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Blogs
Toad and Database Commentaries

Toad World blogs are a mix of insightful how-tos from Quest experts as well as their commentary on experiences with new database technologies.  Have some views of your own to share?  Post your comments!  Note:  Comments are restricted to registered Toad World users.

Do you have a topic that you'd like discussed?  We'd love to hear from you.  Send us your idea for a blog topic.

Most recent blog entries
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Code Assist Feature – Customizing it to fit your needs
Kuljit 8/31/2009 12:02 PM
Under the Editor menu in Toad for Oracle we have the “Make Code” & “Strip Code” features which allow you to embed SQL Statements in a programming language of your choice.
 
For example you can take the following statement:
SELECT & ...
					
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Reverse Engineer a SQL Query
dnorwood 8/24/2009 8:30 PM
Have you considered switching to Toad for Data Analysts but have too much invested in your old query builder? Have you ever looked at a query with a complex join clause and wished that you could see it mapped out visually? You're in luck - Toad for Data Analysts can help! Toad for Data Analysts can take your SQL statement and reverse engineer it into a visual Query Builder. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to do it quickly and easily!
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Making Change Happen
StevenFeuersteinTW Saturday, August 22, 2009 5:18 PM
[ It is very likely that if you are reading this you are a developer, but this is really geared towards software managers. So feel free to copy and paste into a Word doc and pass it along to your manager or team lead! ]
 
I very often give trainings and presentations on the topic of PL/SQL best practices. I offer lots of ideas for writing code that is eas ...
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Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 10 – Performance Improvement Expectations
RichardTo Friday, August 21, 2009 6:10 AM

Written by Rene Woody

This blog is a continuation of a series about test running the SQL statements in the Tuning Lab in Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle to find the best performing SQL statement in your database envi ...

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Databases will be Virtualized
Bert Thursday, August 20, 2009 6:52 AM
I have written a book about Optimizing Oracle on VMware, plus have both a paper and
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A SQL that returns records faster is not necessarily better-10 Common Misconceptions in SQL Tuning #4
RichardTo Friday, August 14, 2009 5:52 AM

This blog is the fourth in a series about misconceptions surrounding SQL tuning that are quite common. It covers the misconception that the goal of SQL tuning is only to make a SQL return all the records faster.

I still remember around 20 years ago, I was using SQL*Plus to tune my SQL statements. At that time, it was my impression that a good SQL rewrite was one that normally would return the ...

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TOAD and Database Versioning
Bert Wednesday, August 12, 2009 5:01 AM
One critical task for DBA's is maintaining their database versioning history. For example the database objects were in some specified state (in terms of their construction) on such and such a date. The key reason this is critical is that application updates and bug fixes often require database modifications. So the DBA must maintain a database versioning history that matches such changes. There are two chief re ...
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Auto Completion and Workspaces in Toad Data Modeler
BBoise 8/9/2009

By default, adding an entity to a Workspace will cause this entity to be added to every workspace within your model. Well, the entity isn’t really being duplicated; it’s just that a shortcut to that entity is being added to every workspace in the model. Recently, we’ve received some questions from customers asking how they can change this behavior. Fortunately, it’s really easy to do. Before I tell y ...

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Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 9 – Why Run Times Vary
RichardTo Friday, August 07, 2009 6:16 AM

This blog is a continuation of a series about test running the SQL statements in the Tuning Lab in Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle to find the best performing SQL statement in your database environment. It covers why the run time of a SQL statement may vary from one execution to th ...

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Toad for Oracle SQL Editor
DevinG 8/6/2009 4:35 AM

This blog explains specific areas of the editor in Toad® for Oracle 9.x that provide “built-in” SQL code, re-usable code, areas to customize your own code, and immediate access to SQL transactions you have saved or previously executed. Nearly all of these code areas can be accessed from within the Editor, while other windows allow drag and drop f ...

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Toad for Oracle - Log Switch Frequency Map
Bert Wednesday, August 05, 2009 5:06 AM
This is the 3rd of 3 blogs on Toad for Oracle DBA features
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Rolling Back Object Changes in Toad for DB2
JimWankowski Monday, August 03, 2009 11:49 AM

Have you ever had a situation where you made a change to a DB2 table structure such as renaming a column, or adding a new column only to discover that your production applications are now crashing because they haven’t been updated to support the new structures?  What do you do then?  You have to scramble to generate an ALTER script to put the objects back to their original form ...

