John Pocknell

Configuring Toad’s Team Coding with Subversion

John Pocknell — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:03:00 GMT

With Toad for Oracle 9.7 now available, I thought I’d cover how to configure and use Subversion with Toad’s code sharing utility – Team Coding. We had a lot of requests for this integration and here it is !

The Subversion implementation in Toad allows you to use the conventional file-based check-out and check-in via the Editor’s File Open button. All you have to do is browse to the working folder, select your file and open.

However, Team Coding, a standard feature in Toad, makes using Subversion much simpler where you have a team of developers and you require visibility of the project’s code, who has access to it, what it’s status is, what the version history is and maybe compare versions. And this is the subject of this blog.

First things first, though – so what exactly is Team Coding?

This link directs you to a blog written by Jeff Smith last year on what Team Coding is, so if you’re not familiar with it, have a read of it before you read this blog.

http://toadworld.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/67/EntryID/136/Default.aspx

OK... back already?

Step 1 – Installing a Subversion client - TortoiseSVN

To use Subversion on Windows, you will need to use TortoiseSVN.

TortoiseSVN is a Subversion client, implemented as a Microsoft Windows shell extension. It is free software released under the GNU General Public License.

First download and install Tortoise SVN (http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads ). Please follow the instructions in this document (“Using Toad with TortoiseSVN.doc” ) on AskToad which can be found here:

http://asktoad.com/DWiki/doku.php?id=howtos&DokuWiki=ffb154ea8e0221a691f1805e1516f49f

Step 2 – Installing an SCC plug-in

In order to use Subversion with Team Coding, you will need to install an SCC plug-in.

Although there are a number of SCC plug-in programs you could use, the Toad Development team have tested a program called PushOK which can be downloaded from http://www.pushok.com/soft_download.php?idprogram=3 . Use the download which is most compatible with the version of Subversion you are using.

The PushOK SVN SCC proxy is an SCC API plug-in for any Microsoft SCC enabled IDE, including Toad for Oracle.

Please note: PushOK provide a free trial, but there is a charge for their software after the trial period. There are other plug-ins you could use (e.g. Unified SCC (30-day trial) and TamTam (unlimited eval period)) which will also require a purchased license. We may develop a direct interface to the SVN API for a future version of Toad to obviate the need to install this software.

Follow all the steps described in the “Using Toad with TortoiseSVN” document. If you have it set up correctly, then when you open the Repo-browser from your repository directory, you should see your Work folder registered and any files added displayed.

Step 3 – Configuring Team Coding

In your Team Coding settings windows, you can select the PushOK SCC from the list of available vendors. A login to PushOK should already have been established.

Step 4 – Create a Code Control Group

The next task is to create a Code control Group (CCG) in order to assign your code and other objects to a specific working group. Again, ensure you specify the correct working directory:

Now you need to define a CCG Mask to specify which schema and which code and other files you want associated with this CCG. Open the CCG and define the object types, schema and exclusion mask (or filter) you wish to apply.

Step 5 – Synchronizing code between database and Subversion

In order to synchronize the code you have in the database with Subversion, you need to perform an Export to VCS using thebutton.

This will create a copy of the code and other objects you specified in your CCG into your Subversion working folder. A list like this, which shows, based on how you defined the CCG, the code and other objects from which you can select or deselect what you would like to export.

Specify which export options you want, including comments and click OK

Before anything is exported to the Subversion working folder, TortoiseSVN will ask you to confirm the URL, Module and local path to its repository.

If everything is setup correctly, the export should proceed as follows:

Step 6 – Viewing your code

You can confirm that your files have been exported by right-clicking the repository folder and selecting Repo-browser. You should now see all the files located under the Work folder:

You will also open this window if you select “VCS Browser” from the Team Coding menu.

You should also see these files listed in the Team Coding Viewer window:

Select a program from the Toad Editor using the “Open from Database” button will initiate a pull from the VCS. The first time you do this, you will see a Question window (lower left screenshot).

The other window (upper left screenshot) you don’t normally see because it’s kept hidden, but shows how PushOK is accessing the Subversion working folder.

Clicking the Yes button will open the Team Coding Check-Out window (right screenshot) confirming the project from which the code will be accessed and (depending on which Team Coding options you have set) allow you to enter comments for the check-out operation.

Once the code is displayed in the Editor, you should have a “Checked Out” message displayed at the bottom of the window. This code is now write-locked until it is checked back in by the original user (or someone with Team Coding administrator rights).

To view the version history for an object, right-click the object in the Repository Browser and select “Show Log”.

This screenshot shows the revision history for the PL/SQL Function OW_CALC_ORDER_COST. By default, the Repository Browser will show the “Head” or highest version of each object. This can be changed to show specific versions.

The beauty of using Toad’s Team Coding feature with your VCS, is its seamlessness and visibility into your project code. It also enables much better protection of your code’s integrity since it checks the version of the checked-out code against the compiled version in the database, and offers a warning message to the user if they are out-of-sync. The user then has the choice of accepting the VCS version, the database version, or performing a file compare on-the-fly to determine which version to use.

Feel free to post comments on this blog, through ToadWorld, about your experiences of using Toad with your VCS and suggestions on how we can make improvements.

Thank you for reading !

Additional References:

There is also a paper available from ToadWorld written by Norman Dunbar about a year ago on how to configure Toad with Subversion (before we officially supported it in 9.7) if you prefer to use standard file check-out/in which contains some additional information about Subversion which can be found here:

http://www.toadworld.com/Education/ToadWorldPapersandPodcasts/tabid/82/Default.aspx (bottom of page)

What’s Coming in Toad 9.7 - Part 2

John Pocknell — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:56:00 GMT

It’s almost that time again as another exciting new release of Toad draws closer! We’ve decided that, rather than let you wait until Toad 9.7 is released before you see what’s new, we’ll give you a little fore-taste now! In this final blog (there are 2 parts), I want to cover what’s new for developers.

Data Generator (Toad Professional Edition)

One thing developers and testers often need and find it hard to obtain (apart from a decent pay rise!) is good data. It may sometimes be possible to obtain data from production, but this is problematic, since production data often contains sensitive or personal information which could render the company in breach of data protection legislation.

Clearly, creating data manually is too time consuming, so what is needed is a good data generator.

