The next release in the Next Generation of Toad® is approaching rapidly. This release focuses on saving you time through greater automation of routine tasks and better workflow through more integration points between functions and tools.

When it comes to functionality, one of the most significant enhancements is called Auto Optimize, which provides an extremely simplified approach to SQL optimization. This feature will allow you to optimize the SQL you are currently working with, directly from within the Toad Editor. This is enabled through Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle (Toad for Oracle Xpert Edition and above).  Regardless of how much time you have or your level of expertise, in just a few clicks, you will have the best performing SQL that can then be quickly integrated back into your code base.

Another enhancement made in Toad for Oracle 10.5 is a completely re-written Code Road Map, providing a highly-visual graphical view of code interdependencies and relationships to other objects. This will dramatically improve your understanding and minimize the possibility of errors during code maintenance.

For DBAs, we’ve added a much simpler way to access the Oracle Alert Log to view events which may help you resolve a problem. The Alert Log Viewer provides different ways to look at as much data as you want filtered any way you want.

There are also several enhancements to the Toad Automation Designer to help automate even more of your tasks. These include: Data Pump import and export, compare databases, copy table data, generate schema script and generate database script.

Also for DBAs, we’ve added several integration points from Toad for Oracle to Spotlight on Oracle (available in Toad DBA Suite for Oracle). By providing various contextual launch points to Spotlight directly from Toad Windows such as: Log Switch Frequency Map, Session Browser, Top Session Finder, AWR Browser, StatsPack Browser and more, you will have instant access to the diagnostics information you need to solve performance issues before they impact end users.

Finally, the Toad for Oracle freeware will be updated with the release of version 10.5. The new freeware will allow you to see all of the features available in the commercial Toad for Oracle Base Edition, but maintains restrictions on specific functionality. A new freeware Welcome screen will provide you with information about the commercial product and the Toad community, as well as a link to commercial Trial evaluation resources.

For more information on what's included in Toad for Oracle 10.5, please read the latest blog.