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Oracle SQL Developer -- A Very Useful Tool!
February 12, 2019

Oracle SQL Developer -- A Very Useful Tool!

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Oracle SQL Developer

Oracle's SQL Developer is used throughout the IT department at my company. It is extremely useful for querying our various databases. It is used for researching, troubleshooting, fixing (insert, update, delete), etc. It is a very powerful tool and is critical to our IT department's daily functionality. I have personally been using SQL Developer since it was first released in approximately 2006-2007.
  • SQL Developer aids in writing queries in several ways, such as syntax highlighting, code formatting, auto-complete suggestions, error displays, and much more.
  • You can easily export your results into a variety of formats such as Excel, CSV, Insert statements, etc.
  • The product allows you to store your database connections so you only need to select from a drop-down which database (or which user account) you want to use to execute a query or script.
  • You can view all database objects under specific schemas or user accounts and drill down to the most granular details.
  • There are a fair number of bugs that are identified in the product regularly, but Oracle generally releases updates several times per year to address issues and introduce new features.
  • Although you can collapse certain sections of code, it is not always reliable and sometimes auto-expands.
  • Some settings are not retained from session to session. For example, I like specific columns to be expanded in my results so I can see the entire value.
  • SQL Developer is used by my team every day to troubleshoot production issues, which allows us to analyze data and solve problems faster.
  • Since SQL Developer is a FREE tool, it is obviously cost effective -- especially when compared to other similar tools like Toad, which are not free.
  • The product gives developers a GUI that makes gathering database info much simpler and faster.
I have only had limited experience with Toad since that product requires you to purchase licenses. The companies I have worked for have generally opted to use SQL Developer because it is free. That being said, I believe SQL Developer is a very close match in all aspects to Toad.
SQL developer is very well suited for developers and anyone who has a basic understanding of the SQL language to interact with a database. Even with very limited knowledge, you can benefit from this product since it can help you along if needed. There are even some built-in reports which can be run for common tasks or to be used as a template for new queries you may need to create.
On the flip side, I would not recommend this tool for business users with no experience with SQL. SQL Developer is much more user-friendly and powerful than the old-school SQL*Plus, but you still need to have some basic understanding of how to work with databases.