Toad 9.7’s Data Generator is available as part of the Professional edition and enables random data to be generated very quickly for single or multiple tables.

The Data Generator will recognise referential integrity, if it exists, and will also disable primary/foreign key constrains before population and re-enable them afterwards.

Data Generator is implemented in 2 places:

Schema Browser – table(s) right-click
ER Diagrammer – table right-click

Simply select a table (or group of tables) in Schema Browser and select Generate Data.

The default row count will be set to 1000 per table, but this can be changed, and the total estimated size on the database will be displayed.

The Advanced Options tab enables selection of things like table truncation before population, disable/enable Constraints and Triggers as well as allowing generation of Reproducible Sequences.

The minimum and maximum field values can be adjusted for character, number and date values in order to define an effective range.

The Show SQL button reveals how Toad generates the data using the Oracle DBMS_RANDOM package and the entire operation can be scheduled using the Windows Task Scheduler.

After generation, where you may have populated referential tables, you can use the Master-Detail Browser (Database menu | Report) to verify to correctness of the data.

In a future release of Toad, we will be enhancing Data Generator further with things like sample data and inter-field dependencies, etc.

Code Xpert (Toad Professional Edition)

Code Xpert is Toad’s PL/SQL code quality assessment and reporting tool which can be used by individual developers or by team leaders and managers alike to set up and maintain consistent code review rules and coding standards across their projects.

This is absolutely essential in order to reduce the number of development cycles due to poor quality and poor performing code, which then has to be re-worked by development. This can be hugely disruptive and expensive.

In this release, we have made a couple of enhancements:

Top 20 Rules
E-mailing of Code Xpert reports

Top 20 Rules was created in order to deal with occasions where a developer simply wants to be able to make a quick assessment of their code to see if there are any silly mistakes before a full-blown code review.

These rules have been chosen from the existing Code Xpert rules universe by Steven Feuerstein and Bert Scalzo as being those rules which are of most importance to most developers.

You can see straight away where a problem has been identified and also what the overall Toad Code Rating score is (Green, Yellow, Orange or Red) according to a combination of factors including Halstead, McCabes Cyclomatic and Maintainability Index.

Emailing of code review reports is very useful where a team (or project) review may have been carried out by a team leader or manager using the Code Xpert dashboard.

A completed review can now be emailed directly to someone in the organization for review or follow-up. This is sent as a Microsoft Excel attachment.

And appears like this:

Code Xpert data gets stored in a repository so it may be useful to create a difference report to identify trends, etc.

Upgraded Parser (Toad Base Edition)

Toad 9.7 gets an upgraded parser and formatter which fully support Oracle11g syntax in the Editor.

The formatter also enables a preview of any changes to the template so you can see the effect of a change before saving the template.

Subversion support (Toad Base Edition)

Although several customers reported that earlier versions of Toad work fine with the Subversion VCS, Toad 9.7 is now fully certified on Subversion, generally considered to be the successor to CVS (also supported by Toad). This is achieved through native support for the TortoiseSVN interface.

http://tortoisesvnscc.tigris.org/servlets/Search?scope=project&resultsPerPage=40&query=download&Button=Go. Toad already supports the Microsoft SCC API interface.

Once TortoiseSVN is installed, you can use it directly by opening a file from the Windows file system into the Toad Editor and then performing a check-out from the Editor, or by using Team Coding; Toad’s own code check-out/check-in utility (which links to any VCS).

In order to use TortoiseSVN with Toad’s Team Coding, you will need to install bridging software such as PushOK. http://www.pushok.com/soft_download.php?idprogram=3

Here, you can see the TortoiseSVN repository together with some code in the Toad Editor being checked-out via Team Coding using the PushOK bridging software.

There’s a new document available on the AskToad Wiki which fully documents how to install TortoiseSVNSCC and how it all works with Toad.

http://asktoad.com/DWiki/doku.php/howto_use_tortoise_svn_with_toad_s_source_control

Also watch out for a forthcoming blog on configuring Toad to work with Subversion.

Also note that Toad’s Team Coding now supports the ability to check in multiple files at the same time.

Code Refactoring (Toad Base Edition)

Toad 9.7 adds basic code refactoring. According to our own PL/SQL expert, Steven Feuerstein, refactoring is a highly structured methodology for going through clearly defined steps (each ideally verified by a pre-defined regression test) to make your code more maintainable.

In this release, we have added Extract Procedure. This involves selection of a correctly parsed block of code and extracting it into either a stored or local procedure.

Thus, this:

Becomes this:

Where Sub_Proc1 is:

Other (very basic) forms of refactoring, such as renaming of local variables and changing case were already available in Toad before 9.7.

There are many more exciting things in release which I don’t have space to cover in these blogs, but you can try Toad for Oracle 9.7 Beta NOW simply by clicking this link. http://www.toadsoft.com/beta.html

Download the Full Beta installer first into a separate directory from your current version, then install the Beta Update by downloading the zip and extracting into your new Beta installation folder.

The Toad Beta will use your current commercial license key. So enjoy and please let us know what you think!

For a comprehensive list of new features and enhancements in Toad 9.7, please refer to the Release Notes.

What’s Coming in Toad 9.7 - Part 1

John Pocknell — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:56:00 GMT

It’s almost that time again as another exciting new release of Toad draws closer !

We’ve decided that, rather than let you wait until Toad 9.7 is released before you see what’s new, we’ll give you a little preview now !

The main objectives of this release are to provide improved knowledge and education on the wealth of Toad features for users, so that you can really see Toad’s full value and realise you just can’t live without it. Additionally, we further strengthen support for Oracle database administration, and offer really cool new features for developers and DBAs, including data generation and workflow automation.

By the way, if you are still on a Toad for Oracle version prior to 9.6, then you may be missing out on valuable functionality. In Toad for Oracle 9.6, we moved the debugger and both Knowledge Xpert tools into the Base (Standard) Edition. So now is a really good time to upgrade if you haven’t already done so.

In this first blog posting (there will be two parts), I cover the new features that will most appeal to Oracle database administrators.

Database Browser (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

We’ve made some enhancements to the Database Browser so that it becomes your essential database administration console. Not only can you simultaneously navigate to every database you manage and drill-down into any one of them to administer database and schema objects, but you can now right-click on a database node and perform a variety of additional operations. These include Top Session Browser, Session Browser, Health Check, AWR Browser and many more, including a brand new one...Generate RMAN Scripts.

