Saturday, December 22, 2007

SQLTools++ 1.10 RC2 is out

Good news, SQLTools++ 1.10 RC2 is out.

You can download it from the SQLTools++ homepage.

Here's a summary of the changes:

SQLTools++ Version 1.10RC2 (22-DEC-2007):

Improvements:
- Tested with Oracle 11g Server and Client, recognizes 11g as server/client version
- 11g session statistics supported
- Filter header bars added to connection dialog and schema browser object list, similar to SQLTools 1.5
- Freshened GUI look, the initial SQLTools++ release used accidentally the "old" Win9x style
- Execute script and halt on errors (new toolbar button)
- Execute script in external tool (new toolbar button)
- Use optionally DBMS_METADATA to generate DDL (can be used from Server version 9i onwards)
- Optionally save all files automatically before executing database operation
- Test connection/Reconnect in case you were disconnected from the database, similar to TOAD functionality (new toolbar button)
- Schema browser object list supports now Snapshots, Snapshot logs and the Recyclebin in 10g onwards
- Index as lookup object supported
- DDL generation support for database and DDL triggers
- Cleanup of Settings dialog: PlusPlus settings are now in a separate page grouped together
- Copy selected entries from schema browser and object viewer separated by newlines using new shortcut Ctrl+Alt+C in addition to the already supported Ctrl+C shortcut
- Handle NULL passwords better by offering a separate dialog to enter the missing password
- DBMS_OUTPUT now allows max. linesize of 32767 beginning with 10g
- Unlimited DBMS_OUTPUT supported in 10g or later
- 10g DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR emulation now available for Oracle9i, see "Data\display_cursor_9i.sql"
You may change the contents of the file to meet your needs, or even save the code in a persistent procedure/package and change the file contents to just call this procedure/package.
The file content is re-read each time the DISPLAY_CURSOR functionality is called
- MERGE sql statement now recognized and appropriate feedback provided (no. of rows merged)
- Popup Editor window can now be closed using the ESC key as shortcut
- Handle Oracle error ORA-28002 ("password expires in next days") more gracefully when opening a connection
- Check for update on web site with a single click. Although not yet automated, you will be redirected to a web page using the default browser of your system that shows you if there is a newer version available for download.
- Customizable settings regarding the "whitespace" and "blank" lines act as statement delimiter in the new "PlusPlus" settings page
- Installation cleanup, default settings, files and web links updated

Bugfixes:
- Fixed issue with background session connection (timing issue while establishing the connection)
- Explain plan did not adhere to "whitespace line" setting
- Auto-fit columns is now executed even if the column descriptions stay the same (there was a caching active that compared the current columns of the result set with the previous and in case they were the same no resizing took place. I deactivated that comparison because it annoyed me)
- Object lookup in Object Viewer for similar object names used previous object in case previous object name is superset (OBJECT_NAME1 vs. OBJECT_NAME) of current object name. Now an exact match is performed
- Lookup of partitioned object fails due to unknown object type error message, this has been fixed

Known Issues:
- Believe it or not, but the DBMS_METADATA package sometimes generates invalid and incomplete DDL. For instance generating the indexes of an table having LOB columns by calling DBMS_METADATA.GET_DEPENDENT_DDL attempts to create the LOB indexes explicitly using an incomplete and invalid CREATE INDEX command.
This holds true even for Oracle 11g, nevertheless I doubt that this is something you would dare to call a "feature"... Still I render the option to use DBMS_METADATA as useful.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

New version 1.10RC2 of SQLTools++ underway

Just a few words on the latest development: I've found some time and motivation again and have already added a lot of new features. I hope that the new version will be out soon (which means within the next couple of weeks), but won't promise anything here.

Here a list of things that have been added/updated resp. currently being worked on:

SQLTools++ Version 1.10RC2

Improvements:
- Tested with Oracle 11g Server and Client, recognizes 11g as server/client version
- 11g session statistics supported
- Filter header bars added to connection dialog and schema browser lists, similar to SQLTools 1.5
- Schema browser supports now Snapshots, Snapshot logs and the Recyclebin in 10g onwards
- Use optionally DBMS_METADATA to extract DDL from database
- Execute a script and halt on errors
- Execute a script or a selected range in an external tool
- Test the connection resp. re-connect in case you've been disconnected from the database, similar to TOAD functionality
- Automatically save your files before a database execution takes place
- Cleanup of Settings dialog: PlusPlus settings are now in a separate page grouped together
- Copy selected rows from schema browser and object viewer separated by newlines using new shortcut Ctrl+Alt+C in addition to the already existing Ctrl+C shortcut
- Handle NULL passwords better by offering a separate dialog to enter the missing password
- DBMS_OUTPUT now allows max. linesize of 32767 beginning with 10g
- Unlimited DBMS_OUTPUT supported on 10g or later
- DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR emulation now available for Oracle9i, see "Data\display_cursor_9i.sql"
You may change the contents of the file to meet your needs, or even save the code in a persistent procedure/package and change the file contents to just call this procedure/package.
The file content is re-read each time the DISPLAY_CURSOR functionality is called
- MERGE SQL statement now recognized and appropriate feedback provided (no. of rows merged)
- Popup Editor window can now be closed using the ESC key as shortcut
- Handle Oracle error ORA-28002 ("password expires in next days") more gracefully
- Check for update on web site with a single click. Although not yet automated, you will be redirected to a web page using the default browser of your system that shows you if there is a newer version available for download.
- Installation cleanup, default settings, files and web links updated

Bugfixes:
- Fixed issue with background session connection (timing issue while establishing the connection)
- Explain plan did not adhere to "whitespace line" setting
- Auto-fit columns is now executed even if the column descriptions stay the same (there was a caching active that compared the current columns of the result set with the previous and in case they were the same no resizing took place. I deactivated that comparison because it annoyed me)