How do I enable phpMyAdmin's Designer view?

Question

I am running phpMyAdmin locally and I am trying to enable the Designer tool.

How do you enable designer view for phpMyAdmin?

I have read quite a few tutorials on how to enable the Designer view for phpMyAdmin and they all have different directions that never seem to actually get it working.

I am using version 4.0.7

Answer 1

The following steps will enable the Designer in phpMyAdmin 4+ assuming that phpMyAdmin is inside the folder phpMyAdmin:

• Open phpMyAdmin/config.inc.php and phpMyAdmin/config.sample.inc.php.
• Locate the phpMyAdmin configuration storage settings in config.sample.inc.php (lines 38-66 in 4.0.7).
• Copy all of the control user and storage db/table config and paste it into config.inc.php. When you get done, your config.inc.php should include something like this:

4.0.7 Example:

/* change this info to whatever user has read-only access to the "mysql/user" and "mysql/db" tables */          
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser']   = 'root'; //this is the default user for MAMP's mysql
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass']   = 'root'; //this is the default password for MAMP's mysql

/* this information needs to line up with the database we're about to create so don't edit it unless you plan on editing the SQL we're about to run */
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';  
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma__bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma__relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma__table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma__table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma__pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma__column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma__history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_uiprefs'] = 'pma__table_uiprefs';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma__tracking';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma__designer_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['userconfig'] = 'pma__userconfig';

_{Note: We are just telling phpMyAdmin what database and table names to store specific configuration details at. Now let's add the database.}

• phpMyAdmin installs with the SQL we need to generate the database that the Designer relies on. We just need to locate the script. In 4.0.7 the file location is phpMyAdmin/examples/create_tables.sql. Alternatively, you can copy/download this from phpMyAdmin's github.
• Once you locate the file, either import the file or copy/paste it into a SQL window and execute in phpMyAdmin.
• Now, everything should be configured properly. We need to clear cookies and restart the browser.
• When you open phpMyAdmin back up, navigate to a specific table and in the tabs you should see Designer tab.

_{Disclaimer: These directions are specifically based on the new folder structure in phpMyAdmin 4+. You can apply the same directions by using phpMyAdmin's github config.sample.php and the accompanying create-table.sql. Choose your phpMyAdmin version by selecting the correct branch.}