SQL Developer is a tool used to develop SQL database applications on Oracle. The SQL developer tool makes it much easier to design and implement database solutions on Oracle databases.
SQL Developer allows databases to be managed through the database navigator.
SQL Developer has a number of other useful features. The code snippets feature allows commonly used SQL statements to be saved so that they can be used as the basis of new database queries. The debugger allows for SQL statements to be debugged using familiar step into and breakpoint commands. These are similar to those used by programming environments such as Visual Studio.
The tool supports both standard SQL as welll as the PL/SQL commonly used on Oracle databases. A query builder can be used to build up SQL statements that can be subsequently executed against the database.
For advanced users, the tool supports features such as versioning and file control. This makes it possible to control which versions of database components are released as part of a software upgrade. It also supplies accountability should a database stored procedure be changed and problems arise as a result.
SQL Developer may be downloaded from Oracle's website.
Other SQL Developer Tools
Popular SQL tools for software developers include:
- Database GUIs that can be used to manage SQL databases. Many of these tools are able to work with a range of databases including Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server.
- Database backup and restore utilities for ensuing valuable data is properly backed up.
- Database documentors that can be used to document the tables, stored procedures, views and other entities within a database.
- Database optimisation tools and tools for error checking database integrity.
- Tools that can be used to find differences between different SQL databases. These tools are commonly used in environments where there may be multiple databases, such as those used for production and test environments.