Get to Know Toad 10

Last Revised: Monday, September 21, 2009

Contents
Introduction In All Toad Editions:

                    

Unicode Support Actions Alter Type Application Data Folders Editor ER Diagram Grids LicensingStructure Load DatabaseObject Network ConnectionInfo ProfilerAnalysis Project Manager RebuildTable Script Manager SearchFunctionality Server SideObjectWizard SettingParameters Set Sequence TNS Names Editor User Data MigrationonUpgrade Variables In Professional, Development Suite and DBA Suite Editions:

 

CodeXpert Data Generation In the DB Admin Module and DBA Suite Editions:

   

Database Browser DatabaseHealthCheck Database Monitor Instance Manager Options Introduction The release of Toad for Oracle 10 brings an array of new features, not least of which is Unicode support. For full details and other ways to learn Toad, see the Release Notes and the built-in Help (press F1). This page provides a quick walk-through of some of the features introduced in Toad for Oracle 10. Links to video walk-throughs are provided where available. In addition, new videos are often

being added to the Video Page at Toad World where you can also find videos from previous versions. Furthermore, you can find details of the various Toad Editions and additional products included in them at Quest Software's Toad for Oracle product page. Note: This overview was created using Toad BETA release version 10.0.0.30. As such, some descriptions may vary slightly from the final release. Return to Contents

In All Toad Editions:

Unicode Support

Toad now supports Unicode. For people already using Unicode-enabled databases, this should be a seamless transition. Note: Some Oracle features are not Unicode-enabled, or have specific Unicode requirements to function. Please see your Oracle documentation for information about these features. Thereisanonline video tutorialforthisfeature.

 

Toad Advisor now checks that NLS_LANG value matches client character. Default Encoding option added to Options | General to set default encoding for new Editor tabs and for saving files. If you are an upgrading user, you will need to make the following change to your LexLib for the Editor parser to work correctly with Unicode:

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From the View menu, select Options. Click the Editor - Behavior node. Set the language dropdown to PL/SQL and then click the Edit Language button.

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Click the Parser tab and select Any Name. Add (?r) to the beginning of the "Any name" parser rule:

Click OK or Apply to save changes.

ReturntoContents Actions

 

AppDesigner has been renamed to Automation Designer. When specifying connections on the command line (toad.exe -c ), these connections will now be used in the Actions specified afterward ( -a ), instead of the connection currently bound to the Action. In some actions, you can also specify connections to execute against in the Automation Designer. ActionParameter files: Actions can now accept parameter files. They are in INI format. Right click on an Action/App in Automation Designer and choose "Create Parameter file" to build an INI file based on the current Action properties. It will create property=value pairs for the things which can be overridden. This parameter file can then be used in the Automation Designer ('Run with parameter file') or on the command line by using a pipe to separate the Action/App name from the filename. For example: toad.exe -a "App->Export Dataset1 | c:\data files\exportDataset1.ini"

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You will know which Actions can generate/read an INI file by whether or not the 'Create parameter file' popup menu item in Automation Designer is enabled. Here is a sample section from an INI file which shows an Execute Script Action:

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[47] Name=Execute Script1 Type=Execute Script ItemCount=2 Item0=c:\try1.sql Item1=c:\try2.sql Output=1 {1=SingleFile, 2=SeparateFile, 3=Clipboard, 4=Discard} Output Location=C:\some folder\output.txt ConnectionCount=2 Connection_1=mlerch@ora10gr2.world Connection_2=scott@ora2gr2.world
[47] is an internal identifier. "Name" and "Type" are only for your use, to find your Action within a longer App INI file. Each Actions INI section will be unique to that Action, and in the case of things like enumerated types, will include explanatory notes embedded within the line itself. In this example of 'Execute Script,' two connections are specified. This will override the bound

connection of the Action. If that line wasn't there, the bound connection would be used. Theorder of precedenceforwhichconnectionsgetused:

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Those specified on command-line always override everything else If 1 is not present, those specified in an INI file are considered next Finally, the connection bound to the Action is used if none are in 1 or 2

ReturntoContents Alter Type

Altering a Type in the Schema Browser now loads the object in the Editor. Return to Contents Application Data Folders

The default installation directory for new installs enables roaming profile support by default. In the View | Toad Options | General | Application Data Directory, the Use Default button now points to the user's main application data folder. The Use Local Default button points to the user's local application data folder, which does not support roaming profiles. You must restart Toad for a change in this option to become active. ReturntoContents Editor

New menu item added to the main Toad Editor menu. "Split Size Horizontally" This item will auto size the Editor so that there is equal space allocated for the edit control and the bottom docking panels. The default shortcut is CTRL+F2. You will need to manually add the item to the toolbar or reset your toolbar to see this if upgrading. Return to Contents ER Diagram In addition to the following information, there is an online video tutorial for this feature.

