erwin Data Modeler vs. IntelliJ IDEA vs. Oracle SQL Developer

I have had a chance to use few other data modeling tools from Quest and Oracle, but I am most comfortable using erwin Data Modeler. They understand your data modeling needs and have designed the software to give you a feeling of completeness when you are designing a data model.

Incentivized

This is a superb tool if your project involves a lot of backend development, especially in Java/Spring Boot and Kotlin. The support for the front end is great as well, but some developers may prefer to use the GitHub copilot add-on. I especially love using the GitHub copilot add-on. It may be less appropriate if your project requires heavy use of HotSwaps for backend debugging, as sometimes the support for that can be limited.

Incentivized

Almost all development activities (the tool is called "SQL Developer", not "DBA Toolset") can be done easily and quick with [Oracle] SQL Developer. From data model creation (tables, views) to development (creation of procedures, functions, packages) and then testing (SQL Developer includes an easy to use debugger), all tasks can be performed in a single tool.

It may not be as complete as other solutions for DBA tasks like instance monitoring, but it is usually OK for development and testing environments if you want to do some basic troubleshooting.

Incentivized

• Reverse Engineering: I love the way we can import an SQL file containing schema meta data and generate ER diagram out of it. This is specifically useful if you are implementing erwin Data Modeler for an existing database.
• Forward Engineering: We use this feature very frequently. Where we do database changes in our physical and logical data models and then generate deployment scripts for the changes made.
• Physical vs Logical Models: I like to have my database model split into physical and logical models and at the same time still linked to each other. Any changes you make to logical model or physical model shows up in the other.

Incentivized

• Unit testing: Fully integrated into IntelliJ IDEA. Your unit tests will run smoothly and efficiently, with excellent debugging tools for when things get tricky.
• Spring integration: Our Spring project using Maven works flawlessly in IntelliJ IDEA. I know firsthand that Apache is also easily and readily supported too. The integration is seamless and very easy to set up using IntelliJ IDEA's set up wizard when importing new projects.
• Customization: IntelliJ IDEA comes out of the box with a bunch of handy shortcuts, as well as text prediction, syntax error detection, and other tools to help keep your code clean. But even better is that it allows for total customization of shortcuts you can easily create to suit your needs.

Incentivized

• Object Browser in SQL Developer allows you to explore the contents of your database using the connection tree.
• The SQL Worksheet is an editor that allows for execution of SQL statements, scripts, and PL/SQL anonymous blocks. SELECT statements can be executed to return results in a spreadsheet-like 'grid' or can be executed as a script such to emulate SQL*Plus behavior and output
• DBA Console allows users with administrative privileges to access DBA features such as database init file configuration, RMAN backup, storage, etc.

Incentivized

• Cost is the single largest barrier to entry with this tool.
• Would like to see a greater variety of export options available for use outside of the tool, for example as a vector graphic.
• Support has been uneven at times.

Incentivized

• Finding if a feature exists or not in IntelliJ IDEA can be challenging.
• For example, if we know how to format a particular file, the command is Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L, but if we don't, then finding it is difficult.
• Setting up a project interpreter and directory structure might not be intuitive at first.
• Git integration can be improved. For example, it isn't easy to rebase using UI in IntelliJ IDEA.

Incentivized

• Inability to run multiple queries on the same database. You can only run one query on a given database.
• Analytical models created from complex tables isn't accurate, and needs work.
• Inability to view multiple tables of a database side-by-side. When trying to find correlations between tables, it would help to be able to see them at once on the same page.

Incentivized

VS Code is maturing and has a Scala plugin now. The overall experience with VS Code - for web development at least - is very snappy/fast. IntelliJ feels a bit sluggish in comparison. If that Scala plugin for VS Code is deemed mature enough - we may not bother renewing and resort to the Community Edition if we need it.

Incentivized

We had already thought of changing to TOAD, but we decided to stick with Oracle SQL Developer until the end.

Incentivized

I had a lot of experience using erwin Data Modeler for designing data models. I think it's pretty intuitive and easy to use. It has enough features to represent your database requirements in form of a model.

Incentivized

There is always room for improvement, but I haven't met any IDE that I liked more so far. Even if it did not fit a use case right out of the box, there is always a way to configure how it works to do just that.

Incentivized

Oracle SQL Developer is very easy to use and there are a wide range of courses available which can help you get started just within a day. Data can be exported in multiple formats based on user requirements. Organizational data can be stored and management effectively using Oracle SQL Developer. All the data, tables, sequences, indexes can be easily created and updated in Oracle SQL Developer.

Incentivized

CA customer support and our account manager have been able to support us with any issues that we have had, from managing our serial keys to issues we logged tickets to resolve. There are aspects of key management that have made it difficult over the years but support usually has worked with us.

Incentivized

Customer support is really good in the case of IntelliJ. If you are paying for this product then, the company makes sure that you will get all the services adequately. Regular update patches are provided to improve the IDE. An online bug report makes it easier for the developers to find the solution as fast as possible. The large online community also helps to find the various solutions to the issues.

Incentivized

Large user community support

Incentivized

This installs just like any other application - its pretty straight forward. Perhaps licensing could be more challenging - but if you use the cloud licensing they offer its as simple as having engineers login to the application and it just works.

Incentivized

Just download and uncompress!

Incentivized

Not listed, but I've only used alternatives built into something like the Squirrel SQL editor. That one is semi-functional but lacking many features and, in some instances, just plain wrong. The only pro there is that it's freely available and works over ODBC. I've tried some of the other free ones like Creately but didn't have much success.

Incentivized

Eclipse is just so old, like a dinosaur, compared to IntelliJ. There are still formats that Eclipse supports better, especially old and/or propriety ones. Still, most of the modern software development needs can be done on IntelliJ, & in a much better way, some of them are not even supported on Eclipse.

Incentivized

I have started to use Toad for Oracle recently because it is easier to sort and filter results, due to their memory sort feature that puts the results from your query in memory so that you don't have to rerun your query. I have used SQL Developer to easily update records in tables that I need to fix. I haven't found an easy way to do this in Toad other than writing SQL insert statements.

Incentivized

• It is difficult to assign a monetary value to it. The initial learning curve was fairly long.
• It allows us to have better support documentation.
• It allows ease of communications between functional units.

Incentivized

• Easier to find bugs and debugs, thus reducing man hours and generating immediate dollar impact.
• Coding time is lessened, which in turn again reduces man hours and generates immediate dollar impact.
• Refactoring code is more innovative and easy here, resulting in more maintainable code.

Incentivized

• It gives 100% return on investment as it is free of cost.
• No need to have multiple tools for each database
• Considering the employee training, so one can save money on training, as it is not very hard to use so still savings.

Incentivized