That’s right folks! Toad for SQL Server has been recognized AGAIN as the best development tool for SQL Server.

I really should be more honest. In this case I’m referring to the title of this blog. ‘Sneak Peek’ infers I’m being naughty and showing you something that is secret or not available to the masses. The real story here is that any licensed user of Toad current on maintenance is able to participate in Toad’s Beta Program which runs 24x7x12.

Version 10.6 is tentatively scheduled to be released this Fall. In the mean-time,...

This is not a volley in the RDMBS wars. This is a quick cheat sheet for getting started using Toad for SQL Server if you are already used to using Toad for Oracle.

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past decade, Toad is one of the most popular database administration and development tools for the Oracle RDBMS. It just so happens that Toad is also available for Microsoft’s SQL Server platform.

This blog serves as a quick introduction to Toad for SQL Server for those who may have just heard about it. It seems that many folks find Toad extremely powerful for...

What’s the first thing we learn when it comes to databases and/or SQL? Odds are it was how to write a SQL statement to retrieve data from one or more tables.

Today I want to talk about something that should be beneficial to any person who has ever needed to connect to an Oracle database, comparing data.

It’s been about 2 weeks now, and I’ve already found a few things that’s I’d consider ‘upgrade worthy’ regarding Toad for Oracle v10.5. Whether they be groundbreaking new features, or just convenient behavioral updates, here a few things to look for when you’re ready to upgrade.

With the release of v10.5 imminent for Toad for Oracle, I thought I take a second to show where Toad has come and where it’s going.

This may be the most misleading blog title of all time. This ‘new’ way of debugging is actually the oldest and true-est form of debugging. What’s new is that Toad now allows you to run your programs and inspect the variables post-execution via DBMS_OUTPUT without coding any of the DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE () statements.

Once again I was reminded how seemingly simple and common-sense features in Toad are frequently overlooked and yet also provide huge differentiation from other database tools out there. If this topic sounds familiar, it’s because I covered it back in 2008 for Toad for Data Analysts.

While doing a customer visit locally here in the Triangle at a local university, the audience I was presenting to was predominately using a competitor’s product. I won’t mention them by name, but let’s just say the audience was using the tool, but maybe saw room for improvement. The challenge thrown down to me was simple:

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A full preview is in the works, but sometimes a new feature is so compelling you just want to start telling strangers on the street about it right away. Rather than make you wait till tomorrow to hear all about Apple’s new tablet device, here’s some juicy Toad gossip right now!

 

DESCribe

Perhaps one of the most productivity-enhancing features in Toad, the DESC (F4) command allows the user to get access...

An exhaustive look at Toad, that doesn’t take that long to read and see immediate improvement in your day-to-day use of the tool. If you are new to Toad, this will shorten the learning curve. If you have been using Toad for 10 years, this will ensure you are not overlooking features or workflows that have snuck in while you weren’t looking.

Toad for Oracle is a world-class enterprise query-develop-tune-administration tool for the Oracle database platform. This document attempts to differentiate Toad from the average Oracle IDE or query tool so that the reader can make an informed decision to invest in the Toad product family.

Following is a list of features and concepts that most commercial and even freeware offerings strive to deliver. Each feature will demonstrate clearly how Toad rises above the competition. If you can live with only the lowest-common-denominator features, then Toad may not be an easy sell. If, however, you need a tool to rescue from hairy situations, tune your systems, and automate those painful daily tasks, then Toad should be a clear winner.

...

Quick, what’s the number one complaint about Toad for Oracle?

“The User Interface is waaaaaaaaay too complicated!”



Out of the box, Toad’s setup to pretty much have everything enabled. If we hid stuff, there’s a good chance users would assume the functionality just wasn’t there to be taken advantage of.  And, as John so elegantly put it in his latest whitepaper on QuestDotCom,...

Oracle introduced support for XML in the relational database going back at least to about the 8i release. Toad for Oracle introduced formal support for XML in the 8.0 release.

XML and Toad v8.0 – v9.7



As you browse or query an object, if it contains an XML

...

So with Toad v10 being released, my Tips & Tricks guide became a bit out of date.  You can find an updated copy, as well as our v9 copy, here.  All of your favorite keyboard shortcuts and workflows remain largely unchanged, so this is more of an update for making sure screenshots and naming conventions are correct...

