What is the perfect toolbox for PL/SQL development?

Question

I work on two projects with a lot of PL/SQL code since few months.

However, I didn\'t find any really interesting tools to develop on this langage.

For the m

Answer 1

Being an old-fashioned sort of chap I still mainly get along with SQL*Plus and the TextPad IDE. TextPad is nagware, but the licence is cheap and the tool has some fantastic features. Also people have written PLSQL syntax libraries for it, which give you keyword highlighting. It is also possible to hook TextPad into other desktop tools such as Subversion.

SQL^Developer is written in java, which means it is a voracious consumer of memory. Still there is undoubted merit in having a data browser. Also the upcoming version 2.1 features built-in unit test, which could be very tasty.

Useful utilities:

• pldoc :: generate Javadoc-style documentation from the comments in your package spec
• utplplsql :: unit test harness; old but it still works
• QUTO :: another, more sophisticated unit test harness (which I don't use for the same reason I'm still hacking with SQL*Plus and TextPad)
• QGCU :: PL/SQL code generator (previously QNXO)

In defence of Luddism

The danger with tools like TOAD and SQL*Developer is that they allow us to execute DML and DDL directly against the database, including editing PL/SQL source. This is fine and dandy and awfully in the spirit of Getting Things Done. Until we need to revert our changes. Or the production DBA demands a script....

Of course it is possible to use TOAD or SQL Developer in a safe fashion - I know SQL Developer can hook into source control as well - if just requires more self-discipline.