Oracle Web Applications: PL/SQL Developer's Intro

PL/SQL Tools

There are many tools you can use to improve your PL/SQL development productivity. Table 6.2 shows some of the more popular, along with the web sites where they can be found, so you can download and experiment. In the following subsections, we’ll look at two of the most helpful tools, TOAD and PL/Formatter.

Table 6-2. Some Handy PL/SQL Development Tools

Tool	Web Site
CAST Workbench	http://www.castsoftware.com
FROG (Funky Resource for Oracle Gorillas)	http://www.507pm.com/pcs
Oracle Procedure Builder	http://www.oracle.com
PLEdit	http://www.benthicsoftware.com
PL/Formatter	http://www.revealnet.com
SQL/Expediter	http://www.compuware.com
SQL Navigator	http://www.quests.com
SQL*Object Builder	http://www.idb-consulting.fr
SQL Programmer	http://www.sfi-software.com
SQL Station	http://www.platinum.com
TOAD (Tool for Oracle Application Developers)	http://www.toadsoft.com

TOAD

In the bad old days, developers wrote their PL/SQL programs with a text editor like vi or Notepad, then compiled them with SQL*Plus. If the program failed to compile because of a syntax error, about the only tool you had to help track down the error was the SQL command:

SELECT * FROM user_errors

Even then, you got little more information than a generic Oracle syntax error and an approximate line number where the error might have occurred. You had to go back to the code and hunt and peck to find the problem. It could take hours to track ...