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Watch Out for Data Caching!
StevenFeuersteinTW Monday, August 03, 2009 11:31 AM

I just fixed a bug in Quest Code Tester for Oracle, and I thought I would share my experience with you.

The bug was reported by our most excellent QA tester, Danny Pham. He is not only good at going through the defined test cases to verify correct behavior. He also takes devilish delight in trying all sorts of "crazy" stuff to see what happens.

So Danny encountere ...

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Two approaches to SQL Tuning using the Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle
BBoise 7/30/2009

I sometimes worry that people are confused about how to use the Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle to help them tune their SQL statements. The solution is extremely powerful and provides you with the options to control numerous aspects of the optimization process. In fact, I suggest you read Richard To’s articles on Toad World to get an in depth understanding of the optimization process ...

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Making Database Changes Logically
Kuljit 7/30/2009 8:03 AM

Our experts at Quest continue to work hard to develop educational material for our end users to learn from, thus allowing them to become product experts themselves. Unfortunately, due to the hectic schedule of our end users, they are sometimes unable to put all the pieces together. In this blog, I piece together some steps for using the Toad Data Modeler and tying it back to Toad for Oracle ...

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Toad for Oracle - SGA / Trace Optimization
Bert Thursday, July 30, 2009 6:03 AM
This is the 2nd of 3 blogs on Toad for Oracle DBA features
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Configure your Toad!
dnorwood 7/29/2009 12:21 PM
We all come from different backgrounds... some of us are old Toadies, and some of us are used to different tools. Did you know that Toad for Data Analysts can be configured to act and look much like Toad for Oracle and many other tools? Even down to the keyboard shortcuts? I'll show you how.
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Test Approach
QCTOblog Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Written by Finn Ellebaek Nielsen. Best practices for a test approach that implements the strategy and test policies for Oracle code laid out in a previous blog post.
Comments (3) Read More...

Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 8 – Criteria for Best SQL
RichardTo Friday, July 24, 2009 6:57 AM
When selecting the best performing SQL statement for your application, how should disk I/O be weighed in comparison to the run time when you are selecting the best SQL alternative to replace your original SQL statement?
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Toad for Oracle - Database Health Check
Bert Thursday, July 23, 2009 4:02 AM
This is the first of 3 blogs on DBA features in Toad for Oracle
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Toad for DB2 V4.5 has arrived!
JimWankowski Wednesday, July 22, 2009 1:24 PM
I am very happy to announce that we went GA with Toad for DB2 V4.5 on 7/21. This is by far the biggest, best release of Toad for DB2 to date. With this version we have introduced a full featured database administrator’s tool capable of handling the largest DB2 environments.
 
Some of the highlights of the 4.5 release are:
&l ...
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Must Know Features of PL/SQL
StevenFeuersteinTW Wednesday, July 22, 2009 7:50 AM
I spend way too much of my life on airplanes zipping around to different places, doing presentations and trainings on PL/SQL. In the process, I meet many PL/SQL developers – and I continue to be surprised and disappointed at how many developers do not know about or at least do not seem to take advantage of very powerful and useful features of PL/SQL. So I have to decided to list below all those elements of PL/S ...
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SQL Navigator behavior in Toad for Oracle
JeffSmith 7/20/2009
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.
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Extended ALTERs and Handling Data in Toad for DB2 LUW
BBoise 7/20/2009
Last week, I was demonstrating some of our DBA-focused features of Toad for DB2 LUW (Linux, Unix, Windows). When we came to the topic of Extended Alters, the audience voiced some concerns about the efficiency of this feature. Specifically, they were concerned with how Toad for DB2’s generated script was handling the data stored in the table we were altering. The customer is dealing with very large data sets, so simple INSERT statements were not going to help. They wanted to know if Toad for DB2 could take advantage of some DB2 utilities that make this process more efficient. Let’s explore the scenario a little further.
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Avoiding repetitive coding for repetitive column structures
StevenFeuersteinTW Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:10 AM
Steven proposes a solution to a customer's question about using a 2 dimensional array in PL/SQL.
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Data is an Asset
Bert Wednesday, July 15, 2009 5:02 AM
Sometimes information systems professionals can get “caught up” in our own worlds. For example, project managers and their developers might focus on latest and greatest application development methodologies such as Extreme Programming (XP) or Agile Development. Likewise enterprise architects might be adopting some new or updated modeling conventions. While database administrators (DBA’s) ar ...
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Toad Tips ‘N’ Tricks
JeffSmith 7/13/2009
This blog recaps a few of the major highlights that Jeff covers in a typical two hour Toad for Oracle tips and tricks session.
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Toad's Export File Browser - Developers and DBAs Secret Weapon
MichaelLumbard 7/13/2009 6:54 AM
 
