The quality of iSQL PLus

Question

Just a quick question to all of you out there, using iSQL Plus: are you not disappointed in what Oracle have made? I mean, Oracle have been betting on the Java technology for 4 - 5 years, however, they have not used it to make a superior "platform-independent-run-anywhere" version of the classic SQL Plus tool. Does this not seem strange to you all that after all these years they release a "platform independent" version of SQL Plus that has LESS features than the original - and is far less user friendly (I never thought that possible until now)???
Am I the only one who is amazed by this? I feel that Oracle should be making a new version of SQL PLus in Java - with all the "bells and whistles" that we have come to expect from a "Windows environment"
What do you all think? I would like to know.
regards,
Unknown

Answer 1

Hi Alison,
I have "revealed" myself! I am the "Unknown" who posted the initial query. Thanks for your reply - very informative. I appreciate your point of view regarding speed issues, however, I do feel that you (read Oracle) have made the wrong decision in terms of which technology to use for rewriting SQL Plus.
I guess the problem in the past for ORacle has always been to cater to the "lowest common denominator", as the Oracle RDBMS runs on ALL platforms. Therefore SQL Plus never could be a particulary "advanced" tool in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. But that's just the way it had to be.
These days, there is Java which can (theoretically) run on all platforms (that support Java). Yes, Java does not run as fast as C++ etc. etc. - I don't want to get into that discussion - however, I have been working with HTML, Java and Oracle RDBMS for 4 - 5 years, and Java has really come of age in that time.
Through my work and own personal experience, I have discovered a fact about websites (read HTML) that hasn't changed over the years - it is extremely limited in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. HTML is not - for me - an acceptable technology to write GUI's for applications/data entry systems nor RDBMS tools such as SQL Plus.
So, given this to be true (I believe this to be so), then what other choices are there? Well, there's Flash and Director. Both very impressive technologies, however, they only can work on Windows and Macintosh. There is also Java, which is also a very impressive technology, albeit with its own set of limitiations. Nevertheless, Java has an advanced API for writing GUIs and it runs on Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac, and presumably other platforms.
For me - Java is the logical choice of technology for rewriting SQL Plus. It gives you the ability to write "user friendly" Windows like applications, which will run on all platforms. Now, I am not saying that there wouldn't be issues/problems with Java; of course there are. Just like any other technology. You have to weigh up the pros and the cons before embarking on designing/developing an application. However, in this case, I feel the pros far outweigh the cons.
Now, unlike alot of other system designers/developers, I actually "eat what I serve" - I use Sun's Forti (written entirely in Java) as my Java RAD tool, I use TogetherSofts "TogetherJ" as my design tool for Java (also written in Java), I use a Java based interface for the version control software we use here at work.... in fact, the one thing I am missing is a good Oracle tool written in Java. I currently use Quest's SQL Navigator, however, its quality is decreasing.
Anyway, I am digressing! My point is simple - Java will enable you to write a highly functional RAD tool for Oracle to replace the prehistoric and particularly un-user friendly tool SQL Plus. YES - you are right - it most probably won't load as fast as a web page, but once it is loaded it will run quickly. I strongly suggest that the iSQL Plus team take a look at Sun's Forti (very impressive tool - no, the MOST impressive tool I have seen for Java) as well as Quest Software's SQL Navigator. I think the iSQL Plus team would get alot of good ideas and inspiration from them.
There is, of course, another problem here - and that is datababe connectivity. Unfortunately, Oracle have been increasing the size of their JDBC drivers ever since day one, to the point that it is PROHIBITIVE to download them to an applet. I'm sure the JDBC team have a bazillion excuses for this, however, I am personally not buying it. For me, the exhorbitant size of the drivers is a sign of badly designed code. Regardless of my personal views, the size of the JDBC drivers mean that it is not feasible to write a SQL Plus applet which download the JDBC drivers. The only solution is to use CORBA and/or RMI.
Okay! That's probably enough from me for now!!! Please don't take this as "Oracle bashing" - I have invested alot of time into Java and Oracle, and I am more than happy to be of some assistance, however small. You asked about what features I thought were missing - well, look at Forti and SQL Navigator. That will give you some idea of what I expect. But, to summarise, I consider the following features to be necessary:
1. Code to be displayed in multi-colours (user definable). Such a simple thing, yet SO useful
2. SQL results to be displayed in a tabular/grid-like format, with copy/paste functionality plus porting to text files.
3. In-built stored procedure editor - like in SQL Nav. Very nice.
4. Debug functionality
5. Tuning module - for DB tuning
6. Some kind of Tree Navigator window, which allows one to traverse all database objects (see SQL Nav)
7. Ability to generate DDL scripts from current DB objects (see SQL Nav)
8. Ability to define one's own shortcut keys (see Forti - very very sexy)
Alison, please feel free to email me at [email protected] if you wish to discuss this futher and/or post a reply to this "disccussion"
yours sincerely,
Alexander Day