RMAN Support (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

After speaking to many DBAs and asking them about how they use RMAN, we saw a clear need to provide some essential backup script templates to simplify the task of creating RMAN scripts, particularly for less experienced DBAs.

There are a number of RMAN templates available in Toad for Oracle 9.7, from which you can start building your library. You can add to, edit and reference these scripts from a library accessible through the “Toad Options” window. Toad Variable names, such as current database and current user, etc. can be built-in and will be resolved when the scripts run.

Once an RMAN script is selected for execution, it executes on the server and closes itself once completed.

Also note that the Toad Editor now supports RMAN language. See screenshot above.

A log file is also generated, which serves as a record of the exact backup.

StatsPack and AWR Advisories (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

DBAs love the StatsPack and AWR Browsers from previous Toad releases, but thought that it would add tremendous value if we offered some basic advice, once a potential issue has been identified.

In Toad for Oracle 9.7, we’ve added advisories, which are based on information collected between two adjacent AWR snapshots. Note, to use this feature you must be licensed for OEM Diagnostics Pack (AWR).

The advisories are surfaced in two places:

StatsPack or AWR Browser
Session Browser (Waits tab – By Session and By Wait). Double-click blue hyperlinks.

Trace File Browser (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

Toad has always provided the means to view Oracle trace files (which can be generated using Toad’s Session Browser) using the TKProf Interface screen (Database menu | Diagnose), but once opened, you see the trace file contents displayed in “raw” format making it difficult to read and interpret.

Now with the new Trace File Browser, interpreting trace files is a breeze! In Toad for Oracle 9.7, the Trace File Browser is located immediately under the TKProf Interface menu item. Simply select and open your trace file (either directly from Windows or via FTP if on a UNIX server) and you will see the trace file information presented in a MUCH easier format with tabs showing statement details, wait summary and query summary, together with the execution plan, executions, fetches, waits and much more.

You can even send your reviewed trace file for workload replay testing using Quest’s Benchmark Factory for Databases (part of the Toad Development Suite and the Toad DBA Suite). I will discuss this more later in this blog posting.

Schema Compare and Sync (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

Perhaps one of the most popular Toad features for developers and DBAs is Schema Compare and Sync. I’ve included it in the DBA-focused blog because the “Sync” functionality is included in the DB Admin Module add-on (formerly DBA Module). Whereas, Schema Compare is available in every Toad for Oracle Edition.

Before I elaborate, there are two ways to perform a Schema Compare using Toad:

Using information stored in the Oracle Data Dictionary
Using native Toad Schema Definition files.

The first method uses “brute force” to obtain the DDL information pertaining to every object in each compared schema.

The second method uses what are called Schema Definition (or schema snapshot) files. These files are encrypted, compressed files which contain all the information about every object in a schema at a particular point-in-time. The real beauty of using these files is that, not only are they an accurate record of what a schema looks like at a particular point-in-time, but when used to perform a schema compare using Toad, they take a fraction of the amount of time to process. What would take minutes to process using a data dictionary compare only takes seconds using this method.

Schema Definition files have been available in Toad for many years, but in this release, each Schema Definition file created is unique – with the file name, including a date/time stamp, so you can see exactly when it was created.

Since Schema Compare is bi-directional, it’s absolutely possible to undo (rollback) a previously applied change. This means that Toad for Oracle provides some capabilities of a basic change management tool. I must point out however, before you get too carried away, that it’s advisable to only use this feature to synchronize changes between schemas in a NON-production environment!

The Schema Compare window also looks different in this release. It’s now much easier to view all of the target schemas (live connection and schema definition files) against those with which you want to compare – in a single window. The synchronization script (see below figure) can be used to sync the entire schema, or even a single object.

Furthermore, this entire operation can be replayed over again using our new automation console: Toad AppDesigner, which will be discussed in a subsequent section of this blog.

To clarify, with all Toad for Oracle Editions, you can perform a standard Schema Compare using the Oracle Data Dictionary. With the DB Admin Module add-on, you have the ability to use Schema Definition files (for performance and accuracy) and perform synchronizations.

Database Health Check (Toad DB Admin Module and Toad DBA Suite)

We’ve enhanced the database health check and security reporting tool for greater usability. The Report Output tab is now easier to navigate. By collapsing the main headers, you can view as much detail as you wish. There is also a new tab called “Diffs Since Last Run” which enables DBAs to quickly see if something has changed since the Health Check was last run – it will be flagged.

This is much more useful than the full report because there is so much information. Spotting a specific change – such as a database security breach – is now easier. As you can see in the figure below, two users have been granted DBA privileges as well as “Unlimited Tablespace” since the report was last run. This may have been overlooked within the main body of a full report.

Workload Replay Testing (Toad DB Admin Module + BMF and Toad DBA Suite)

Above, I mentioned the possibility of performing a workload replay test on an Oracle trace file. This is a popular method by which testers and DBAs can anticipate the impact that user load has on their production databases by simulating realistic load levels in a test environment.

Using Quest’s Benchmark Factory for Oracle – either standalone or with the Toad Development Suite and the Toad DBA Suite, an Oracle trace file can now be identified, interpreted and sent to Benchmark Factory for workload replay testing.

This integration is implemented in two places: (Database menu | Diagnose)

TKProf Interface
Trace File Browser (described above)

Once the workload replay script is generated, you have the option of immediately launching Benchmark Factory to run the test. The script can be opened directly from Benchmark Factory later if you wish.

Once Benchmark Factory launches, the workload replay script can simply be executed (which replays the trace file transactions with one connected user), or it can be copied to a scalability test – where additional “virtual users” can be added to simulate multiple database connections. Or, you can use a goal-based test – where you can specify a maximum TPS (transactions per second) or maximum user load based on a pre-defined response time.

More blogs and Technical Briefs on Benchmark Factory can be found here in Toad World.

Toad AppDesigner (Toad Base)

If you have tried Toad’s Action Recall (highlighted in the last blog on Toad 9.6), then you’ve already experienced productivity gains as a result of automating the steps you take in Toad to perform specific, repeatable tasks – either as a DBA or a developer.

In order to fully capitalize on this concept and create automated workflows, the Action Palette (which is now called AppDesigner) is now a full window to enable you to better visualize workflows, enable more tasks to be automated and combine different tasks using conditional logic.

