Oracle Database Plugin for the Eclipse Data Tools Platform

As a further commitment to the Eclipse Community, Oracle announces an early adopter release of the Oracle Database Plugin for Eclipse Data Tools Platform. This plugin extends the Eclipse Data Tools Platform to connect to and work with Oracle database objects. The initial plugin supports the ability to connect to Oracle Databases, navigate through all database objects, execute stored procedures and functions, and view textual and graphical execution plans.



This release has been tested against DTP 1.0. We will revise the plugin as required once DTP 1.5 is released as part of the imminent Eclipse Euorpa release.

Oracle has published a Statement of Direction which outlines our future plans.

Feedback from the community is important to us so Oracle has created a forum on OTN to provide a means for this feedback to be collected and allow Oracle to respond. Assuming a positive level of interest from the community, we would seek to formally join the DTP project for the purpose of contributing to the Connectivity, Model Base, SQL Development Tools and particularly the Enablement subproject to provide specialized support for the Oracle Database.

Oracle Database Migration has reached the next level!

SQL Developer 1.2 is now production and with it our new integrated migration workbench. Find out more information on OTN here. Over the last 6 months or so as I have talked about this new product, I used the tag line "Taking database migration to the next level", well... I think we are there now. We are the first database vendor to provide an integrated migration tool into a developers IDE with all of the resulting productivity benefits this brings.

The SQL Developer Migration Workbench is the tool to aid in the migration of third party databases onto the Oracle platform. This tool allows you to migrate your existing Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL databases (including schema objects, data and stored procedures/functions) to Oracle.

Features of this production release include:

• Enhanced user interface - This release harnesses the enhanced GUI environment of SQL Developer and works seamlessly with other SQL Developer components. This means that users have one tool to browse third-party databases, migrate selected objects to Oracle and then work with them.
• Existing SQL Developer users should find the Migration Workbench familiar and easy to use.
• Quick Migration Wizard provides the easiest and quickest means of doing a database migration.
  
• Step driven migration offers control at each stage of the migration process.
• Fine grain migration support provides users with the ability to select specific objects for migration.
• Least privilege migration - The ability to migrate objects from source to target without the need for dba rights. The workbench will migrate objects it has rights to view so does not require any special privileges to run.
• Platform Supported:
  
• Supports Microsoft Access versions 97, 2000, 2002/XP, 2003
  
• Microsoft SQL Server 7, 2000, 2005
  
• MySQL versions 3, 4, 5.
• Parallel Online data move - The ability to move the data using a number of parallel connections for increased throughput.
• Offline data move script generation - Generates scripts to allow for export of source data and import to target database of offline data move. We also support offline capture as well.
  
• Language Translation Features - Supports translation of stored programs, procedures, functions, triggers, constraints and views defined in Transact SQL or Microsoft Access SQL.
• Translation scratch editor - An interactive editing facility for Transact SQL and Microsoft Access SQL allowing for instant translation to PL/SQL or SQL. This editor supports both single-statement translation and translation of entire SQL scripts.
• Translation difference viewer - Inline difference viewer for examining translated SQL. This viewer provides color coded side-by-side comparison of translated SQL to display semantic similarities between the source and translated code.
• Any many more interesting features for you to find out about....
  

We have also prepared a number of online demos (viewlets) so you can see this new tool in action. Check them out on OTN here.

I am very proud of what my team has achieved with this release. A lot of work over the past year has gone into it. This is only the beginning, expect further innovative releases from the database tools team in the future.

I would like to thank our early adopters who provided some very constructive feedback. Hopefully you see the results of your feedback in this production release.

Oracle SQL Developer Migration Workbench Early Adopter Release

Last week we released on OTN the early adopter release of the Oracle SQL Developer Migration Workbench. You can find more details about it here. It was a very important release for us, and marks the start of a new generation of migration tools.

It is nearly 10 years ago when the original Oracle Migration Workbench was released, we supported migrating SQL Server 6.5 to Oracle8 then. At that time, I believe we were the first to introduce a GUI tool. Previously we had provided a series of migration scripts (shell based + SQL) and a stored procedure converter utility. We went on to add support for Access, Sybase, Informix, DB2 utilizing the same user interface by leveraging our plugin architecture. Over the years we have seen our database competitors and others release similar migration tools for their databases.

With this release, I believe we have made the same dramatic shift again that we did back in 1998. By integrating our migration tool as a extension of SQL developer (our very popular tool for database developers) we have provided our users with a modern intuitive UI tightly integrated into an IDE, that should make users even more productive as they carry out database migrations. I don't believe any of our competitors have delivered such tight integration.

This initial release supports Microsoft SQL Server, Access and MySQL. We are introducing support for migrating Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with this release. These third party databases represents the most popular downloads for our existing Oracle Migration Workbench. We will add further platforms in the future. We have also architected this solution, to make it even easier to extend and leverage the rich core migration functionality that we have developed. We hope that others will also extend this tool going forward adding support for additional databases.

The focus now, is on completing some features which missed the cut for the early adopter release, (more on that in a later post) , getting feedback from our user community and fixing as many reported bugs to ensure the highest possible quality release, when we go production, as SQL Developer 1.2. I encourage you to try it out and provide us with feedback. We have setup a comment application which you can provide us with feedback. You can access it here.

Some of my favorite features of this new release includes:

• Least privilege migration - You no longer need dba privileges
• Online Data Move - We have enhanced the online data move and provide parallel data move and the degree of parallelism is configurable
• New T/SQL parser - We have completing rewritten our T/SQL parser. If I'm honest, it was long over due, but this new parser, provides us with the right foundation for a much greater level of automation in converting complex objects (stored procedures, views, triggers)
• Translation Scratch Editor - allows for the instant translation of Transact SQL or Microsoft Access SQL to PL/SQL or SQL.
• Translation Difference Viewer - a color-coded side-by-side viewer to display semantic similarities between the source and translated code.

Looking forward to reviewing the feedback from our user community, getting those missing features completed and getting this new tool to production status as part of SQL Developer 1.2