Mathesar 0.1.4 Released
Posted on Jan 30, 2024 by Sean Colsen
Mathesar 0.1.4 brings many user-requested features and bug fixes to improve installation, setup, and usability.
This post gives you a peek at some of the new features in the release. Please see our Release Notes for the comprehensive list of all changes and bugfixes.
UI for configuring database connections
Now you can add, edit, and delete connections to multiple databases from within Mathesar’s UI. Previously this was only possible via editing text-based configuration.
Sample data loader
When adding a new database connection, you can choose to load sample data into that database. Sample data will be contained within specific schemas and may be useful to help new users play with Mathesar’s features.
PostgreSQL column COMMENTs
PostgreSQL COMMENT values on columns are now exposed via a read/write “description” field within Mathesar. This feature was previously available for schemas and tables and is now available for columns too.
Text-only imports
When importing CSV data, Mathesar now gives you the option to use TEXT as the database type for all columns. This choice speeds up the import for larger data sets by skipping the process of guessing colum types.
Reduced database privilege installations
Mathesar can now be installed as long as the database role used during the installation has at least CONNECT and CREATE privileges on the database targeted by the installation. If you want to create a new database for Mathesar’s use, the installation will (naturally) require a role with the CREATEDB privilege.
Unified Mathesar Docker image
The published Mathesar Docker image now contains a PostgreSQL server. This is used to provide a database backend in cases where Mathesar is started via Docker without being configured to connect to any other database.
Metadata storage within SQLite
We’ve added experimental SQLite support for the storage of Mathesar metadata. This will allow brave (or foolish) users to run Mathesar with this lighter-weight DB when installing from scratch on Linux.
Improved PostgreSQL compatibility
Mathesar now officially supports, and is tested against, Postgres versions 13, 14, and 15. It’s also possible (but not yet recommended) to run Mathesar using Postgres 16.
Easier modification of sorting precedence
When you have multiple sorting conditions applied to a table, you can now rearrange them via drag and drop to adjust the precedence of the sorting conditions.
Cell values displayed within sidebar
The table sidebar features a new “Cell” tab to show the content of cells, simplifying the process of viewing large text cells.
Here’s the link to our Release Notes again if you’d like to see the full list of all changes and bugfixes.
