Oracle Open Source: SQLTools

Alex Nuijten 5
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I guess I must have been sleeping all this time… how did I miss this wonderful tool? If you raise your eyebrows now, you either disagree with this statement or you haven’t tried it yourself.

The starting point to find Open Source Projects related to Oracle has always been the Open Source Projects for Oracle, but it’s not listed here.
How did I find it? I don’t know and frankly I don’t care. I’m just glad I did. Just so you don’t have to go through the hassle of trying to find it: SourceForge: SQLTools and the SQLTools homepage


Why is it a great tool? Because it has a lot to offer.
From the powerful SQL editor which you can customize any way you like, to the Object Browser to get an overview of what’s in the database. As well as the templates, which you can adept to your liking. A Table Transformation Helper, which does what it says.
Being “keyboard-shortcut-happy”, almost all menu items have keyboard shortcuts.
The query results can be exported into Excel or a browser with a mere push of a button. All these features and more, it’s almost too much to name it all.
SQL Tools in Action

What I really like, when you execute a long running query you get a Server Process modal pop-up window. Even though it “locks up” SQLTools, you can do something else in the mean time (like reading the Amis Technology Blog 😉). And when it’s done, you’ll know. The modal pop-up window will disappear. This pop-up also allows you to cancel the query. This comes in handy when you accidently run that long-running query…
Server Process Pop-up

Another thing I like is the ability to execute a highlighted query, this comes in handy when you have a nested query and you want to see the results of that. For instance when you’re using an Analytical Function in your query and you need to see the results of the innermost query. It’s easy to highlight it and execute it. No need to copy it out of there and paste it into another SQL-window to see the results.

Object List Window

The Object List Window provides a list of database objects, however Java stored in the database is not shown. Using this Object List it’s easy to generate any object DDL definition. You can do this individually or lots of things together.

Could this be the perfect tool for a SQL and PL/SQL developer? I think it will certainly be in the Top-Ten.
Although there are some things that could make it even more attractive to use. Like a code assistant for instance. Or maybe a plug-in for the version control software you use, like Visual Source safe or ClearCase. Perhaps a Code Formatter…
According to SourceForge, this tool was created using C++ and PL/SQL distibuted under GNU general public license.
I think Aleksey Kochetov, Tomasz Drzewiecki and Ken Clubok did a great job! I certainly hope they will continue developing and expanding this great tool.

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5 thoughts on “Oracle Open Source: SQLTools

  1. Hi Prasanth,

    I’m not familiar with SQL Navigator, all I known is that it’s a Quest Tool but that’s it. Why don’t you give SQLTools a try and let us know what you think of it and how it compares to SQL Navigator.

  2. How is it Different SQL-tool is different from SQL Navigator.I am in search for an open source product which is functionally equivalant (Even better) to SQL Navigator.
    Can anybody Help.

    Thanks in advance,
    Prasanth Kurian


  3. When you don’t have a Tool like Toad, but you want something similar, consider TOra.

    The biggest difference between TOAD and SQLTools is the price ;-).
    TOAD is a great product, but most of the extra’s you get for free (well, not really free), I never use. A lot of these extra’s are of interest when you’re a DBA, and I’m not. The only things I do use in TOAD are the Schema Browser (to look at the data and source code), the SQL Window (for ad hoc queries) and the Procedure Editor. I’m still amazed a debugger is optional….
    SQL*Navigator I have never used.

    I think SQLTools is like combining SQL*Plus and your favourite editor rolled into one. And if they would expand it with say a code assistant, source control plugin and a code formatter, it could be all you need as a SQL or PL/SQL developer. Oh… add a debugger to the wishlist 🙂

    (my french is terrible :(, but if you’re looking for documentation, you can find it here
    )

  4. May be this tool make sense when you don’t have TOAD or SQL*Navigator. How is it different from TOAD or SQL*Navigator?

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