I have inherited a legacy system written in PowerBuilder which connects to an SQL Anywhere 5.5 database via ODBC. The Sybase drivers are not 64-Bit compatible so this system is throwing errors and there are no updated drivers available. I do not currently have the budget to update the database to a current version of SQL Anywhere (which requires a /seat license) and I'm under the gun to get the system working on a 64-Bit PC.
Advice, please! Is MS SQL Express a good option?
Thanks in advance.
PowerBuilder is a 32-bit application even when run on a 64-bit OS. You will need the 32-bit version of whatever DBMS you decide on. I think that SQL Anywhere might be 16-bit, it is that old.
I think you'll find MS SQL Express very similar. One main issue is the default database owner. SQL Anywhere is normally dba while SQL Express is dbo.
SQL Server Express is a reasonable choice for what I can get from your described needs. IMHO, any RDBMS supporting 64-bit might be a reasonable choice as long as you take over the data migration toward this RDBMS.
The most crucial part, according to me, is the migration from a RDBMS to another. You'll have to make sure to replicate every exact details (tables, views, stored procedures, functions, etc.)
Another fact that makes me believe that SQL Server Express is a good choice is that they both are TSQL. A historic fact is that Microsoft has bought Sybase ASE to start their own RDBMS now known as SQL Server.
PowerBuilder shall see no difference between the RDBMS since it accesses the underlying database through ODBC. All you need is make sure your workstation has ODBC supporting 64-bit.
Can someone recommend a great IDE/Database Developer Tool for Postgres 8.4. We are currently using EMS SQL Manager but it has so many bugs and shortcomings that its getting on my nerves. I reported the bugs to EMS but they have not been fixed yet.
I wonder what do people use for PostgresSQL development? Windows/Linux, commercial/free, standalone/eclipse plug-in, it does not matter as much. I just want a reliable tool that works and does not blow up in my face.
On PostgreSQL DB we do and would like to have IDE support for.
Tables, views, indexes, triggers
SQL, plpgsql, and python procedures that return single values, set of values or tables
SQL query and performance monitoring
DB role management
Good transaction support straight from GUI as well as support for BEGIN, COMMIT, etc
Any recommendations are welcome.
Edit: After many months we are still using EMS SQL Manager. I got used to certain shortcomings, some bug were fixed. I tried every possible PostgreSQL management program I could get my hands on and still in my opinion EMS SQL Manager is still the best.
pgAdmin is a popular one. It's free, and it runs on Windows and Linux. It's been a while since I have used it but I found it to be quite stable. Wasn't fond of the procedure code editor - it worked, I just didn't like it (but now I can't remember why, it was probably a minor thing).
Lightning Admin, commercial, postgreSQL and mysql, $50. The developer is very pro postgreSQL.
http://lightningadmin.com/
I need a test database to practice joins and other kinds of data retrieval operations in SQL.
What's a good free test database and RDBMS system to use on Windows?
Every major RDBMS provider has some free edition. Those are full versions limited by database size and maximum memory usage.
Top players:
Sql Server Express
Oracle Express
IBM DB2 Express-C
Then, there is number of open source products:
PostgreSQL
Firebird
MySQL
SQLite (not really a RDBMS, but understands SQL and it can be used for your purposes. Also, very small and compact)
If this is not enough, check this Wikipedia article: Comparison of relational database management systems.
There's more than 50 RDBMS's listed and you'll probably find something that suits your needs.
SQL Server Express for one.
Sample databases (AdventureWorks) can be downloaded here.
You can use this link. The adventure works database is used as an example for numerous online and offline resources.
After which, download the SMSS Express to work on it.
If it's just for practising SQL you could install Access assuming you have an MS Office CD that includes it already.
Otherwise MySQL or SQL Server Express are probably your best bets.
I would recommend MySQL over SQL Server Express if your purpose is to practice SQL. The command line interface is all you need.
You can get online practice with verifying your queries on SQL Exercises
For smaller websites which are view-only or require light online-editing, SQL Server 2008, Oracle, and MySQL are overkill.
In the PHP world, I used SQLite quite a bit which is a e.g. 100K file holding hundreds of records which you speak to with standard SQL.
In the .NET world, what options do we have, I've seen:
SQL Server 2008 Express (free but the files are bloated 2-10MB with just a couple records)
SQL Server Compact 3.5 (seems interesting)
Vista.db (not free?)
What about SQLite with .NET, have any of you had success with that?
Any other small, no-nonsense, SQL databases for .NET there?
I would particularly be interested in something like SQLite but that supports CLR type system and LINQ.
Maybe this Wikipedia RDBMS comparison might help you in making your choice.
SQLite works just fine with .NET.
I second Edoode's suggestion of Firebird - that works great for me.
Be very careful when using SQL Server CE in multi-threaded applications.
I had to use Interbase at work, so I came to Firebird.
First I had to use it, now I love it.
There's a .NET Data Provider (ADO, DDEX).
U can even use it without setting up a server, like you do with SQLite (direct access to the database file).
It's actively developed and "open source".
I don't think there is any database that supports the CLR type system, even SQL server uses their own types.
Besides the already mentioned alternatives there is also Firebird
You can also have a look at db4o which is not SQL but a fully managed object store for java and .NET.
There are many options for editing and writing Stored Procedures in Oracle; what is the best tool for you and why? (one tool per answer.)
Tool for Oracle Application Developers (TOAD), from Quest Software (formerly TOADSoft) has an excellent Stored Procedure editor with syntax highlighting, some autocomplete support (e.g. type in 'TABLE.' and the columns will appear), a nice Execute Procedure option that will show the results in a Grid or show DBMS output, and will also focus on syntax errors when you hit compile.
