SQL Bible, Second Edition

Appendix E. Accessing RDBMS

Believe it or not, the graphical user interface (GUI) so prevalent on today's computers did not always exist; it evolved along with the use of the cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors and really took off with the advent of the pointing device, popularly known as the mouse. Consequently, every database capable of interactive access has, in addition to GUI tools, some sort of command-line interface that allows users to submit a request (usually an SQL query), and eventually receive some response — be it requested data or an error message from the RDBMS.

Using ORACLE 11g Utilities to Access RDBMS

Oracle 11g provides various utilities for communicating with RDBMS, such as SQL*Plus, SQL Developer, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and Application Express. Another tool called iSQL*Plus, first introduced in Oracle 9i, is no longer a part of Oracle 11g and is scheduled to become desupported in 2010.

Also, many third-party products can work with Oracle 11g Database, the most popular being TOAD by Quest Software Ltd. (www.quest.com) and WinSQL by Synametrics (www.synametrics.com).

SQL*Plus

SQL*Plus is an interactive query tool that provides a mechanism to submit SQL commands to the Oracle RDBMS for execution, retrieving results, performing database administration, and more. All Oracle examples in this book are produced using the Oracle SQL*Plus interface, and this appendix provides the basic knowledge you need to access an Oracle database and run either interactive commands or ...