(Originally posted to Toad World as at Toad for Oracle Tutorial)

Introduction Project Structure What Can I Put in a Project? How do I Add Something to my Project? PM Operations Drag-N-Drop...

We got an interesting question into our sales support queue this week. A new Toad user was frustrated because they weren’t seeing the type of feedback they were used to seeing in SQL Navigator.

This blog recaps a few of the major highlights that Jeff covers in a typical two hour Toad for Oracle tips and tricks session.

So if you’re reading this blog, hopefully that means you’ve just finished watching my ‘Discover the Hidden Treasures of Toad for Oracle, Developers’ presentation at our 2009 Toad Virtual Expo. If not, then you can still watch this 45 minute presentation for the immediate 60 days after the conference.

What I wanted to do here is go into a little bit more detail than what I could deliver in a powerpoint presentation. I’ll try to add a little flavor to the ‘Hidden Treasures’ we exposed for developers and point you to some other resources on ToadWorld that might help you on your way.

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In humble tribute to the great southern comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, I thought I’d try a send up on this popular theme as it pertains to Toad. So here goes. If you have your own suggestions, just leave them as comments at the end of the blog!

The ‘ribbet’ sound announces to your cube-mates what time you’ve made it into work. Did you know you can disable the ‘ribbet’ and customize Toad to play any .WAV file you want?...

When you ask Oracle for an execution plan with Toad, we insert the plan into a plan table (configurable by the user.) Wow, that’s 36 pieces of information that could be included in every single plan step. Now, when Toad shows you a plan for a query, it chooses to show only the most common pieces of information.

While we are still quite a few months away from officially releasing the next version of Toad for Oracle, there are a few exciting developments to share with you today. Of course, you can follow the development of the next version of Toad yourself via the beta program, but we realize not everyone has the bandwidth to do so. Most years will see at least 2 releases of Toad. However,...

This was a question I got this morning from a customer. I showed them how to do this with the ‘Alter’ dialog in Toad’s Schema Browser. However, they wanted to do it for more than one table at a time, and apparently some OTHER tool could do so. Why couldn’t Toad?

Great question. It turns out that IT CAN INDEED do so. Here’s how:



Step 0: Open the ‘Rebuild Multiple Objects’ window



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I think we can all agree that of ALL the features in Toad that impact the most number of users is the data grid. Whether investigating the contents of a table, running queries, or monitoring connected sessions in the Session Browser, the data grids deliver information to the user. How well you know the data grid and all of its embedded features will impact how useful and productive you are for your employer.

We often...

While co-presenting with Bert at the Rocky Mountain Oracle User group, Bert yells out “Hey, show that cool FK lookup thingie in the data grids.” I was like, ‘huh?’ Surely Bert just didn’t call me out in front of 100 or so people on a Toad feature that I did not fully understand?

Well, I got around to figuring out just what Bert was talking about, and NOW I remember what all the fuss was about. This feature was added...

I recently got an email from a user, and after I replied figured that it might be helpful for others to see as well.

 

The Question:

“I was at the ROUMG conference and have a question.   You guys showed how to setup a short cut in the options.  Like to do a select statement – you can type in a short cut word and it will do the put the script in.  Like autofinish.

 

I know I need to build...

For most users, the significant new feature for v9.7 will be the AppsDesigner. This technology allows a Toad user to take a collection of Toad commands or Actions and create a miniature Toad App or macro that you can then replay on demand or schedule to run when needed.  

Like most new features, you generally will learn how to use them when you are faced with a task that requires said feature. I’d like to share an...

After working with Toad for almost a decade (I think I first saw it as a new grad in ’99…), I tend to start taking things for granted when I do demonstrations for customers or present at conferences on the beauty of Toad. It’s very easy to get excited about CRUD Matrices and the beauty of PL/SQL debuggers, but overlook the critical core features that users often miss out on.

Well, ‘overlook’ is such a critical, judgmental...

We often spend a lot of time trumpeting the sexy little widgets in our database tools and overlook the little things that really aid in the development of our applications or even just writing the mundane queries that fill up our day.