Have you ever had a need to recover data? Have you ever looked at data or maybe scripts and thought something is not correct? When working with databases there are times when we may have a loss of data or files. Has this ever happened and there is no backup information to rely on?
 
During my t ...
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Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 7 – Testing SQL with Variables
RichardTo Friday, July 10, 2009 5:33 AM
A SQL statement with a variable that is provided at run time poses an extra challenge when trying to determine which alternative SQL statement is going to give the best overall performance. Each time the SQL statement is executed, a different variable could be supplied.
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New TOAD Book Coming Soon!!!
Bert Wednesday, July 08, 2009 6:57 AM

Dan Hotka and I wrote the TOAD Handbook back in 2003. Of course since then TOAD has changed quite a bit – both in terms of the graphical user interface and functionality. Thus we have updated the content and created th ...

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Introducing a New Free Utility Download – Toad Group Policy Manager
JohnPocknell Tuesday, July 07, 2009
You may already be familiar with the Toad World Exclusive Freeware area from where you can download and use really useful utilities such as the PL/Vision Code Library and the Freeware version of Quest Code Tester for Oracle.
 
Well here is another utility you’re going to find really interesting and it’s called the Toad Group Policy Manager.
& ...
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Introducing a New Free Utility Download – SQL Monitor
JohnPocknell Tuesday, July 07, 2009
You may already be familiar with the Toad World Exclusive Freeware area from where you can download and use really useful utilities such as the PL/Vision Code Library and the Freeware version of Quest Code Tester for Oracle.
 
Now there are two more which I’d like to introduce you to – one which has been around for many years and the other a relative newc ...
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Always like to be on the latest version?
JohnPocknell Tuesday, July 07, 2009

As many of you may be aware, Toad for Oracle is available in a number of different Editions and Suites. For those of you who have Toad Development Suite for Oracle or Toad DBA Suite for Oracle, there are a number of recent product updates which you can take advantage of now (GA Release Date July 8th

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Extending Toad for Oracle’s Code Xpert with the SonarSource dashboard
JohnPocknell Monday, July 06, 2009
Written by Olivier Gaudin
 
Toad for Oracle’s Code Xpert utility (part of the Toad Professional Edition) is one of the best PL/SQL code analyzers available on the market, embedding the know-how of leading PL/SQL experts such as Steven Feuerstein. However, although there is the option to st ...
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Test Strategy and Policies
QCTOblog Saturday, July 04, 2009
Written by Finn Ellebaek Nielsen. Best practices for establishing a test strategy, as well as test policies for Oracle code.
Comments (0) Read More...