The ER Diagram has been expanded in Toad 10. This functionality is based on, and works with, the Toad Data Modeler. Toad's ER Diagrammer is not meant to be a modeling tool, but it can help you. You can now see the objects included referentially when you add objects using Referential Integrity:

In addition, you can now subdivide your diagram into multiple workspaces.

Separate objects into categories, and color code them, and add Model information to the diagram.

    

Use the Zoom and Snap to Grid features to organize your diagram. Create detailed reports in several formats, zip, and email them. Export diagrams to several different graphics files. With the appropriate Toad Edition, you can also create random test data for selected objects. Create a diagram and send it to Toad Data Modeler for detailed modeling. Return to Contents Grids In addition to this information, there is also an online video for this feature.

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Grids are now consistent throughout Toad. Some new featuresinclude: Grids now share a single popup menu.

Reset Grid View restores the grid to the original configuration so you can undo any groupings, bookmarks and so on with one selection. Grids can handle block selection if row select is unchecked and multi-select is checked. Grids can be grouped by a column header by dragging the header into the Group By area at the top of the grid. This feature can be toggled on the right-click menu.

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Grids that had special functionality now have an upper toolbar containing that functionality, as in the Rebuild Multiple Indexes grid.

You can check or uncheck all boxes in a grid column by right-clicking in the column header and selecting the appropriate option.

Navigator toolbars have been moved to the bottom of the grid area. If you do not see a navigator, right-click in the grid and select Toggle Navigator. Single Record View is now part of the Navigator toolbar.

You can bookmark one location in the grid and return to it later. Put your cursor in the row you want to bookmark and click the bookmark button on Navigator toolbar.

To return to the bookmark, click the Goto Bookmark button on the same toolbar.

Show/Hide columns with the Quick Column Customization drop down in the upper left.

All customizations are remembered (column order and size, group header visibility, and so on). ReturntoContents LicensingStructure

The licensing structure has been changed to support one key for all products in a Toad Edition. If you are upgrading your version of Toad, old license keys are still supported. Return to Contents Load Database Object

Load Database Object now allows incremental searching in both the schema box and the object grid. Return to Contents Network Connection Info

Now stored in NetworkConnections.dat rather than Toad.ini. It is also encrypted using hte same method as the connection information, and tied to the logged in user. ReturntoContents ProfilerAnalysis

Show anonymous blocks toggle in right-click menu added. This defaults to the setting made in the Profiler tab in the Editor.

ReturntoContents Project Manager

AutoConnect mirrors auto-connect property of the login record for Toad as a 2-way mirror, rather than as an independent auto connection. ReturntoContents RebuildTable

Can rebuild tables containing LONG columns. ReturntoContents Script Manager

Has been redesigned for improved support for multiple connections. ReturntoContents SearchFunctionality

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A quick search bar has been added to the main toolbar. From this toolbar you can: SearchToadWorld online Search Toad World and other Toad-related sites Search AskToad (the Toad wiki) SearchKnowledgeXpert Perform keyword searches against the Toad help file.

You can enable/disable the search bar by right-clicking on the toolbar and selecting "Online Search". You may need to restore the toolbar defaults to have it display initially. To do this, right-click on the main toolbar and select Restore defaults. Return to Contents Server Side Object Wizard

 

Now a part of Toad instead of a separate application (required for Unicode support). Data Generation scripts added. ReturntoContents SettingParameters

Setting Parameters now provides lists for parameter selection, and larger editing areas for large parameters. ReturntoContents Set Sequence

Set Sequence feature replaced with an auto-increment via sequence and trigger.

From the Schema Browser | Tables page, right-click and select Add | Trigger/Sequence Pair and then enter the required information:

Double-check the SQL created, make any required changes, and then click OK.

Once the sequence/trigger pair is set, you can highlight columns populated by it by doing the following: From View | Toad Options | Schema Browser - Visual, select Highlight columns populated by sequence/trigger pair.

Return to Contents TNS Names Editor An online video tutorial is also available for this feature.

  

Delete host nodes in Host View mode Delete multiple nodes (host or service) Retain relative position in the tree view when nodes deleted Return to Contents User Data Migration on Upgrade

A new migration tab is added to the initial startup wizard to migrate your existing application data from a previous installation of Toad. Upon startup, Toad will attempt to detect the application data paths of previously installed versions. If one is found, it will select the most recent installed version and give you the option of migrating data files from that installation to the current installation. It will also provide the option of specifying a custom location, or the option to skip the migration and perform a clean install. ReturntoContents Variables

Variables can now be added within definition filenames in several of the Compare and Generate windows. For example %DATEFILE% and %TIMEFILE% can be used to stamp the date and time of creation (These are included in the default filename). Otheruser-defined variables mayalso be added.

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In the Professional, Xpert, Development Suite, and DBA Suite Editions:

CodeXpert

Command line XML output now has an additional tag called comment_count to list the number of comments in the code being analyzed.

