The book dives into the details of Oracle SQL Developer 4.1, which is a graphical version of SQL*Plus. Oracle SQL Developer has been continuously evolving and reaching maturity with the capability to give database developers and DBAs a convenient way to perform basic and advanced database tasks. Oracle Developers and DBAs can browse, create, edit, and delete (drop); run SQL statements and scripts; edit and debug PL/SQL code; manipulate and export (unload) data; and view and create custom reports.
After reading this book, Oracle developers and DBAs will learn to install Oracle SQL Developer and learn to navigate through all its advanced features that have been introduced in version 4.1. You will be competent enough to use all the advanced features available, helping them perform basic and advanced database tasks with ease.
Chapter 1, Getting Started with SQL Developer 4.1, covers how to prepare the SQL Developer environment on your laptop, including the download, installation, installation options, creating database connections, and so on.
Chapter 2, Database Connections and SQL Worksheet, covers how to make database connections and create, update, or delete database objects using the SQL worksheet.
Chapter 3, The Power of SQL Reports, guides a DBA or an application developer to use reports for running a set of queries that are frequently executed. This chapter will explain how to categorize a group of these SQL queries (reports). The first section will discuss the reports navigator in general, how to run and use reports, and any errors you might encounter.
Chapter 4, Working with PL/SQL, shows you how to create, edit, compile, and debug PL/SQL blocks efficiently in the first section, followed by the use of SQL and PL/SQL tuning tools provided by SQL Developer.
Chapter 5, SQL Developer for DBAs, shows you how a DBA can leverage SQL Developer's features to efficiently work with multiple databases in the areas of manageability, monitoring, performance tuning, and so on.
Chapter 6, SQL Developer Accessibility, provides information about the accessibility features of Oracle SQL Developer. It includes using a screen reader and Java access bridge with Oracle SQL Developer, Oracle SQL Developer features that support accessibility, recommendations for customizing Oracle SQL Developer, and highly visual features of Oracle SQL Developer.
Chapter 7, Importing, Exporting, and Working with Data, uses SQL Developer features such as the export/import feature using which we can easily and quickly export and import data from within a database or across a database, and also compare all the data after the activity.
Chapter 8, Database Connections and JDBC Drivers, uses alternative Oracle connections such as tnsnames.ora, LDAP, JDBC URLs, and also shows you how to create non-Oracle database connections.
Chapter 9, Introducing SQL Developer Data Modeler, uses data modeler features such as diagrams, components, entity relationship diagrams, relational and physical data models, and some forward/reverse engineering possibilities using SQL developer.
Chapter 10, Extending SQL Developer, helps you learn the range of support available for adding XML extensions, a task that is easily within the reach of any database developer with SQL and PL/SQL skills. The nature of these extensions can range from including a single XML report to adding complex Java extensions bundled as JAR files.
Chapter 11, Working with Application Express, shows you how to connect to Application Express, browse your applications, review some of the administration utilities, and use the SQL Worksheet to refactor PL/SQL code.
Chapter 12, Working with SQL Developer Migrations, reviews the tool support for a migration without discussing the additional work required when planning and preparing for a migration.
Chapter 13, Oracle Data Miner 4.1, teaches you about the new Data Miner features in SQL Developer 4.1 and the general enhancements to Oracle Data Miner 4.1. In response to the growing popularity of JSON data and its use in big data configurations, Data Miner now provides an easy-to-use JSON query node.
Chapter 14, REST Data Services and REST Development, shows you how Oracle REST Data Services (a JEE-based alternative to Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) and mod_plsql) can be administered. The second session will be a detailed discussion of how we can use SQL Developer to create, maintain, and use RESTful services.
This book was written on the SQL Developer 4.1 tool and the new features provided by Oracle. Though the name has "Developer" in it, the book should be equally useful for developers, DBAs, and architects. All the examples and features should work with version 4.1, which can be downloaded for free from the OTN website. We need minimum JDK 1.8 to use the SQL Developer 4.1 version.
Oracle database developers and DBAs who seek a convenient way to perform basic and advanced database tasks are the audience of this book.
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."
A block of code is set as follows:
<queries>
<query>
<sql> </sql>
</query>
<columns>
</columns>
</queries>Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
FROM DEPARTMENTS WHERE DEPARTMENT_NAME = &DNAME;
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "If you want to use these extensions, then invoke the wizard, select Search Update Centers, and include the Third Party SQL Developer Extensions."
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