As the name implies, AppDesigner enables Toad users to easily create mini-Toad applications based on tasks that would normally require multiple, repeatable steps in Toad. Toad AppDesigner can be used by any type of Toad user, but I’ve detailed a DBA specific use case below just to give you an idea.

Let’s imagine, as a DBA, you have to regularly run a database health check and generate an HTML schema script on all your databases, say, once-a-month. Even using Toad, this can become quite laborious! So imagine that, all you could simply select a Toad App (macro) which not only performs this procedure, but also drops you an e-mail to let you know it’s done.

OK, check this out!
First, open the Toad AppDesigner window (main toolbar )

In the left panel, you’ll notice an area, called Apps, where completed Toad Apps can be viewed and run. There is also an Execution Log area to keep a record of all Toad App executions and a Scheduled Items area to specifically itemize all those Toad Apps you have scheduled.

In the right panel, a series of tabs which lets you select App “components” which can be placed sequentially to form a continuous series of operations. These include:

Import/Export – export data from a table to external format, import from external format to Oracle, etc
DB Misc – schema compare, health check, script execute, etc
Utilities – FTP, TNS Ping, Windows services, etc
File Management – Create directories and files and manage them
Control – conditional logic operators such as If..Then..Else, etc

If I expand my “Toad App 1” example, you can see it is made up of a selection from the above.

I’ve used conditional logic to first TNS Ping a database instance (I could have compiled a list of database instances from which to read) and perform the steps as listed if the database is up. I send an e-mail if the server is down. If not, complete the steps and send an e-mail once complete.

The properties of each step can be defined by right-clicking an item in the list and selecting Properties or they can be defined from the corresponding window in Toad (e.g. DB Health Check).

To define the step’s properties from the task window, open the Actionable Window, complete all the necessary information, then press the in the lower left corner of the window to store as an Action (or Window Snapshot).

To define the step’s properties from within the Toad AppDesigner window, right-click the step and select “Properties.” For example, here are my properties for the DB Health Check and e-mail steps:

Once you have all of the steps complete (you can change the running order if it’s wrong), you can test your Toad App to make sure all the steps run correctly using the Run Selected App button on the main Toad AppDesigner toolbar.

After confirming that it all works, you can even schedule the Toad App to run at a time and frequency of your choosing, using the Toad App Schedule button . This uses the Windows Task Scheduler to launch Toad on your desktop and run your chosen Toad App.

Toad Apps can be shared with others very simply, and the recipient can import a Toad App into their Toad AppDesigner window and use or modify it. This is done using the Import from file and Export to file buttons.

If you get the chance to try out Toad AppDesigner, please be sure to let us know what ideas or experiences you have. We hope it will be tremendous fun and help save you hours of work.

For a comprehensive list of new features and enhancements in Toad 9.7, please refer to the Release Notes.

Look out for Part 2 of this Blog coming to Toad World very soon. I’ll cover new enhancements and features for developers.

Toad...and Java??!!

John Pocknell — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:09:00 GMT

I thought that’d grab your attention!

We know there are a lot of PL/SQL developers out there who are looking to make (or have already made) a break into application development using a more popular programming language like Java as well as many Java developers who use Toad to make access to Oracle easier.

According to a 2006 IOUG survey of Oracle sites, the 3^rd most widely used language after SQL and PL/SQL (77%) was Java (38%). http://www.ioug.org/Research.pdf

So – what does Toad do for Java?

Well actually, quite a bit, and mostly it’s focussed around performance. Let’s face it, if you are a Java developer and you haven’t come from a SQL or PL/SQL background, accessing the Oracle database efficiently is going to be a struggle where you depend on writing SQL statements to query data.

In this blog, I want to highlight one of the main areas where Toad can assist you in the Java world to give you the confidence you may be lacking in Oracle – which is:

Can Toad help me write better performing SQL in my Java ?

The answer is a definite yes. This is perhaps where Toad will probably be of most help to Java developers. The Toad Xpert edition includes our SQL tuning technology called SQL Optimizer.

Let’s assume I have a SQL statement which I’ve either written in the Editor or built using Toad’s Query Builder. You could add a Java wrapper and embed the SQL straight into your Java source, but first, you want to make a quick check that the SQL will perform well first.

Here’s a typical SQL statement, viewed in the Editor.

I can quickly get an impression of whether there’s a problem by performing an Explain Plan – which shows the expected execution path and steps which Oracle will take in order to execute the SQL as efficiently as possible. Press the button on the Editor’s toolbar. The TABLE ACCESS FULL on the EMPLOYEE table indicates that Oracle has to search across every record in the table instead of using an Index. This is very inefficient. Let’s see if we can make this statement perform faster.

Press the SQL Optimizer button on the Editor’s toolbar . A pop-up window will ask you into which window you wish to open the SQL Optimizer. Click OK to accept the default of “With the Tuning Lab”. To save time, you can also check the “Set as default” check box.

The Tuning Lab is typically used to tune ad-hoc SQL whereas the Batch Optimizer is typically used to bulk-tune multiple SQL statements, scripts, PL/SQL programs, etc. You could also use this if you had, say, hundreds of Java script files which contained embedded SQL statements.

Now, simply press the Optimize button () and let the SQL Optimizer do its thing!

Quest SQL Optimizer

You can see that the SQL Optimizer has found a number of possible re-write alternatives which may offer an improvement over the original. Although the Oracle Plan Cost, an indicator of the expected performance when the statement is executed, shows some statement re-writes with lower values than others, the only true way to perform a comparison is to go ahead and execute the statements. To save time, you can select which you want to execute or execute all of them.

In this case, I selected the top 10 and pressed the Execute Selected button. On the left of this screenshot, you’ll notice some Layout buttons. Press the Execution Statistics layout button to see the execution results compared graphically.

In the Scenario Explorer, the light blue bar shows the execution of the original statement. Light green bars indicate those re-writes where execution performance was improved. Dark blue indicates no change. Press the Resolution layout button and you can see that within a few seconds, I managed to achieve a performance improvement (elapsed time) of 14.83 times better than the original using alternative #7. Pretty impressive!

If you press the Compare Scenarios layout button, you can compare alternative #7 with the original SQL. This is what the SQL Optimizer did:

So now what I need to do is to lift the re-written SQL statement back into my Editor. Press the SQL Details layout button and select Alt #7 so it’s visible in the SQL Text window. Now press the button to return this re-written SQL statement to the Editor.

