Workspace Manager

The Workspace Manager lets you save and restore complete workspace configurations, including all open tabs, panel layouts, and active database connections. Perfect for organizing different projects or switching between multiple workflow contexts.

Understanding Workspaces

A workspace is a complete snapshot of your VisualLeaf working environment. When you save a workspace, VisualLeaf captures everything you need to resume your work exactly where you left off.

What Gets Saved in a Workspace

Each workspace preserves the following elements of your current session:

• Panel Layout - The arrangement of split panels, including their sizes and orientations (horizontal or vertical)
• Open Activities - All tabs and activities currently open in each panel, such as collection views, query builders, or aggregation pipelines
• Selected Activity - Which tab is currently active in each panel
• Database Connections - Which databases are currently connected, so they can be automatically reconnected when you restore the workspace
• Navigation History - Your browsing history within the workspace for forward/back navigation
• Recently Closed Activities - The list of recently closed tabs that can be reopened

Use Case: Create separate workspaces for different projects, clients, or environments. For example, maintain a "Development" workspace with dev database connections and test queries, and a "Production Monitoring" workspace with production databases and analytics views.

Workspace Manager Interface

The Workspace Manager dialog is organized into three main sections that help you manage your workspace configurations.

1. Current Workspace Section

Located at the top, this section displays your currently active workspace and provides controls for managing it.

The current workspace indicator shows:

• Workspace Name - The name of your currently active workspace, highlighted in green
• Rename Button - Click the pencil icon to rename your current workspace
• Save Button - Click the floppy disk icon to save changes to your current workspace layout
• Create New Button - Click the plus icon to start a fresh workspace

2. Create New Workspace Section

This section appears when you've chosen to create a new workspace. It allows you to name and save your current layout as a new workspace configuration.

3. Available Workspaces List

The main section displays all your saved workspaces with actions to restore or delete them.

Each workspace entry shows:

• Workspace Name - The name you assigned when creating or renaming the workspace
• Restore Button - Load this workspace configuration (disabled if it's already the current workspace)
• Delete Button - Remove this workspace from your saved list (disabled for the current workspace)

Working with Workspaces

Saving Your Current Workspace

When you've arranged your panels, opened the activities you need, and connected to your databases, save this configuration for later use:

1. Open the Workspace Manager
2. If you're updating an existing workspace, simply click the save icon (floppy disk) next to the current workspace name
3. If you want to save as a new workspace, click the plus icon, enter a descriptive name, and click "Create"
4. Your workspace is now saved and will appear in the Available Workspaces list

Restoring a Saved Workspace

Switch to a different workspace configuration at any time:

1. Open the Workspace Manager
2. Find the workspace you want to load in the Available Workspaces list
3. Click the "Restore" button next to the workspace name
4. VisualLeaf will close your current activities and reopen the layout from the saved workspace
5. All saved database connections will automatically reconnect

Automatic Reconnection: When restoring a workspace, VisualLeaf automatically attempts to reconnect to any databases that were connected when the workspace was saved. This ensures you can immediately resume your work without manually reconnecting.

Renaming a Workspace

Give your workspaces more descriptive names as your workflow evolves:

1. Make sure the workspace you want to rename is currently active
2. Click the pencil icon next to the current workspace name
3. Type the new name in the input field that appears
4. Press Enter or click the checkmark icon to confirm
5. Press Escape or click the X icon to cancel

Creating a New Empty Workspace

Start fresh with a clean slate:

1. Open the Workspace Manager
2. Click the plus icon in the Current Workspace section
3. VisualLeaf will clear all panels and activities, giving you a blank workspace
4. Enter a name for your new workspace
5. Click "Create" to save it
6. The Workspace Manager will close, and you can begin setting up your new layout

Deleting a Workspace

Remove workspaces you no longer need:

1. Open the Workspace Manager
2. Find the workspace you want to delete in the Available Workspaces list
3. Click the "Delete" button (you cannot delete the currently active workspace)
4. Confirm the deletion in the dialog that appears
5. The workspace is permanently removed from your saved list

Warning: Deleting a workspace is permanent. If you want to keep the configuration, consider renaming it instead or creating a copy by saving your current layout with a new name before deleting the old one.

Actions Reference

Action	Description
Save Workspace	Updates the currently active workspace with your current panel layout, open activities, and connected databases. Use this after making changes to your workspace that you want to preserve.
Restore Workspace	Loads a saved workspace configuration, replacing your current layout with the saved one. All activities will be closed and reopened according to the saved workspace state, and database connections will be restored.
Rename Workspace	Changes the display name of the current workspace. This only affects the workspace label and doesn't modify the saved configuration. Press Enter to confirm or Escape to cancel.
Create New Workspace	Starts a fresh, empty workspace by clearing all panels and activities. You'll be prompted to name the new workspace before it's saved to your workspace list.
Delete Workspace	Permanently removes a workspace from your saved list. You cannot delete the currently active workspace. A confirmation dialog will appear before the workspace is deleted.