ReturntoContents Data Generation

Enhanced data generation ability can now create more realistic data. Generators were added to create various address, geographical, personal, and business data formats. Also included is the ability to reference a foreign field, a hard-coded value, and the ability to enter a custom SQL statement. Straight random and Unicode data are present. An online video tutorial is also available for this feature.

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Three generator engines are supported: Internal: This will create a script with "n" INSERT statements per table (depending on the individual table's settings). An option is also available to commit every "x" rows. Caution: This will create a very large SQL script, which will take longer to execute, but does not require any packages installed on the database server.

DBMS_RANDOM: This will use the DBMS_RANDOM package to generate data, and is similar to the behavior in Toad 9.7. DBMS_RANDOM will need to be installed on the database server for this option to be available. TOAD_DATAGEN: This will use a TOAD-specific package to generate data on the server. The advantage is that this will generate a much smaller SQL script, and will perform faster. Note: You will need to install the TOAD_DATAGEN package through Server Side Object Wizard in order to use this feature. This package can be installed locally, or in the global TOAD schema.

Using Toad 10 you can create more meaningful random data for your tables. Oneway of doingthis: In the Schema Browser, select the tables for which you want to generate data. Right-click and select Generate Data.

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Set General options, including Data Generation Engine. Click on a table or column node and set options specific for that node. All options must be set individually, although the actual generation can be done all at one time.

Click Show SQL to check the code before running it, or click OK to generate data immediately. Return to Contents

In the DB Admin Module and DBA Suite:

Database Browser

Right-click to execute a Quick Script. Return to Contents Database Health Check

Many new health check items have been added. The Database category has been integrated into new categories: (Config, Alert Log, Storage, and Performance). Settings has been moved to its own tab. New health check items include: List default initializationparameters List non-default deprecated initialization parameters. (10g+) Verify compatible matches version major.minor Verify optimizer_features_enable matches version major.minor Verify optmizer_index_caching>= 50 (9i+) List incompatible parameters if pga_aggregate_target (10g) or memory_target (11g) is set Verify pga_aggregate_target>+10MB (10g only) Verify control file count>=2 Verify CPU count - - (let Oracle determine the value) Verify cursor_sharing='SIMILAR' (9i+) Verify cursor_space_for_time='TRUE' (pre 11g) Verify db_cache_size set instead of db_block_buffers (9i+) Verify buffer cache >=200MB VerifyLarge Pool >=50MB Verify objects using KEEP buffer pool exist if db_keep_cache_size is set Verify db_keep_cache_size>=50MB if objects exist which use RECYCLE buffer pool List db_nk_cache_sizes without corresponding tablespaces (9i+) List tablespaces without corresponding db_nk_cache_sizes (9i+) Verify db_block_size<=4K for RAC, >=4K for non-RAC Verify multiblock_read_count between 4 and 16 Verify disk_asynch_io is TRUE (pre-11g) Verify compatibility of db_writer_processes and dbwr_slaves with disk_asynch_io setting Verify dml_locks=0 or >=transactions * 4 Verifyfilesystemio_options='SETALL' Verify fast_start_mttr_target is set when log_checkpoint_timeout=0 (9i+)

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Verify max_dump_file+size<=20MB Verifyopen_cursors>=50 Verify query_rewrite_enabled = TRUE (9i+) Verifyrecyclebin='OFF' (10g+) Verify remote_login_password_file='SHARED' Verifysession_cached_cursors>=20 Verify sga_target>=200MB and sga_max_size same value (10g+) Verifystar_transformation_enabled=TRUE Verify sql_trace = FALSE (pre-11g) Verifytimed_os_statistics = FALSE Verifytimed_statistics = FALSE Verify trace_enabled = FALSE (9i+) Verify SYS.AUD$ isn't in SYSTEM tablespace Verify AWR collection interval >=30 minutes, retention <=90 days (10g and newer) List connect time, version info, and a few basic ratios Listdatafile IO distribution List objects where number of hash partitions is not a power of two List segments with <1% of extents remaining and >10 maxextents Listsegmentswith>1000 extents ReturntoContents Database Monitor

  

Alert options have been moved from the main Options window to the Database Monitor screen. You can now run any action (including scripts) when a specified threshold is hit. You can configure the monitor to begin collecting data whenever a connection is made. Then, when the window is opened, all data is displayed. The DB Monitor tray icon now flashes red if there is an issue that can better be addressed from Spotlight for Oracle. Right-click on the tray icon to launch Spotlight, or choose to open the DB Monitor. Wait events chart has been expanded and updated for Oracle 10g and 11g. Return to Contents Instance Manager Options

Options | Instance Manager - has now been integrated into the Instance Manager window. For example, the grid now includes checkbox columns in each server row to select servers to monitor or alert when down.

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