcuts](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/keyboard-shortcuts) for a while, but now when you are on the desktop app, you can also find the options in the View section of the menu bar 🎉

Zoom in & out functionality added to the menu bar

For those of you who aren't familiar with [markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/), we've added a format toolbar at the top of text widgets when you are in edit mode to help you with formatting. It still follows the same markdown logic but just does all the work for you! As part of this update, we've also added the ability to change the alignment of the text, so you can now pick if you want the text in the widget to be center, left, or right-aligned.

We added a formatting toolbar to text widgets on dashboards

We want PopSQL to be your go-to source for pulling data from your database, so we recently released a beta endpoint to run a query via an API call. With our API, you will have access to all your queries and can trigger a run whenever you would like. The data is sent back in JSON, so you can easily digest it and plug it into any website or homemade dashboard. You can also send query variable information to subset the data based on your own preferences. To learn more, check out our [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/reference/api-getting-started) or [chat](https://calendly.com/sinthuja-popsql/15min) with one of our product specialists to get early access to an API key!

Run a query via an API call

If you have dozens or hundreds of BigQuery projects, refreshing your schema can take a long time, and your schema sidebar can get cluttered. Now you can tell PopSQL to focus only on the projects you care about. To configure this, go to Preferences > Connections > pick your BigQuery connection > Advanced > Filter projects.

Filter projects in your BigQuery connection

For Redshift and Postgres databases, we've improved our error messages to include the additional fields that these databases provide including details, hints, and code references. You will now have all the important details when you run into an error running your query.

Detailed error messages for Redshift and Postgres

If you are looking to duplicate a query, you can now quickly do it within the context menu on a query tree. You simply right click (or click with two fingers on a Mac trackpad), and you will see the option in the context menu. This will duplicate the query right in the same folder you are working in!

Quickly duplicate a query

We know it can be difficult to navigate `RECORD` columns in your BigQuery datasets, so we added additional features to ensure that you can properly explore this type of data within PopSQL. In the schema view, you will see both the main `RECORD` column like "addresses" in the pictured example and the nested attributes (e.g. "status", "address", "city", "state", "zip", "numberOfYears"). When you query the data, in the results view, you will see a summary of the number of items in the `RECORD` column, and then, you can expand to pull up a table of the records.

We are continuing to iterate on this feature and looking to bring it to other databases, so please write into [support@popsql.com](mailto:support@popsql.com) with your feedback!

We added support for BigQuery's nested and repeated columns

We've launched an API to make it super easy for your team to push any changes directly to your data catalog in PopSQL. You can use the API to get the names, descriptions, and tags of all your tables and columns. You can also quickly push updates to all of these fields, ensuring your team has access to the most up-to-date documentation on your data while they are writing SQL! To learn more, check out our [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/reference/api-getting-started) or [chat](https://calendly.com/sinthuja-popsql/15min) with one of our product specialists!

New API endpoints for our data catalog!

**Small Updates**

*   We added row numbers to query results!
    
*   We updated the look of autocomplete to make it easier to read :)
    
*   For BigQuery, we added support for `MATERIALIZED_VIEW` under the views section in the schema tree and `EXTERNAL` and `SNAPSHOT` tables under the tables section in the scheme tree.
    
*   We updated the default setting for all queries in an organization's folder to be "Can edit" for the team rather than just "Can view."
    
*   We improved our chart error messages to make it clear why the chart was failing to graph.
    

**Squashed Bugs 🪲**

*   For BigQuery, we fixed a bug that was blocking functions, procedures, and views from showing up in the schema tree.
    
*   We fixed a bug that was causing the notification "Something went wrong loading PopSQL" to show when running queries that returned certain data types.
    
*   For pie charts, we fixed a bug that was preventing the slice and radial labels from working.

Roundup of Small Updates and Squashed Bugs

For customers with large schemas, once we get the schema data from your database, it can take us a while to download the file. We've now added a loading bar, so you know exactly how far in the process we are. Over the next few months, we will be improving this further by streaming your data, so it comes through in batches instead of waiting for the entire file to download! Stay tuned!

New loading details for your schema refresh

**Small Updates**

*   We have deprecated all solo users on our app. If you are one of our early users who was still on a solo plan, when you open the app, you will now be asked to set up an organization.
    
*   In chart options, when you are selecting the time factor for the x-axis, we have now put it in order of time granularity (e.g. exact, second, minute) instead of alphabetical
    
*   We've updated the colors for when parts of a query are highlighted by multiple users, so the text is still easy to read
    

**Squashed Bugs 🪲**

*   We had an issue last week where some queries were left in a running state. We've now fixed the issue and increased monitoring for this piece of infrastructure.
    