Note: The Freeware edition only allows 2 concurrent connections to the same Database Instance (even though the website says 5) - that means only 2 developers or DBA's can use it at the same time on the same Database. It also expires every 3 months but they're good at releasing updates.
I recently found the free Oracle SQL Developer.
nice looking GUI (makes you not poke out your eyes like the usual Oracle tools)
has many nice features, like showing tables filtered
lets you connect to multiple oracle instances at once
you can use sane configuration like ip:port username/password and do not have to use those strange TNSNAMES.ORA file based settings
you can set breakpoints and step through the code of stored procedures.
PL/SQL Developer from Allaround Automations.
I happily paid the $200 or so price for this.
Excellent IDE (+ good Intellisense, + debugging capability) with easy creation and editing of PL/SQL packages, SPs, Triggers etc
So much better than Toad.
Toad, from ToadSoft.com -> http://www.toadsoft.com/toad_oracle.htm
For someone like me who likes to work with a DBA tool like Microsoft's SQL Management Studio, it's a life saver.
As a professional PL/SQL developer I use (heh) PL/SQL Developer from Allaround Automations.
I've worked with TOAD for quite a long time but now it is quite overpriced comparing with PL/SQL dev. It has some advantages like knowledge base or ability to work with other RDBMS like SQL server but that's not a necessity for me.
But Notepad++ will always help to make occasional fix.
I always use PL/SQL Developer from Allround Automations.
http://www.allroundautomations.com/plsqldev.html
But some at our place swear by Toad
Use Oracle's own SQL Developer. If you are mainly working with Oracle, it does everything you'll need.
I use TOAD with our Oracle reports development, and I think that it's a good development tool. I normally toggle back and forth between a number of different Oracle instances and schemae, and I like the way that TOAD can display multiple windows for each instance/schema, or even more than one per schema.
TOAD takes a little while to learn and customize, but it's a worthwhile investment. The layout is similar to the Visual Studio .NET IDE with sidebars that can be anchored or rolled away. Tabs display different aspects of the Oracle schema, including procedures, jobs, stats, etc. And when I'm writing SQL, the editor uses color-coding and the error messages are Oracle-specific.
Toolset for Oracle (TOra) is a free, Open Source Database Tool very similar in scope (and look and feel) to Quest's TOAD
Compared to the freeware edition of TOAD, TOra allows multiple connections to different database instances at the same time, and has no concurrent connection limit (so any number of TOra users can be working on the same database instance)
I just used a standard editor (vim which then gave me syntax highlighting).
/Allan
I like SQL Developer from Oracle. Oh and its free! :)
I like Rapid SQL, you can debug SQL too
Notepad++ stays my favourite editor. I had to use SQL Developer in the past, it's not so "bad", but I encountered many problems with it. It proved very unstable so I wouldn't recommend it, or maybe only to test your procedures.
I use JetBrains IDEA (a Java IDE) to edit and SQL*Plus to execute. The advantages of using a tool with local version control, seemless integration into Source Version Control, advanced find and highlighting, great editing, 'live templates' and so on for me outweighs any advantage of having it 'database aware' (which with plug-ins you can get anyway). If I was coding up a complicated query I might fire up SQL Developer, but generally I prefer great text editing features.
I use Oracle SQL Developer - the latest version also has support for CVS and Subversion.
It has the bonus of supporting other database providers, too.
I have used this tool for 2 years and it has now settled down to be reliable.
I've used RapidSQL by Embarcadero on several different DB platforms, and it's awesome. It has an integrated step debugger, too. I haven't actually used it with Oracle, but I know it's supported.
Another vote for Oracle SQL Developer. It's free, it's stable and it does all the basics that I require.
With the mentioned SQL Developer you can even set breakpoints and step through the code of the stored procedure.
Yet another vote for Oracle SQl Developer. But TOAD works too.
A really good text editor with syntax highlighting (e.g. Textpad from www.textpad.com) and SQL Plus.
For me its, Oracle SQL Developer. The learning curve is very minimal if you have worked on IDEs like Eclipse or VS. You can set break points, read live values when you debug stored procs as you would do to code in eclipse/VS.
Ofcourse the UI is a bit sluggish at times but given that its free compensates the sluggishness.
I use Textpad, Clipmate and Quest SQLNavigator. The newer versions of Quest's SQLNavigator and TOAD are crap -- they tend to crash easily and don't play nice with XP/Vista/Win7.
I've spent hours with their tech support and they don't have alternatives.
You get no access to Quest programmers, but rather you get bogged down in their
trouble ticket process.
Quest needs to focus less on integration of different tools into one and selling you
promises that the next version will solve the instability issues.
They need stability.
This means cleaning up their existing codebase or starting over.
More competent programmers, fewer salespeople, fewer tech support people.
Fix the damn problems.
They focus on sales and it's an idiotic business strategy.
This seems to be a problem across the industry.
Quest's TOAD and SQL Navigator have become bloatware and will soon become abandonware
if they don't turn them around and make them more stable.
I copy and paste frequently between Textpad and Quest SQLNavigator because SQLNavigator
crashes and I lose all my sql code up to the point of crash.
I'll probably dump SQLNavigator once I find something more stable.
SQL Developer from Oracle
We have replaced all other tools at our (large well known) enterprise that has over 150 databases and it works just fine. It's not as good as TOAD but it is getting there, and (unlike TOAD) it's free.
SQL Developer also works well enough connecting to SQL Server