I’d like to just spend a quick 10 minutes on letting you know about a cool little feature that Toad for Data Analysis offers for writing your queries in the editor. The technology is...

So, another version of Toad has been released. It happens a few times a year. If you’re lucky it’s up to you if and when you want to upgrade to get your bug fixes or new features. If you’re in a larger organization, there’s a standards committee that decides who gets what when. I thought I’d spend a few minutes to document what I see to be the key features available in v9.7 that would give someone serious reason to upgrade...

The editor window is probably where most users spend a majority of their time. In this blog, I’ll continue a conversation we had a few weeks ago.  Please note that all of these features are available in the standard edition of Toad for Oracle, version 9.6.

 

6.     Editor Options

  Toad has many options...

In my previous blog, I covered things that you should know about Toad for Oracle’s editor. I thought for today we could spend a few minutes on what users may benefit the most from Toad’s cousin, Toad for Data Analysis. This blog will concentrate on working with SQL.

 

1.     SQL Recall   The time you’ve spent engineering...

The editor window is probably where most users spend a majority of their time. In this blog, I’ll try to highlight the 10 features that will save you the most time when it comes to writing your SQL queries, SQL*Plus scripts, anonymous blocks, and PL/SQL stored procedures. Please note that all of these features are available in the standard edition of Toad for Oracle, version 9.6.

 

1.     SQL Recall

  By...

Anyone who develops, supports, or uses PL/SQL at some level also tests the PL/SQL. It may not be a formal testing environment, but there is a time where you will probably ask yourself, “Does this program actually do what it is supposed to?” I think this is something we can all relate to as computer users.  

This type of testing probably involves clicking a few buttons, then poking around the database or file system...

The Code Insight feature rewrite for version 9.6 is perhaps the most dramatic change as it will affect every Toad user who writes SQL or PL/SQL.  

In a nutshell, for the 9.6 release, users can now start at the schema level, and use the ‘Dot Lookup’ feature to see all tables, views, synonyms, snapshots, PL/SQL objects etc. You can then drill down to the column level where possible.  

Here’s what it looks like...

Despite the best intentions of the DBA or the person who designed the data model, the collection of primary keys, unique indexes, constraints, and triggers are not a foolproof method of keeping duplicate records creeping into your tables and views. Any business rule in the database can be disabled. An even more likely scenario is the business rule changing after the fact.   So what’s a person to do when they need to clean up their records?

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The Toad World visitors may have noticed a recent surge in the number of videos available for viewing in the past few days.   Toad World will debut a collection of 12 or so Coffee Break Bytes (video tutorials) to highlight the new features for the 9.6 release due out on April 1.  

I think these videos very nicely compliment John’s 9.6 3-part blog series. However,...

As of April 1, 2008, if you are a current on maintenance and are using at least version 9.6 of Toad for Oracle, you will have complete access to our PL/SQL, Stored Java Source, and SQL*Plus script debugger regardless of your edition of Toad. Since the debugger made its debut in version 6.3 released all the way back in February of 2000, the functionality has been offered as a premium in Toad for Oracle.

Well, a few things...

If you’re a loyal reader, you may remember a blog I published WAAAAAAAY back in July of last year. A few things have changed since then. Users now have 2 different Toad tools to help them get data from Excel merged into the data they already have access to in the Oracle database.  

A Brief Problem Description

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How often are you offered less work or fewer responsibilities? Rarely does that ever happen, and if it does, it could be a bad sign! Well, as a database administrator, your job gets more and more complex every day even as RDBMS vendors keep adding ‘automated management’ features. On top of all your day-to-day tasks and preventive maintenance you perform, your most pressing tasks are playing firefighter with the proverbial fires in the database.

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One might be tempted to think that with such a young tool like Toad for Data Analysis (TDA), that it would be a bit early to start trumpeting its advanced features and ‘hidden’ productivity boosters. In this case, one would be very wrong! Although Toad for Data Analysis is only up to release 1.1, it is built on top of Toad for SQL Server and Toad for DB2’s award winning platform. The development team has also included a couple...

I’ve been promising to deliver a write-up on Toad’s new support for Statspack, and I’ve finally gotten around to doing it!  Statspack has been around since the 8i release of Oracle.  If you are unfamiliar with the technology, please read this.  If you’re already a Statspack user and would like to see how Toad can help you take advantage of...