Workspace Organization Strategies

Here are some effective ways to organize your workspaces for maximum productivity:

By Project

Create a workspace for each project you're working on. Name them after your projects (e.g., "E-commerce App", "Analytics Dashboard") and save the relevant database connections, queries, and data views for each.

By Environment

Maintain separate workspaces for development, staging, and production environments. This prevents accidental changes to production data and makes it easy to compare the same queries across different environments.

By Task Type

Create workspaces based on what you're doing: "Data Analysis" with aggregation pipelines and charts, "Schema Design" with schema visualizers, "Maintenance" with index management and backup tools.

By Client or Team

If you work with multiple clients or teams, create a dedicated workspace for each. This keeps their databases, queries, and configurations separate and organized.

Keyboard Shortcuts

While the Workspace Manager dialog doesn't have dedicated keyboard shortcuts, you can use these keys within the dialog:

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Confirm workspace creation or rename
Escape	Cancel rename operation

Pro Tips

1. Save your workspace regularly if you're making significant layout changes. Unlike auto-save in documents, workspace changes are only saved when you explicitly click the save button.
2. Use descriptive names for your workspaces. "Client ABC - Production Analysis" is much clearer than "Workspace 1" when you're managing multiple projects.
3. Create a "Template" workspace with your preferred default layout and panel arrangement. Restore it whenever you want to start fresh with your standard setup.
4. Before major layout changes, save your current workspace with a different name as a backup. This way you can always revert if the new layout doesn't work for you.
5. Workspace restoration includes database connections. If a connection fails during restore, VisualLeaf will still load the layout and you can manually reconnect.
6. You can't delete the currently active workspace. If you need to remove it, first switch to a different workspace, then delete the old one.

Common Workflows

Daily Development Workflow

1. Morning Start: Open Workspace Manager and restore your "Development" workspace
2. Layout Updates: As you open new queries or arrange panels, periodically save your workspace
3. Context Switching: When switching to code review or testing, restore your "Testing" workspace
4. End of Day: Save any workspace changes before closing VisualLeaf

Emergency Production Investigation

1. Quick Switch: Immediately restore your "Production Monitoring" workspace
2. Automatic Connection: VisualLeaf reconnects to production databases automatically
3. Pre-configured Views: Your saved queries and monitoring dashboards are already open
4. Return to Work: After resolving the issue, restore your previous workspace to continue development

Multi-Project Management

1. Project A Morning: Restore "Project A" workspace with relevant databases and queries
2. Afternoon Switch: Save any changes, then restore "Project B" workspace
3. Meeting Preparation: Restore "Client Demo" workspace with pre-configured demo data views
4. Weekly Review: Restore "Analytics" workspace to review metrics across all projects

Troubleshooting

Workspace Won't Save

If you can't save a workspace, check these common issues:

• License Required: Saving workspaces requires an active VisualLeaf license. Check your license status in the Welcome screen.
• Empty Name: When creating a new workspace, make sure you've entered a name before clicking Create.
• Duplicate Name: While not prevented, using the same name as an existing workspace may cause confusion. Use unique names for clarity.

Database Connections Don't Restore

If connections fail when restoring a workspace:

• Connection Availability: The database server must be accessible. Check that servers are running and network connections are available.
• Credentials Changed: If database credentials have changed since saving the workspace, you'll need to manually reconnect.
• Partial Restoration: VisualLeaf will still load the workspace layout even if some connections fail. Manually reconnect any failed connections.

Lost Workspace After Update

If your workspace list appears empty after updating VisualLeaf:

• Backend Connection: Workspaces are stored on the backend server. Verify the backend is running and accessible.
• User Account: Make sure you're logged in with the same user account that created the workspaces.
• Default Workspace: If no workspaces exist, VisualLeaf automatically creates a "Default Workspace" on first launch.

Related Features

• Layout System - Learn how to create and arrange split panel layouts that workspaces preserve
• Activity Tabs - Understand how activities work with workspaces and what gets saved when you save a workspace
• Connection Manager - Manage the database connections that can be saved and restored with workspaces
• Navigation History - Workspaces preserve your navigation history for forward/back navigation
• Recently Closed Tabs - Access tabs you recently closed, which are tracked per workspace