> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ngquct-docs-partner-confirmed.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Cell and Row Viewers
> View and edit JSON, PHP serialized, image and binary cell values, set per-column display formats, and inspect whole rows in the sidebar
Click the chevron on a JSON or blob cell to open its value in a popover anchored to that cell. Which viewer opens follows the column: its declared type, or the **Display As** choice on its header, and that choice changes rendering only, never what is stored.
Whether it opens for editing follows the row and the column. A row marked for deletion opens nothing at all. A result the app cannot write back to, a generated column, and a column the driver marks immutable such as MongoDB's `_id` all open read-only; [Change Tracking](/features/change-tracking) covers which results are writable. PHP serialized values, and binary past the hex cap, are read-only for everyone.
## Display as formats
Right-click a column header and pick **Display As**. The submenu lists the formats that fit the column type, with a checkmark on the active one.
| Format | Column types | Effect |
| - | - | - |
| Raw Value | all | Shows the stored value, and turns off detection for that column |
| Text | binary | Reads the bytes as UTF-8, trailing `BINARY(N)` padding trimmed |
| UUID | binary, text | Renders 16 raw bytes or a 32-digit hex string as a hyphenated UUID |
| Unix Timestamp (seconds) | integer | Renders the number as a formatted date |
| Unix Timestamp (milliseconds) | integer | Same, treating the number as milliseconds |
| JSON | text | Opens the cell in the JSON viewer |
| PHP Serialized | text | Opens the cell in the PHP serialized viewer |
An override persists per column, scoped to the connection and table. A column with a format set copies in that format when you copy the single cell; a block of cells or a whole row always copies the stored value.
Id-like binary and character columns, integer columns whose names read as timestamps, and binary columns whose first rows all read as UTF-8 pick up their format on their own. **Smart value detection** in [Settings > Data](/customization/data-settings) turns that off, and a manual choice always wins over it, **Raw Value** included. MongoDB binary columns never offer UUID, since the driver decodes them under its own Legacy UUID Encoding setting; see [MongoDB](/databases/mongodb).
**Text** decides per cell, not per column: an image or a hash sitting in a column set to **Text** still reads as `0x89504E…`. The cell edits as hex either way.
## JSON viewer
A JSON-typed column opens on the chevron; double-click or `Enter` edits it inline instead. A text column holding JSON needs **Display As > JSON** first.
The popover has two modes. **Text** is syntax-highlighted and pretty-printed, and editable when the cell is. **Tree** is a collapsible outline with a search field. It never edits, but its rows and the text in them select and copy. Both keep your key order and exact number values, integers larger than JavaScript can represent included.
The mode you switch to becomes the default for the next value, which is the same preference as **JSON Viewer > Default view** in Settings. The pop-out button detaches the viewer into its own resizable window.
Opening a value and seeing it pretty-printed is not an edit: the row is marked changed only once you alter the content. **Save** commits a compact value, key order and numbers preserved, through the [change tracking](/features/change-tracking) queue. Text that is not valid JSON prompts first.
A NULL or empty cell reads **Empty Value** in **Tree** mode. On an editable cell, switch to **Text** to enter JSON.
### Selecting and copying in a tree
Click a row to select it. The arrow keys move the selection, `Shift` and `Cmd` extend it, and `Cmd+A` selects every row. `Cmd+C` copies the selected values, one per line: a string without its quotes, an object or array as compact JSON. A row inside a selected object or array is already part of that JSON and is not copied a second time.
For part of a value, select its row, drag across the text or double-click a word, then press `Cmd+C`. Text copies as the row shows it: a long string shortened, a line break written as `\n`. **Copy Value** on the right-click menu copies the whole value.
**Copy Key** and **Copy Key Path** sit on the same menu. A path reads `$.user.emails[0]`. A key that is not a plain identifier is quoted, as in `$."content-type"`, the form SQLite, PostgreSQL, MariaDB and DuckDB read in a JSON path.
`Escape` ends a text selection first, then clears the row selection. Pressed once more, it closes the popover and drops an edit you have not saved.
### Links and color swatches
A string that is one whole `http`, `https` or `mailto` address is drawn as a link. The first click selects its row. Click the link in a selected row and it opens in your browser or mail app. `Space` opens the link of a single selected row, the right-click menu has **Open Link** and **Copy Link**, and holding the pointer over the link shows the address in full.
Everything else stays text: `file:` and every other scheme, `www.example.com` with no scheme, an address inside a longer string or with a space beside it, an address carrying a user name and password, a `mailto:` with anything after the address, and an address too long for its row that is cut off before the end of its host name, since the part shown could name another site. **Copy Value** still copies that address whole. An address has to be plain ASCII with the rest percent-escaped, so `/wiki/Vi%E1%BB%87t_Nam` links and `/wiki/Việt_Nam` does not.