I was initially planning on writing up a review of the new Statspack support in Toad version 9.5 for my next blog, but I wanted to make sure all of our Toad users were aware of the new installation process first!



There are a few things you need to know before you go to upgrade your copy of Toad.  Let’s go over them very quickly so you can start using the latest and greatest copy of your favorite software...

I have worn many different hats here at Quest, and recently put on another in the Sales organization. Regardless of what my official title has been, talking to our Toad customers has always been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. I decided a long time ago that I would do all I could to master Toad and share my findings with others. I hope to never stop learning or sharing!   One of the more intense experiences...

If you frequent Toad® World, then you are probably aware of the fact that Quest has a technology that offers to automatically tune your poorly performing SQL statements.  When I speak to customer or prospective clients, it is generally received extremely well.  Why is that?  Of ALL the problems that database professionals have in common, the biggest pain...

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it seems like 2007 has gone by at a record pace. 2007 has seen quite a few exciting developments in the ‘Toad World’ arena. In addition to Toad World itself, we have seen a new unit testing tool for PL/SQL and a version of Toad made just for analysts released. In addition we’ve seen the industry leading Toad for Oracle, Toad for SQL Server, and Toad for DB2 products enhanced with new versions and new capabilities in the last few months. ...

Every software product has a feature or widget that is extremely powerful, but finds a way to confuse more people than it enlightens. That is not to say that the feature is poorly designed or implemented, but who can really say they understand and use 100% of an item’s potential?



A few of my personal...

A US-based fast food chain apparently has a new advertising campaign running. I’m not exactly sure what it is supposed to be for, and most of their commercials are pretty confusing. They do have one that I like. Apparently their food is not only JUST fast, but also made to order, and tastes good. What does this have to do with Toad®? Well, Toad allows you to compose...

Toad® has been a popular Oracle development and administration tool for the past decade.  In fact, the original trademark for our favorite little guy was ‘T.O.A.D’ – an acronym that stood for “the Tool for Oracle Application Developers.”

A couple of treats for our history buffs: 1. T.O.A.D. from 1998 2. Oracle Magazine story from 1998

         

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It’s no secret that I am a die hard Toad® fanatic. There are many reasons for this, but the one I want to talk about today is one of Toad’s best kept secrets: a commercial-grade FTP client built right into Toad!

  Older versions of Toad can find ‘FTP’ under the ‘File’ menu.

Yes, Toad DOES have its very own fully-functional...

For more than 10 years now, Toad has been THE tool for Oracle developers, DBAs, and analysts.  A few years ago, Quest began introducing versions of Toad that brought native support to popular platforms such as DB2, SQL Server, and MySQL.  Oracle enthusiasts were able to jump over to a new RDBMS technology without having to leave their favorite productivity tool behind.

While most features were implemented...

In my last blog I attempted to cover all of the cool filters in Toad in a single posting.  How silly of me!  Let’s see if we can’t further down the road.

As a quick re-cap, we went over the first 3 filters available in the Schema Browser.

Schema Browser List Filters





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Having the world’s information at our fingertips via databases is an extremely powerful resource.  It can also be quite daunting. Any Oracle user who has had to manage an APPS database knows this intuitively as those schemas consists of hundreds of thousands of objects.  Or you could have only a solitary table, but the table has...

Your Mission: Go fix ALL of the slow SQL in your application ASAP.

SQL is an extremely powerful language for us database geeks. Without completely understanding, or even caring how the database is going to resolve my query, SQL allows me to ask for data by describing it.  For example, “Give me the employees by department, sorted by salary” equates to:

...

What the heck is that?



This is what my friend and co-worker, Dennis, supports on a daily basis!  And yes, it is that confusing.



Dennis is an Applications Developer for our IS group here at Quest Software.  I asked Dennis if he’d spend some time talking about what he thinks about Toad®.

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I’ve been working with Toad® for several years now, and even now that I’m NOT directly associated with the Toad development team, my Windows taskbar usually has at least 1 if not 2 Toad programs hanging around.  To be honest, if someone were to take Toad away from me today, my productivity would definitely suffer.

While most users are introduced to Toad as the market’s leading Integrated Development Environment (IDE)...