View Column info not displaying in Columns Tab

Question

Running XP SP2 and SQL Developer 1.5.1 5440
When looking at views that are using tables from another schema. I don't see any of the columns information. I have DBA role
In rel 1.1.2.25 2579 I see them just fine. (Both loaded on machine right now)
Is this a bug or do I have a setting problem?

Answer 1

Barry,
As a "disclaimer", the points below are based on my usage of SQL Developer and things that bug me about how it works or doesn't work - I know that there are more important things to fix than a number of these.
On to the basics ... and the most basic of the basics for a tool like SQL Developer:
1) Problems with data dictionary queries in navigator or object tabs:
- Triggers not listed in Table tab if trigger owned by different schema to table owner
- Index columns not listed in Table tab if index owned by different schema to table owner
- View columns not listed in View tab if view owned by different schema to current user
- Dependencies not listed in Table/View tab if other object owned by different schema to object owner
- Performance of Table Node (outer join added in 1.5.1)
- there are a lot of other posts about the supplied data dictionary queries not producing the right results and I often find that I am querying the data dictionary directly in a SQL Worksheet for information that should be correct in the navigator/object tabs
Basic things that I expect to work in a tool like SQL Developer (or to work given that they have been included):
1) Popup Describe problems
- schema name is case sensitive, so doesn't find owner.object
- synonym overrides schema name (OWNER.OBJECT will describe local OBJECT synonym instead of OWNER's object)
- position based object name selection includes punctuation
2) Bind variables that work properly in PL/SQL (both Execute Statement and Run Script)
3) Package decomposition in object navigator doesn't report variables or constants of custom types and lists object.column%type constants as "constant"
4) Exporting query results re-executes query to display Export dialog - this presents as SQL Developer freezing after selecting the Export menu option for queries that take a long time for first record to appear
I would use SQL Developer more (or more of SQL Developer) if:
1) More integrated file based development - I still do the bulk of my object creation (largely PL/SQL and views) editing in Wordpad and running via SQL*Plus largely because I get better error reporting.
- display the compile message tab when using the compile button for a file
- show errors doesn't work for views
2) Running Reports hang SQL Developer - I still have my SQL scripts for my common queries, which I can run through SQL Worksheet in a much friendlier fashion (I can cancel them and they don't hang SQL Dev) than I can run reports
Problems that detract from the "polish" of SQL Developer, but don't really have a big impact on usage but discourage me from trying to "convert" non-techie TOAD using colleagues:
1) Multiple TNSNAMES files read - generates multiple entries
2) Export of long string literals causes ORA-972 error
3) "Statement Processed" feedback is extremely sensitive to spaces ("create Statement Processed" where two spaces between the create and view keywords) and assumes simple statements ("create unique Statement Processed" or "create or replace force Statement Processed" as examples)
I think that makes 10 basics to fix (although some as just issues that make the tool look unpolished), however, it does seem as though testing in the following areas could be significantly better:
1) Regression testing - a number of bugs seem to crop up again after being fixed in earlier versions
2) Navigator/object tab queries - especially with multi-schema applications (ie Oracle eBusiness Suite) and just generally objects owned by other schemas
3) Performance with large DBs in terms of object count (ie Oracle eBusiness Suite)
As a final note, it is my impression that SQL Developer development has been unbalanced in focusing too much on including new functionality (which is good) and not enough on getting existing functionality right (which is better).
I hope this helps (and wasn't too long) ...
theFurryOne