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, while the written word can be very compelling, watching the videos of the technology in play can have a much larger impact.
So, if you have a spare 5 minutes and want to get a head-start on v9.6 and impress your colleagues, read on! Click the topic title to be taken to the associated Coffee Break Byte immediately.
Toad has about a dozen toolbars and at least 2 different sets of desktops. In addition, it’s possible to customize the menu bars (File, Database, Utilities, Help, etc.) Up until v9.6, actually getting Toad configured to allow for user customization was quite awkward. I once wrote a 8 page white paper just to show how to add back the ‘Execute Current Statement’ button for users upgrading to v9 and who wanted it back. Needless to say, it shouldn’t take much to figure out how to customize a toolbar in a windows application. Version 9.6 operates just as any user would expect in this regard. It will be much more effortless to maintain your toolbar edits as newer versions of Toad are coming out.
Ever wonder why the ‘Customize’ selection is greyed out? No longer a problem for v9.6!
Toad has had an interface to Oracle’s DBMS_PROFILER package for a long time now. A great way to find execution bottlenecks in your stored PL/SQL programs, it will show exactly how many times each line of code is executed, for how long, and more. Oracle updated this technology in the 11g RDBMS, calling it a Hierarchical Profiler and delivering it via DBMS_HPROF.
The Hierarchical Profiler extends the power of DBMS_PROFILER by including a much deeper level of information in terms of which programs or which program sections are CALLING the sections of your code that are taking a long time to run. So not only is line 12 the most expensive in total run time, but lines 4-7 in program XYZ is responsible for invoking that code in the first place. It’s also much better at separating SQL and PL/SQL execution times. For a more complete review of this new Oracle technology, please go read this.
Available since v9.5, this information is available directly in the editor while you work on your PL/SQL.
If you aren’t on 11g, then you will need to use the ‘classic’ DBMS_PROFILER interface. Version 9.6 of Toad has made this information MUCH easier to access. In the Profiler tab in the Editor, not only can you see each of your execution runs for your PL/SQL unit, there is now a toolbar button to load up the profiler analysis window where you can graphically interpret the data. This can be much friendlier on the eyes when your program has more than 20 lines of code.
Click on the details tab to load the graphical reports.
Gretchen has many more videos planned. We’ll try to keep you posted so you’re sure not to miss out on anything! If you have any suggestion for video tutorial topics you’d like to see covered, please let us know!