The IBM® Data Studio client is one of two Data Studio components: the client and the web console. For information about the Data Studio web console component, which you use for job management and health monitoring, see the IBM Data Studio web console overview.
The Data Studio client includes the following features:
Activities and perspectives
The tools that you use as a database administrator or application developer depend on your role. Data Studio provides two primary ways to access these tool sets: activities and perspectives.
Activities

Use the activity menu in the toolbar to switch between Data Studio activities. These preconfigured activities correspond to a subset of the Data Studio perspectives. The following activities are available: Administer Databases, Develop SQL and Routines, Develop Java Applications, Tune Queries, and Run SQL.
You can return to your preset home activity from any perspective by clicking the home activity button in the toolbar.
Perspectives
You can also access other tools that you need for your role by switching to other perspectives from the menu. For example, the primary perspective for database administration is the Database Administration perspective, and the perspectives for application development are the Database Development and Java perspectives. Depending on your role, other perspectives that you can use include the Data, Java, SQL and Routine Development, and Query Tuning perspectives.

Getting started tools
The following tools can help you get started with the Data Studio client:
Database object management
Changing database objects requires determining which changes need to be made, specifying those changes, evaluating the effects of those changes, and then deploying them.
An editable Properties view and the Review and Deploy dialog box provides a consistent way to create, alter, and drop objects. You can also manage the privileges objects for various types of database servers. After you define your changes in the Properties view, Data Studio automatically generates the commands that can make the changes. The generated commands are displayed in the Review and Deploy dialog box, where you can review the commands and run them.
More robust change management features are provided for DB2® for Linux, UNIX, and Windows databases because a change plan is used to manage the changes. A change plan makes more complex changes possible and you can use it to change more than one object at a time. Data Studio manages the dependent objects and takes resulting actions to address any side effects that are caused by your database object changes. With change plans, you can also preserve your data across database changes, undo your database changes, and track your changes with a version control system.
Data application developer features
For data application developers, Data Studio provides the following key features. Working in a data development project in the Data Project Explorer, you can:
Query tuning features
With the Data Studio client, you can format SQL statements so that they are easier to read, generate visual representations of access plans, and get recommendations for collecting statistics on the objects that a statement references. You can also generate a report that summarizes information about the access plan and includes the recommendations.
If you connect the Data Studio client to a DB2 database or subsystem on which a license for InfoSphere® Optim™ Query Workload Tuner is active, you can use the full set of tuning features.
For more information, see Tuning features.
Team features
If you are working on a large team, you can share data development projects by using supported code control systems, and you can share database connection information.
Shell-sharing with other Eclipse-based products
Shell-sharing (sharing a common environment) with other Eclipse-based products makes it easy to share the functions between products from one interface. If you install the Data Studio client into the same product group as a compatible product, you install only one version of Eclipse that shares the components of each product. Shell-sharing saves disk space and avoids duplicating components that are already built into other products.
Another benefit of shell sharing is the ability to have products interact with each other, which makes each product stronger than if they were run alone. For example, the following shell-sharing scenario shows the strength of using InfoSphere Data Architect and Data Studio together:
To shell-share products, the base Eclipse versions must be the same. For example, you cannot shell-share an Eclipse version 3.6-based product with an Eclipse version 4.2-based product.
For more details about the installation packages that are available for IBM Data Studio, see the product web page.