Are Database GUI Tools Evil?
Bert Wednesday, July 01, 2009 1:01 PM
There are always those DBA’s who refuse to use GUI tools because they prefer scripts. And that’s OK – it’s a personal preference. But recently I’ve seen some stuff posted on the web and sent in email blasts suggesting that people who do use DBA GUI tools like TOAD and OEM are somehow suspect as to their skill levels. And yes, I am sure there are some people who might not know Oracle very well but get along just ...
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What's Next: Toad for Data Analysts v2.5 New Features (part I)
dnorwood 6/30/2009 4:10 PM
Toad for Data Analysts v2.5 is just around the corner. In anticipation of the release, I want to highlight a few of the enhancements that we've made to the product. I'll be posting a new feature every few weeks, so stay tuned!
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Toad for Data Analysts for the Toad for Oracle User – Part IV
BBoise 6/29/2009
As I promised earlier, the focus of this blog entry will be using the Editor in Toad for Data Analysts. The Editor is where you can enter your own SQL code to query the database. Since you’re already familiar with Toad for Oracle’s Editor, you’ll notice some similarities in Toad for D ...
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Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 6 – Testing in a Development Environment
RichardTo Friday, June 26, 2009 6:05 AM
This blog covers testing the SQL alternatives in a development environment when it is not possible to do extensive testing in the production environment.
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Toad for Data Analysts for the Toad for Oracle User – Part III
BBoise 6/21/2009

In Part III of this series of blogs, I’ll discuss the Query Builder in Toad for Data Analysts. In my previous entry, I said that I would talk about both the Editor and the Query Builder in Part III. Both features are so rich that I feel that separating the topics would be the best ...

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TOAD Database Setup Wizard
Bert Wednesday, June 17, 2009 6:07 AM
Sometimes people will have a problem getting a TOAD feature to work – such as the PL/SQL debugger or profiler. For example a user might run TOAD and not be able to select or highlight the debugger icon on the main toolbar. So when they’re in the editor they cannot seemingly invoke or use the debugger. The initial conclusion is that TOAD must have a bug. But 90% of the time, it’s actually a database setup issue. ...
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No single SQL syntax is always the best - 10 Common Misconceptions in SQL Tuning#3
RichardTo Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:26 AM
Written by Richard To
 
This blog is the third in a series about misconceptions surrounding SQL tuning that are quite common. It covers the misconception that there is always some SQL syntax that is the best across different databases and hardware environments.
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Running Toad for Oracle in a 64 bit environment
MarkQuest 6/16/2009 5:42 AM
Running Toad for Oracle in a 64 bit environment is really pretty easy and straight-forward, you just have to follow the installation instructions and verify your environment is setup properly. I have created a short Power Point that shows the steps you need to follow. These instructions come directly from the installation guide as well. I hope this helps you with your installation. Mark
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Executing SQL In Tuning Lab – Part 5 – Selecting Alternatives to Test
RichardTo Friday, June 12, 2009 5:27 AM
In Quest SQL Optimizer when you generate alternative SQL statements for your original SQL statement you may be presented with hundreds of SQL alternatives. The only way to be completely sure that you have the fastest one is to run all the SQL alternatives. But unless the SQL statements run relatively quickly, this is not always practical. So then you are left to determine which SQL statements you should select to test.
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Oracle PL/SQL Programming 5th Edition - "Early Warning"
StevenFeuersteinTW Wednesday, June 10, 2009 11:19 AM
I was on the phone with a Quest Code Tester user the other day and he asked me if I was working on the next edition of my original "magnum opus", Oracle PL/SQL Programming, which would include Oracle11g features.
 
I cannot describe to you how good it felt to say: &q ...
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Dev Tips/Tricks Cheat Sheet
JeffSmith 6/10/2009

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.

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Quest Code Tester for Oracle 1.8.3 Now Available
QCTOblog Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Written by Steven Feuerstein. Version 1.8.3 of Quest Code Tester is now available.
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What Is Unicode? (Part 2)
JohnPocknell Monday, June 08, 2009
In this blog, I hope to be able to help you understand how Unicode is handled on your Windows PC/notebook and how to configure your PC/notebook in order to be able to effectively use Unicode in Toad.
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Toad for Data Analysts for the Toad for Oracle User – Part II
BBoise 6/7/2009
Previously, we discussed how to establish connections to the database. If you’re interested in a refresher, the entry can be found here: http://www.toadworld.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/67/EntryID/382/Default.aspx Now that we’v ...
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What Is Unicode? (Part 1)
JohnPocknell Monday, June 01, 2009
As some of you may already be aware, we are releasing our next version of Toad (version 10.0) later this year and it will have one or two “under the cover” differences. Unicode support is one of those differences and is probably one of the most significant technology upgrades in Toad’s history.
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