*   We had another issue where queries were duplicating themselves and becoming really long, freezing the app. This issue has been fully resolved.

We have added an `Add to dashboard` button when you create a chart from your query results. This way, you can run your queries, edit the chart configurations to get the chart exactly how you'd like, and then quickly add it to one of your dashboards.

Quickly add charts to your dashboards

We added a help & support icon to the side bar that opens up a modal with helpful links to our documentation and changelog. You can also easily reach out to the PopSQL team for support!

Additionally, we fixed a small bug where clicking on `Send Feedback` did not always trigger a window to be opened.

Help and support modal

By popular demand, we have added the ability to copy qualified table name, select all statement with column names, or just all column names to a context menu. When you have your schema open, you just right click on a table name to find these three options. Here is a short [demo video](https://www.loom.com/share/0a647b32df1344cd8beca404e3afc18b) of the feature.

Copy table name or column names

We now support the ability to log into your Redshift database through Okta. This feature is available for all Enterprise customers. If you are interested in how this integration works, check out our [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/connecting-to-redshift) for more details.

Redshift access through Okta

We recently added support for BigQuery nested columns in our schema sidebar. Now, nested columns will also show up in autocomplete when you are typing out a query.

BigQuery's nested columns are now supported in autocomplete

**Small Updates**

*   BigQuery cost estimator will not interfere with autocomplete
    
*   For direct connections, users can now see how long the last schema fetch took
    
*   We extended the expiration time to download results over 100K rows to be 1 hour
    
*   We now include the query description in a slack preview
    

**Squashed Bugs 🪲**

*   Fixed issues with adding and displaying tabs for a table in our data catalog
    
*   Fixed issues with table metadata from the data catalog not being displayed in autocomplete suggestions
    
*   Fixed issue when sharing a query with a connection that another user doesn't have. Previously, users were incorrectly seeing the issue that our servers were down.

We have revamped our changelog in partnership with [makelog](https://makelog.com) and migrated it here! A goal of this revamp is to publish more often and add some new search/filter tools around the posts. For a while now, we have been releasing updates to the PopSQL client on a continuous rolling basis and then summing up what has shipped over a two week period in one changelog post. To better align with how we release new features and bug fixes, we've moved to a rolling post cadence for our changelog. You will now see posts going out at the same time as update, and as part of this, we are now categorizing our posts with tags related to type, scope, plan, etc. so that you can filter the posts to just what you care about.

If you are interested in checking out our old changelogs, you can find them [here](https://popsql.com/changelog).

We upgraded our Changelog 💪🏼

This new feature has been enabled for all customers on business and enterprise plans. Next to the Run button, you will see an estimate for how many bytes of data the query will process. Then, on top of that, we have added a cost estimate using a standard conversion $5.00 per TB. If your query has an error, you will see an error icon, and when you hover, you will see exact details on the error. Check out our BigQuery [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/connecting-to-bigquery#bigquery-cost-estimator) for more details.

For BigQuery, you can now see how much a query will cost before running it

Now, the directory for our [documentation](https://docs.popsql.com/docs/) is easier to navigate, and you can search through it to quickly find the topic you are looking for. We have also integrated it with our chat, so you can search through our documentation without leaving the chat window. On each page, will have access to more details, including when the page was last updated. At the bottom, you can tell us if the page was helpful or not. You can also suggest changes with the "Suggest Edits" button on the top right corner of every page. Hopefully, this should help you on your journey to become a PopSQL power user 💪

New update notification for the desktop app

Slide into Slack DMs & simplify access with our updated scheduling features

Changes to how you create & delete query variables

Save your preferences for working with PopSQL in a browser or on desktop

Say hello to our new and improved charting library

Zoom in & out functionality added to the menu bar

We added a formatting toolbar to text widgets on dashboards

Run a query via an API call

Filter projects in your BigQuery connection

Detailed error messages for Redshift and Postgres

Quickly duplicate a query

We added support for BigQuery's nested and repeated columns

New API endpoints for our data catalog!

Roundup of Small Updates and Squashed Bugs

New loading details for your schema refresh

Roundup of Small Updates and Squashed Bugs

Quickly add charts to your dashboards

Help and support modal

Copy table name or column names

Redshift access through Okta

BigQuery's nested columns are now supported in autocomplete

Roundup of Small Updates and Squashed Bugs

We upgraded our Changelog 💪🏼

For BigQuery, you can now see how much a query will cost before running it

We revamped our documentation