Alt #7 returned from the Quest SQL Optimizer

Now use the “Make a non-SQL code statement” button (Editor toolbar) to add the Java wrapper and presto!, you are ready to run your Java code with a far more efficient SQL statement.

Alt #7 with Java wrapper ready for insertion into Java source

Finally, I mentioned earlier that you may have Java files with embedded SQL statements and you want to assess them to see if there are any potentially poor performing SQL statements amongst them. You may, for example have Java code where the SQL has been generated using Hibernate (used for mapping Classes to database tables).

This is where the Quest SQL Optimizer’s SQL Scanner comes in useful. Press the SQL Scanner tab in the SQL Optimizer main screen and create a new Scanner Job. Click the Source Code link on the left and add all your Java files.

SQL Scanner

Now click Finish. Your Java code will be listed in the SQL Scanner window ready for scanning.

Push the button to begin scanning the embedded SQL. The results will be displayed as below and any SQL statements ranked according to Problematic, Complex, Simple or Invalid. This ranking system quickly enables you to assess which SQL statements are the worst, so that you can proceed with the optimization.

Selecting the appropriate Optimization button will go ahead and begin optimizing the SQL as described above and allow you to return the optimized SQL into the Java source code.

The Quest SQL Optimizer is designed to be both effective and simple to use, without any prior knowledge of how to tune SQL and should be an extremely valuable tool for Java developers concerned about poor SQL performance in their application.

Quest Software also provides a full suite of Java tools too and one, in particular, which is the perfect complement to Toad Xpert with SQL Optimizer for SQL tuning, is JProbe.

JProbe is an enterprise-class Java profiler providing intelligent diagnostics on memory usage, performance and test coverage, allowing developers to quickly pinpoint and repair the root cause of application code performance and stability problems that obstruct component and integration integrity.

JProbe also offers an Eclipse plug-in that provides intelligent code performance analysis and problem resolution directly within the Eclipse Java IDE.

For more information on Toad for Oracle Xpert (with Quest SQL Optimizer) with a free 30-day trial, please click this link: http://www.quest.com/toad-for-oracle/features-benefits.aspx#3

And for more information on JProbe, visit the JProbe user community. Additionally, there are two download options for you to get your feet wet. JProbe offers either a free 10-day trial that is a fully functional product and the JProbe Freeware which is an Eclipse-based memory analysis tool that leverage’s JProbe’s superior data visualization and investigative tools to analyze and diagnose heap dump memory issues.

Here are the links to download each product:

Toad and Oracle Licensing – What’s the Story ?

John Pocknell — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:28:00 GMT

Introduction

Toad for Oracle may use Oracle database Options (RAC, Partitioning, Spatial, etc) and Enterprise Management Packs (Tuning, Diagnostics, etc) depending on various factors (see full article). Such Toad features include (but not limited to) ADDM/AWR Reports, AWR Browser and ASM Manager which are part of the DB Admin Module.

Some features in Toad which appear to do what Oracle does, DO NOT actually use any Oracle features such as Schema Compare & Sync and Quest SQL Tuning.

This Blog sets out to clarify what Toad uses and what it does not for those of you who are unclear and concerned about Oracle database licensing, especially given the recent (June 16) announcement by Oracle of price increases between 15% and 20% across the board in their infrastructure and applications lines (http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/technology-price-list.pdf).

Background

Before I start, let’s first understand what Oracle provides according to what database Edition you are connected.

Some features in Oracle are more generally available such as Partitioning and Spatial and are options chosen by a DBA when they install the Oracle Enterprise Edition database.

Real Application Clusters (RAC) is available in both Standard (default) and Enterprise Editions (optional).

If you are using Oracle database Enterprise Edition, you may have licensed additional Enterprise Management Packs such as Diagnostics, Tuning, Change Management, Configuration Management, etc.

Please bear in mind that, by default, upon installation, the Oracle Management Agent enables these packs without any regard to what you may have licensed. Your DBA needs to de-select unlicensed packs as necessary after installing the agent on a target database.

If you have Oracle database Express or Standard (includes Standard One) Editions, options like those mentioned above are not available.

If you are not sure what you have available and want to check for your Oracle database, use this link : http://www.oracle.com/database/product_editions.html

Toad for Oracle Editions

OK, so now that’s clear, let’s look at how Toad utilises this technology.

As you may already know, there are different editions of Toad for Oracle:

Toad Base – maybe known as Standard (includes Knowledge Xperts + Debugging) - essential Toad features
Toad Professional (Toad Base + extra features) - focussed on coding best practices
Toad Xpert (Toad Professional + SQL Optimizer) - focussed on application performance
Toad Development Suite (Toad Xpert + Quest Code Tester + Benchmark Factory for Oracle) – end-to-end Oracle development solution
Toad DBA Suite (Toad Xpert + DB Admin Module+ Toad Data Modeler + Benchmark Factory for Oracle + Spotlight on Oracle) – complete DBAs toolkit for administration, diagnostics and tuning

There is also an Add-On Module called the DB Admin Module (formerly DBA Module), which contains most of Toad’s database administration features.

Does Toad need OEM ?

Toad offers optional features in the DB Admin Module (Toad 8.5 and higher) which WILL ACCESS the Oracle OEM Diagnostics Pack such as :

ADDM/AWR Report Generator – enables snapshot management and shows both AWR and ASH reports
AWR Browser – graphical representation of data collected from AWR
ASM Manager – enables management of ASM disk groups and clients

Toad does offer alternate ways to determine performance bottlenecks without the use of ADDM/AWR such as the StatsPack Browser, TK Prof interface, Database Monitor, Session Browser and the Quest SQL Optimizer’s SQL Inspector to name a few. However, if you are already licensed to use the OEM Diagnostics Pack and you wish to get additional value from it, you can use the functionality we offer in Toad.

If you are on Oracle database 10g and above, you can use the Oracle Tuning Advisor feature in Toad Base (9.6 and higher) which WILL access both the Oracle OEM Tuning Pack and Diagnostics Pack.

