Oracle SQL Developer Tips and Techniques - Part I - Basics
Posted by
Ann Kalin on Thu, Sep 22, 2011 @ 03:15 PM
Definition
SQL Developer is an interactive tool for executing SQL queries against ORACLE databases. It has a GUI interface and contains not only the SQL interface, but also allows you to navigate through your database and view the objects available to you. This is a FREE download from Oracle and can be found at the following link:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/sql-developer/downloads/index.html
Object Navigator
When you start SQL Developer, you will need to connect to the specific database and supply a userid and password.
Once connected, the object navigator window on the far left that shows the objects available in your database. The example on the opposite page has connected to the TRAINING database. As any GUI application, you will click on the plus sign (+) to drill down to the components of each object.
Double click on an object, and it will appear as a tab in the SQL Window to the right of the object navigator for you to review in the detail.
SQL Window
The SQL window is where you will build your SQL statements. The color of thetext will change according to the syntax of the language. For example, keywords such as FROM will be a different color. You can drag/drop object names such as columns from the object navigator to the SQL window to save on typing.
To run the SQL statement, simply click on the green triangle on the tool bar in the SQL window or simply press F9. If you have multiple SQL statements, remember to put a semicolon at the end of each statement. You may highlight the specific SQL statement or run them all simultaneously.
Note the tab TRAINING at the top of this window. New tabs will appear as you create a new SQL query or you double click on an object from the object navigator.
Results Window
When you execute the SQL statement, the results table is displayed in the results window which appears by default at the bottom right of the screen. Note, any of these separate windows can be moved and placed within the screen.
Notice there are several tabs in the results window. Many of these are used for PL/SQL programming and performance tuning.