Free Oracle development tools?

Question

I'm currently using Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio. The plug-in plays nicely with VS and I don't have to start another app. to write stored procs etc. I also like the ability to check-in, check-out (from VSS 2005) and run the scripts.

But I have few complaints as well:

• It is inconvenient to use the server explorer to browse and find stuff. For example table definitions, constraints etc.
• The connection to the oracle server keeps dropping after sometime.
• The quick search doesn't save previous searches.

So my question is: Are there any free or less expensive tools that can do the above plus the source control stuff (need not be a VS plug-in)?

I have already tried Toad and Oracle SQL Developer. Apart from not-so-neat interface Toad looses the cursor position after checking-in - which is frustrating. And Oracle SQL Developer doesn't support VSS. Are there special settings for these tools?

Environment description: Oracle 10.2g, Visual Source Safe 2005, C#/.NET, Visual Studio 2008

Answer 1

Try Oracle SQL Developer.

[Noticed that you already tried SQL Developer, but this is the only free oracle development tool from Oracle, other than JDeveloper].

Update: A few other SQL Tools.

Answer 2

Pl/SQL Developer from Allaround Automations has VSS plugins.

Here is a fairly detailed write-up about it (dated 2005, it's gotten better since): http://www.orafaq.com/tools/allround/plsql_developer

A lot of Oracle Pros (I am not one, I just know some..) swear by it -- apparently it's very powerful, especially if you are, well, a pl/sql developer. But it does all the regular queries, tables, etc very well as well.

Here's the page for the software: http://www.allroundautomations.nl/plsqldev.html

It's not free, but not astronomically expensive (price drops fast if you buy multiple licenses). They have a 30-day trial you can use to play with it; the trial includes source control plugins.

Answer 3

I've heard good things about SQuirreL and Golden as well as the generic Oracle SQL Developer.

Answer 4

Try TOra :

http://tora.sourceforge.net/

Answer 5

Quote:

EMS SQL Manager for Oracle is a high performance database tool for Oracle Database server development and administration. SQL Manager for Oracle works with any Oracle versions from 8.1.7 to the newest one and supports the latest Oracle Database features and data types including compressed, OLAP, read-only and read-write tables; invisible indexes; compound triggers, triggers with FOLLOWS clause and others. It offers plenty of powerful Oracle tools such as PL/SQL Code Debugger, Backup/Restore Database wizards, Visual Database Designer to create Oracle database in few clicks, Visual Query Builder to write complex Oracle SQL queries, Database Statistics to monitor Oracle performance, Grant manager for effective Oracle security management and many more useful features for efficient Oracle administration. SQL Manager for Oracle has a state-of-the-art graphical user interface with a well-described wizard system, so clear in use that even a newbie will not be confused with it.

They also have a freeware version, with some limitations.

Answer 6

SQL tools is also good. http://www.sqltools.net/