Alternatively, you could use Toad Xpert, Development Suite or DBA Suite Editions and use the Quest SQL Optimizer which DOES NOT access any of the Oracle OEM Packs at all. In addition, Quest SQL Optimizer offers a unique way to rewrite your SQL code for maximum performance. Click the following link tol take you to our SQL Optimizer Community site which has lots of resources available for learning how to use this powerful tool: http://sqloptimizeroracle.inside.quest.com/index.jspa

How does Toad use Oracle functionality ?

The degree to which Toad will use specific Oracle features depends upon a number of factors :

Which version of Toad you have (e.g. Oracle 10g features only appeared in Toad version 8.0 (July 2004)
Which Edition of Toad you have (see above)
Which version of Oracle database you are connected to
Which options were selected/deselected when/after Oracle database was installed
What Oracle Role/System Privileges you have granted

If you are using RAC (Standard or Enterprise Editions), there are a number of windows in Toad which WILL USE this technology : Database Browser, Session Browser, Oracle Parameters, Top Sessions and Database Probe (to name a few).

Toad’s Oracle Parameters window for RAC

Likewise with Partitions; Toad has a number of windows which WILL USE the Oracle Partitioning option in Oracle database Enterprise Edition.

With the introduction of Oracle 10g came Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM), Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) and Automatic Storage Management (ASM).

The Toad Help states which Editions support which Oracle technology : (as a tip, type in “10g” or “11g” into the Toad Help Search tab to reveal what Toad features are available)

Does Toad use the OEM Change Management Pack ?

Toad has a Compare Schemas feature (available in any Toad Edition), which is very popular with Developers and DBAs alike, which lets you compare 2 schemas either using the Oracle Data Dictionary or a pre-generated Toad Schema Definition file (DB Admin Module only) and produce a report. A synchronization script can be generated (read-only except DB Admin Module).

This feature DOES NOT use the Oracle OEM Change Management Pack.

Does Toad use OEM Real Application Testing (RAT) ?

Toad DBA Suite includes a component called Benchmark Factory for Databases which is a client-side database server performance testing tool. Together with Toad, this enables a DBA to generate an Oracle Trace File which contains a recording of database activity which Benchmark Factory can replay in a different environment such as a test database. Benchmark Factory replays the sessions maintaining concurrencies and transactional latencies. It basically replays exactly what happened in the original database environment including SQL and bind variables.

This technology DOES NOT use Oracle 11g’s RAT technology.

How can I disable the features in Toad that use OEM functionality ?

In Toad 9.6, you can use the Customize feature to remove items from the menu and toolbars. To do this, simply right-click on the menu (just like other Windows applications). A pop-up will appear and when you then click on the toolbar or a menu stack, you will be able to drag and drop items from there into the pop-up to remove them.

Customize is also available in older versions of Toad but the process is a little different.

In the new Toad for Oracle 9.7 release (currenty in Beta; Blogs to follow shortly), you will be able to disable any windows in Toad, via the Options window, to prevent inadvertent access to Oracle’s Options and Management Packs.

Does Toad provide any warnings about the use of OEM functionality ?

Yes. Toad’s license agreement and Help (Toad 9.6) already provide a warning about this.

In the new Toad for Oracle 9.7 release, we have added a pop-up window (appears once when Toad 9.7 runs for the first time) which will contain wording similar to what is currently available in the Toad Help :

NOTE: There are features installed by default in the Oracle database which are ready to use, even if the license for such features has not been purchased (e.g. Diagnostics Pack, Tuning Pack). It is, therefore, the end user's responsibility to make sure that these features, which may be used by Toad, are covered by the user's Oracle license. Such features include, but are not limited to, Partitioning, RAC, Advanced Workload Repository (AWR) and Compression.

If you are still not sure about how Toad uses features in Oracle, please send me an email and I will be happy to clarify.

Additional reading:

Mike Ault’s Toadworld Blog – “Landmines” http://toadworld.com/Community/QuestExpertsBlogs/tabid/67/EntryID/207/Default.aspx

John Pocknell – john.pocknell@quest.com

Product Manager – Toad for Oracle Solutions

What’s Coming in Toad for Oracle 9.6? (Part 3)

John Pocknell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:52:00 GMT

It’s almost that time again as another exciting new release of Toad draws closer !

We’ve decided that, rather than let you wait until this release of Toad before you see what’s new, we’ll give you a little fore-taste now !

The emphasis on this release is to simultaneously continue to add value through enhanced individual and team-oriented productivity and automation, increased support for improving code quality, robustness and performance as well as continuing to improve product performance and stability.

In this blog, I want to first introduce some changes to the Editor; specifically what we call Toad Insight or what you may refer to as “dot lookup”.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, if you type a SQL statement in the Editor and you’re not sure (for example) which table columns you want to specify, after you type the table name followed by a period (or dot), Toad will open a pop-up panel which lists all the columns for that table, allowing you to select which one(s) you require.

You can also use Toad Insight to help when you’re using unfamiliar Packages and you’re not sure what the arguments are, or the correct order.

Previously, this operation was limited to the schema to which you were connected. In 9.6, we (optionally) allow you to cache objects from other schemas allowing you to perform lookups from other schemas. In this example, you can see that, because I have connections to both the QUEST_PROD and QUEST_OPTI schemas, I can lookup objects from both within the Editor window.

There are some new options which allow you to control how this works. For example which object types you wish to have cached. Go to the Editor options and look for Code Assist and you’ll see a new panel called Toad Insight Objects. You can uncheck object types you are not working with and thereby reduce the cache size.

For some time now, you’ve been able to launch other Quest and Windows applications from the Toad toolbar using the Configure/Execute External Tools feature.

In this release, however, we’ve added more workflow integration like we have right now with the SQL Optimizer and Benchmark Factory for Databases.

We’ve integrated two more Quest products – Quest Code Tester for Oracle and Toad Data Modeler (must be Toad Data Modeler version 3.1 or higher).

Quest Code Tester for Oracle is the first and only automated PL/SQL code testing tool available. Created by one of the world’s most prominent Oracle PL/SQL experts, Steven Feuerstein, Quest Code Tester for Oracle delivers practical and thorough code testing.

For more information on Quest Code Tester for Oracle, please click this link :

http://www.quest.com/code-tester-for-oracle/

Quest Software's Toad® Data Modeler is a cost-effective, yet powerful database modeling and design tool that is built for the individualdeveloper, DBA and data architect.