A string that is a CSS color carries a swatch of that color beside it.
| Format | Examples |
| - | - |
| Hex, 3, 6 or 8 digits | `#f80`, `#ff8800`, `#ff880080` |
| `rgb()` and `rgba()` | `rgb(255, 136, 0)`, `rgb(255 136 0 / 50%)` |
| `hsl()` and `hsla()` | `hsl(32, 100%, 50%)`, `hsl(32deg 100% 50% / 0.5)` |
Any 3, 6 or 8 hex digits after `#` count, so an order number stored as `#404` gets a swatch too. Four-digit hex such as `#f80c` and color names such as `orange` get none.
### Filtering a tree
The search field above the tree filters keys and values as you type. The [PHP serialized tree](#php-serialized-viewer) works the same way.
* Matching ignores case and accents, so `cafe` finds `café`. Full-width and half-width differ: `ABC` does not find `ＡＢＣ`.
* A row matches on its whole value, not the shortened form shown, so a match deep inside a long string counts. A match under a collapsed parent opens its parents, and a key that matches keeps its contents and stays expandable.
* Only text from the document matches. A JSON array position such as `[1]`, a count such as `{2 keys}` and the `…` row are the tree's own labels, and no filter finds them.
* A filter that matches nothing says so, and says separately when the document was cut at 5,000 nodes, since the rows past the cut were never searched.
### Arrays of JSON
A PostgreSQL `jsonb[]` or `json[]` cell opens on its elements: the list at the top, the selected element in the same Text and Tree viewer below.
Add, remove and reorder elements with the controls under the list. **NULL** on an element writes a SQL NULL, which is a different value from the JSON `null` an element can hold: the list shows the first as `NULL` and the second as `null`. **Edit as Text** switches to the raw `{…}` literal.
Reading an element does not change it. Only an element whose JSON you alter is rewritten, and it is written back compact, so a `json[]` column keeps the exact text it stored for every element you left alone.
## PHP serialized viewer
Set **Display As > PHP Serialized** on a text column, then double-click or press `Enter`. The viewer is read-only: PHP serialized values round-trip through PHP itself.
**Tree** mode is the JSON tree with PHP's types: it filters, [selects, copies](#selecting-and-copying-in-a-tree) and draws [links and color swatches](#links-and-color-swatches) the same way, with type badges on the nodes (`str`, `int`, `arr`, `obj`, `ser`, `ref`) and visibility badges on object members (`protected`, `private (ClassName)`). A custom-serialized class (the `C:` token) is one opaque leaf that copies as its whole payload, and a reference (`r:`/`R:`) shows as `→ #N` and is not followed. **Raw** mode shows the original string with text selection.
An array or object row copies as its summary, such as `[2 items]`, not as its contents, so each row you select inside it copies its own value after the summary. Copy the serialized text from **Raw** mode instead.
## Blob and hex
A blob cell renders in the grid as compact hex (`0x48656C…`), unless its column reads as text. Click the chevron or double-click for the popover: a classic hex dump with offset, byte columns, and ASCII, plus an editable hex field under it on an editable table. That field takes spaced or continuous hex, with or without a `0x` prefix, and invalid hex disables **Save**.
Bytes that read as an image open on the picture instead, with **Hex** the second segment. The [image viewer](#image-viewer) covers that.
## Image viewer
A cell whose content is an image opens on the drawing, with its stored form one segment away: **Hex** for a binary column, **Source** for SVG markup in a text column. The source stays editable wherever the cell is, and **Save** commits it through the same [change tracking](/features/change-tracking) queue as any other edit.
Detection reads the value, not the column, since the same PNG turns up in `BLOB`, `BYTEA` and `VARBINARY`, and SVG arrives as often in a text column as a binary one. PNG, JPEG, JPEG 2000, GIF, TIFF, BMP, ICO, WebP, HEIC, HEIF and AVIF are identified from their header; SVG from its root element, behind any byte order mark, XML declaration, comment or doctype. A PDF, a Photoshop file and a camera raw file are left as hex, since a database client that opened them as "the image in this cell" would be guessing. **Display As > Raw Value** on the column turns detection off.
Transparency draws on a checkerboard. The footer names the format and, for a raster image, the stored pixel size, which is what the file holds rather than what fits the pane. **Copy Image** puts the drawing on the clipboard as an image; **Copy** on the cell itself still copies the stored value. The pop-out button opens a resizable window, read-only there.
SVG rasterizes in a separate process that reads the markup and nothing else. It reaches no network and no file: an ``, an `@import`, an external entity and a `