Hi Chuck;
The buttons change the cursor to allow you to graphically 'build' a query. Start by entering a basic SELECT * query:
SELECT * From City
Now change to the SELECT cursor, expand a table in the database list on the right, and start clicking column names. Your query should start changing from SELECT * to more specific field names.
SELECT Id, Name, Country, District FROM City
Above is what my query changed to when I clicked the Id, Name, Country, and District fields from the table in the database list.
P.S. I am working on Query Browser documentation and should have something ready when it goes beta.
Mike Hillyer, Technical Writer
MySQL AB, www.mysql.com
Office: +1 403-380-6535
Blog:
http://www.openwin.org/mike
"The Open Source movement has become a major force across the software industry, and MySQL is the world's most popular open source database."
--Fortune Magazine