Toad Data Modeler makes it easier for you to build complex entity relationship models (both logical and physical), synchronize models, generate complex SQL/DDL, create “ALTER” scripts (Oracle only), and reverse engineer legacy databases.

For more information on Toad® Data Modeler, click this link: http://www.quest.com/toad_data_modeler/

If you have these products already installed on your desktop, Toad 9.6 will auto-detect them so there is nothing you have to do. Let’s look at a couple of use cases where this integration will be extremely useful.

Let’s say you’ve used Quest Code Tester for Oracle and created some test definitions for some of your PL/SQL code and run those tests. Your test definitions and test results are now stored in Code Tester’s repository for safe-keeping.

Now, you’re in a Toad session and you’ve made some alterations to one of those PL/SQL programs that you’d previously tested, and now you’d really like to be able to quickly run your test again without having to launch Code Tester. Well now you can !

Simply right click the code in Schema Browser and select Run Code Tester tests

Please note that Toad will determine, by looking in the Code Tester repository, whether a test definition exists for your program. If it does not, the menu option is not visible.

If a definition does exist, Code Tester will execute (without launching the Code Tester GUI) and your test results will be displayed in the Toad GUI.

A Code Tester button on the results pop-up will enable you to launch Code Tester at this point should you want to alter the test definition, create more test definitions, etc.

If you can think of any other use cases which make sense which enhance workflow between code development and unit testing, please let me know by adding a comment to this blog.

The other scenario I want to discuss is where there are developers, DBAs or their managers who need access to the project data model.

Having access to the current project data model is absolutely essential if development is to build an accurate application schema which respects the needs of the business and its end-users. Normally, this process is problematic since the company usually uses an “enterprise” modeling solution which is beyond the ease-of-use of most developers and DBAs so that you are then reliant on a database designer or architect to provide you with a current diagram of the model.

The requirement may be just to view the model, or to make changes to it, depending on the user’s specific responsibilities. If it’s just to view the model, this can be achieved very simply by using Toad Data Modeler’s HTML report generator. This operation would have to be carried out by somebody authorized to access the data model. Once the report is saved (to a Windows network drive, for example), this HTML report can be linked to all Toad users working on the project using Project Manager (for information on what Project Manager is and how to benefit from it, please click this link : http://www.toadsoft.com/haveumet.html ). All Toad users on this project now have access to the data model through Project Manager.

However, let’s say you need to directly Reverse Engineer objects from Toad into a Physical data model.

In Toad 9.6, this is now possible using the ER Diagram window. The ER Diagram window has been part of Toad for a number of years, and often, users mistook it as a modeling tool. Well now, you can have the next best thing !

I’m going to open the ER Diagram window (Database | Report | ER Diagram) and drag and drop some objects from the Object Palette (View | Object Palette) into the drawing view.

Next, I press the Save button and save the diagram as a .erd file in the C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Toad for Oracle\User Files\ERDiagrams folder. Once the diagram is saved, the Toad Data Modeler button becomes active on the ER Diagram toolbar .

Press this button and Toad Data Modeler launches (remember this must be version 3.1 or higher). The Toad database connection is passed across so you only have to enter the password and Reverse Engineering of the objects in your ER Diagram initiates automatically.

Once completed, you will have a brand new Physical data model ready for you to work on in Toad Data Modeler.

In addition to this integration, you also have integration inside Toad Data Modeler 3.1 itself.

One example is the ability to perform Reverse Engineering “on-the-fly” by dragging and dropping objects from a Project Manager panel in Toad Data Modeler (which looks exactly like Project Manager in Toad).

First, you open the required Toad Project Manager file from the file system.

Toad Data Modeler opens the default Toad User Files folder where the Project Manager files are normally stored (they can also be stored on a network share).

Select the Project Manager (.tpr) file you want and it will open inside Toad Data Modeler.

You can even set the icon styles for the objects to be exactly how you would see them in Toad. Now, the REALLY COOL thing is, you can drag and drop objects from the Project Manager panel into an existing Physical data model (provided the diagram window is open) and Reverse Engineering will be initiated automatically and entities created within the model.

So, if you really want to combine the benefits of using Toad and Project Manager to group all the project assets in one place, and share it across your team together with the ability to maintain your project’s data model, you can do it. Project Manager maintains a current list of “links” to the objects in Oracle’s Data Dictionary, so as you request object information via Project Manager, you’re looking at the latest snapshot of that object.

If you can think of any other use cases which make sense which enhance workflow between code development and data modeling, please let me know by adding a comment to this blog.

There are many other features coming in Toad for Oracle 9.6 which I haven’t had the space to include such as more support for Oracle 11g, update to the Import Table Data Wizard, more support for the Windows Task Scheduler but if you want to find out more, go to the Toadworld Home Page and look under the What’s New. There’s a Get To Know Toad 9.6 tutorial which walks you through a lot of the other new features.

Enjoy !

What’s Coming in Toad for Oracle 9.6? (Part 2)

John Pocknell — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:10:00 GMT

It’s almost that time again as another exciting new release of Toad draws closer !

We’ve decided that, rather than let you wait until this release of Toad before you see what’s new, we’ll give you a little fore-taste now!

In this blog, I want to walk you through two enhancements to some existing functionality. The first is the Health Check.

First introduced in 2002 with version 7.3, the Health Check is a reporting tool which reports on the health of your database instance and schema. Health Check is found under the Database | Diagnose menu.

For this release, we have added a new category called Vulnerability Assessment which looks specifically at potential security breaches in your Oracle database through the user accounts (things like - which users have the DBA role granted, where you have database links which use passwords and where you have Oracle or 3^rd party user accounts which are still using the default password)

Once the window is opened, you can select which database(s) you want to check in the database list in the left “Databases:” panel. You then select which checks you want to make. For the Schema checks, click the Schemas tab and select which schemas you wish to check.

If you want to preserve the Health Check results (for baselining and comparison later), Check 5 lets you store the results in a table called TOAD_HEALTH_CHECK in the TOAD schema.

Some of the checks allow you to adjust the parameter settings. For example, Check 84 lists any insecure Oracle Initialization Parameters. You can choose which ones you wish to check by clicking on the word “adjust” and pressing the button to open the appropriate dialog.

