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How to connect SQLeo to an online database?

postgresql add tag

David

I want to connect [SQLeo](http://sqleo.sourceforge.net/index.html), a cross-platform visual query tool, to a Postgresql db living on a remote server. I can do this with [DBeaver](https://dbeaver.io/) (community edition), which has connection entries for both db and SSH (so can put my credentials for both server and db).[^1] But SQLeo only gives me a single screen (see screenshot, below) for new connection details.[^2] I managed to make SQLeo "connect" with db user details (at least, it tells me that it's connected!), but I get no data—and I'm quessing this might be because no **server** credentials have been used.
 
I have follwed [these instructions](http://sqleo.sourceforge.net/guide/English_SQLeo_Help.htm#_Toc467091862) and get a connection, but no "data". That includes a screenshot of the setup screen:

![database-connection-screen](http://sqleo.sourceforge.net/guide/English_SQLeo_Help_fichiers/image003.png "SQLeo's database connection dialog")
 
Digging around, my case sounds very (very) much like [this forum query from 2012-2015](https://sourceforge.net/p/sqleo/discussion/general/thread/e75dae49/), which includes this observation (which I also see):

> SQLeo says ... wait loading and in the same time I got a warning message saying: `java.lang.NullPointerException`.

This is what makes me think there might well be a roadblock because the server credentials aren't included. Whether there is some syntax that would allow both sets of credentials to be processed is, I suppose, my question. A typical connection string for SQLeo looks like:

     jdbc:mysql://myserver.mydomain:3306/mydb

### "[X-Y][x]" postscript

What I, as a db n00b (well, I used to use Access quite a lot a decade or more ago) want to achieve is to: 

- use a (free) "visual query tool" →
- with a postgresql database →
- living on a remote server →
- where the credentials for server and database differ.

SQLeo is the closest thing I have run across that meets these requirements ... with the obvious hiccup that I can't actually get any data to query! If there is an alternative to SQLeo for this scenario, I would be glad to know.


[^1]: DBeaver's "visual query tool" is only available with the enterprise edition, which is way beyond my budget (free!) or needs.
[^2]: As noted, DBeaver's [new connection dialogs](https://dbeaver.com/docs/wiki/Create-Connection/) provide for both "db" and "ssh" credentials to be added for the db connection.

[x]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem

Top Answer

David

With some [pointers from the SQLeo developer][d], I managed to sort this. The more generic form of my problem is **using an SSH tunnel to connect securely to a remote database**. 

In fact, it was the [Postgresql help on SSH tunnels][p] that got me over the line on this. I came up with a command line (in terminal shell on Ubuntu) that looks like this:

    $ ssh -L 63333:localhost:5432 serverid@example.com -p 22

where `serverid` is my login identity on the remote machine, `-p` prompts for password authentication, and `22` is the port I login to.

Then, in SQLeo, my connection profile looks like this:

    jdbc:postgresql://localhost:63333/dbname

and also includes my distinct database user credentials. 

Clearly this is a more generic problem than simply SQLeo and Postgresql (and also works with the [SQuirreL SQL client][s], in fact). In my web-searching, there are variations of this question for all sorts of platforms and databases. The solutions, though, are much of a muchness, and this was a relatively simple solution, once I found it. Other alternatives (for example, with ["Jsch"][j], or its [recent][r] [fork][f]) were beyond my ken, and a little more cumbersome. 

[p]: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/ssh-tunnels.html
[d]: https://sourceforge.net/p/sqleo/discussion/general/thread/622c79e069/#76c7
[j]: http://www.jcraft.com/jsch/
[r]: http://www.matez.de/index.php/2020/06/22/the-future-of-jsch-without-ssh-rsa/
[f]: https://github.com/mwiede/jsch
[s]: http://squirrel-sql.sourceforge.net/

1 Answer