OK, so let’s assume you’re a DBA and you want to assess your database/schema health and run the VA checks once a month. Well, you can schedule the whole thing. You can specify what format you want the report in (HTML, RTF or Text), then click the Schedule button and open the Windows Task Scheduler dialog. Simply follow the steps to create the Scheduler task and you’ll automatically have your Health Check reports created for you.

The next enhancement I want to show you is to the PL/SQL Profiler. This feature has been in Toad for many years and is available in the Base edition (we also added the Hierarchical Profiler in the 9.5 release for those of you on Oracle 11g).

The PL/SQL Profiler lets you see where you might have a performance bottleneck in your PL/SQL code by timing how long each line of code takes to execute and how many times loops iterate.

For the 9.6 release, we’ve provided better interaction between the analysis window and the Editor window and improved the flexibility of the reports.

There’s a new “Details” button in the Profiler tab which gives you much easier access to the Profiler Analysis window. Selecting a line item in the expanded list in the Profiler tab highlights the line of code in the Editor.

There are also more display options for the graphs. These include being able to rotate the graph (pie or bar chart) by 90 degrees.

Look for Part 3 of this Blog coming to Toad World very soon, where we’ll examine some exiting changes to the way the Editor Insight works, new integration points with other Quest products and lots more !

What’s Coming in Toad for Oracle 9.6 ? (Part 1)

John Pocknell — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:23:00 GMT

It’s almost that time again as another exciting new release of Toad draws closer !

We’ve decided that, rather than let you wait until this release of Toad before you see what’s new, we’ll give you a little fore-taste now !

Before we get into the features, there are a couple of significant things just to get you warmed up ! The first is that the Toad Debugging functionality is moving from the Professional configuration to the Base (or Standard) configuration. This not only includes the standard (DBMS) debugging, but also the JDWP and External (formerly Just-In-Time) debugging. We’re also moving the Knowledge Xpert for PL/SQL and Knowledge Xpert for DBA to Base (Standard) from the Professional and DBA Module respectively.

Also, the Oracle Import and Export Utilities, currently only available in the DBA Module, will be added to Professional. We will continue to add more functionality to the Professional configuration this year.

By the way, a name change. The DBA Module (first introduced in December 2000 with v6.5) is to be called the DB Admin Module. Why ? Because we found that many people thought that the DBA Module was for DBAs whereas anyone who needs to administer an Oracle database can use it. It has a ton of stuff to simplify the administration of an Oracle database. So by making the name fit the function rather than the job title, we’re hoping more people will benefit from it.

Customization

The first feature I want to introduce is customization. Customization is not new in Toad, as some of you may already be aware. There are, in fact, a number of places in Toad where customization is possible ranging from the toolbar visual style, the Schema Browser through selection of tabs, tree-view, etc as well as the main toolbar and menu system.

In 9.6, we’ve made all of this really easy, right from when you upgrade (or install) your Toad.

There is an enhanced Initial Setup Wizard which includes a number of new options which enable you to decide how you want Toad to look and work for you.

These also include which window you wish Toad to open first (and for every connection thereafter) such as Editor, Schema Browser, etc.

Once you get into Toad, you can easily customize the toolbar or menu by simply right-mouse-clicking the toolbar or menu and selecting Customize.

The Customize dialog enables you to make a number of changes to both the toolbar and menu.

I’ll start with a very simple example based on something a customer said to me a few years ago. He said that he sometimes wished the Commit and Rollback buttons on the toolbar were separated so there was less chance he would inadvertently press the wrong one (which he had done on more than one occasion!)

OK, so right-mouse-click the toolbar the open the Customize dialog.

Now simply select the Commit button with a left-mouse-click and drag it to somewhere else on the toolbar. It’s that easy !


BEFORE		AFTER

You can even include text on the button if you so wish. With the Customize dialog still open, right-click the Commit button on the toolbar. Select Image and Text and watch what happens to the button. becomes

Now let’s take a look at the menus. Let’s say you want to just show the things that you, alone, use.

I’m going to pick the Utilities menu as an example and let’s say my Oracle database is on a Windows server and I never use Java.

I can use Customize to “clean-up” my Utilities menu. Again, with the Customize dialog open, click the Utilities menu. It will expand, but you won’t be able to run anything. Drag and drop the following into the Customize dialog box to remove: FTP, Java Manager, Network Utilities and Unix Job Scheduler


BEFORE		AFTER

Looks a bit simpler doesn’t it ! I can also move items within the menu up or down the list according to how often I use them. (drag and drop again)

You may be a Development Manager and want to standardize on a specific Toad toolbar/menu configuration for your team. The good news is that all these settings changes are preserved into a file called toolbars.ini which is in the User Files sub-folder of your Toad installation directory.

You can save this file into your team’s network share folder and register it with Project Manager (along with all your other project assets) so that they can copy over their own toolbar.ini files.

By the way, if you’re not sure what Project Manager is, open it ( on the main toolbar) then press F1. This is a very powerful asset sharing system for sharing database objects, files, folders, web pages and a lot more.

OK, so let’s say I’ve customized the hell out of my Toad toolbar and menu and something changes and I need to get everything back I got rid of or moved. For example, the DBA has now moved the Oracle database onto a UNIX box and so I need all those fancy UNIX features back !

Simply right-click the toolbar again and select Restore Defaults and, voila, everything reverts back !

Database Browser

The Database Browser has been significantly improved for 9.6 and combines the benefits of the original Database Browser, with its ability to get information about different database in one screen, with the Schema Browser, with its ability to dive into the database and schema objects.

Back in January, Bert Scalzo wrote a blog detailing the new Database Browser – here’s the link..

http://toadworld.com/Community/ExpertsBlog/tabid/67/EntryID/165/Default.aspx

AWR Browser

Another new feature in the release is the AWR Browser. This window is similar to the StatsPack Browser launched in 9.5 but collects data from the AWR (Automatic Workload Repository) instead.

Once you’ve set up your Snapshot management in the ADDM/AWR window and defined your snapshot intervals (Oracle default is every hour), you’re good to go.

Please note : Toad’s AWR Browser uses Oracle’s AWR, which is part of the Diagnostics Pack, so please check you are licensed to use this first !

Watch for Parts 2 and 3 of this Blog coming to Toad World very soon, where we’ll examine some exiting changes to the way the Editor Insight works, enhancements to the PL/SQL Profiler, new Vulnerability Assessment checks, new integration points with other Quest products and lots more !