SQL Navigator 7.2 was released

"New in This Release: Added Oracle 12c new features Added EurekaLog exception handling Improved multiple tasks handling" https://support.software.dell.com/sql-navigator-for-oracle/download-new-releases

Oracle Magazine January-February 2012 online versions

Oracle Magazine January-February 2012:
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Oracle Magazine November-December 2011 online versions

Oracle Magazine November-December 2011:
Flash version
HTML version

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Express Edition Available

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) final version is available. It's "an entry-level, small-footprint database based on the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 code base. It's free to develop, deploy, and distribute; fast to download; and simple to administer." Download Documentation Do not forget to check the Open Bugs and Known Issues section.

Oracle Magazine September - October 2011

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Oracle Database 11g Security and Compliance Solutions Free Webseminar

28 of July 2011 - Free Webseminar "Oracle Database 11g Security and Compliance Solutions" by Tom Kyte

As the amount of digital data within organizations continues to grow at unprecedented rates, so does the value of that data and the challenges of safeguarding that data. Two thirds of sensitive and regulated data resides in databases, yet most IT Security programs fail to address database security and the primary sources of threats that databases face today: insecure applications and privileged users.

Register here

Digital version of Oracle Magazine July/August 2011 is available

Digital version of Oracle Magazine July/August 2011 is available.

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July/August 2011

Do not miss the ODTUG free Webinar: Understanding Explain Plans

Tuesday, June 7, 2011 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST

Understanding Explain Plans
Dan Hotka, www.DanHotka.com
This presentation is a must-see for anyone doing SQL tuning. Dan has a thorough understanding of how the Cost-Based Optimizer works and shares that knowledge in this presentation.
Dan covers:

• Useful Explain Plan tools and scripts
• Understanding Oracle Explain Plan
• How the CBO makes its decisions
• Query Transformations
• How tables are processed/joined
• How indexes are processed
• Explain Plan line Items

This is a live-demo presentation. Dan shows how to work with Explain Plans then goes into considerable detail about exactly how Oracle arrives at an Explain Plan. Dan is an experienced trainer with considerable knowledge on this topic. The attendee will gain valuable insights as to how Oracle processes SQL and many tips on how to improve SQL performance.
Register Here

NUMBER(38) versus INTEGER

Someone ask me why his table compare application showed that a NUMBER(38) column was of a distinct datatype from INTEGER in Oracle.

Digital version of Oracle Magazine May/June 2011 available

Digital version of Oracle Magazine May/June 2011 is available.

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May/June 2011

Bitmap Joins simple explained

Bert Scalzo has a very nice post that explains the Bitmap Joins.

Oracle Database 11.2 Express Edition Beta

Oracle released a Beta version of Oracle XE 11.2 :-) (only for windows x32 and Linux x64)

Oracle Database 11g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) is a free version of the world's most capable relational database. Oracle Database XE is easy to install, easy to manage, and easy to develop with. With Oracle Database XE, you use an intuitive, browser-based interface to administer the database, create tables, views, and other database objects, import, export, and view table data, run queries and SQL scripts, and generate reports.

This version fixes the bugs 10 XE has that were fixed in the standard version and has some new features but doesn't have some cool new features of 11g like PL/SQL Function Result Cache :-(: see Feature availability

Documentation can be found here

Requirements: approximated 0.5 Gb for software installation
Limits: maximum of 11 Gb for user data (it was only 4Gb in the 10g version!). Uses only the equivalent to only one CPU and only 1 Gb RAM.

It ships with APEX installed. update: Attention: According to this posts it ships with a weak default password for APEX_040000 user and APEX Patch 4.0.2 is missing.
Update 26-July: the version I download yesterday for Windows has already APEX Patch 4.0.2 and the user APEX_040000 is locked.

Notice: this version doesn't work with SQL Developer below 3.0 versions. A bug that is promised to be fixed in the final version.

I hope the final version will see the light very soon (maybe for Oracle World?)

Get IP via hostname or hostname via IP in PL/SQL

Sometimes you need to find out in PL/SQL the IP address of a hostname or more frequently the hostname from the IP address (as nslookup does), for instance to check where a web request is from.

Oracle has the package utl_inaddr that allows us to solve that problem.

Do not forget this month ODTUG free Webinar: Introduction to SQL Developer

Tuesday, March 15, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST

Introduction to SQL Developer Session 1
Lewis Cunningham, Oracle ACE Director

Oracle connecting to SQL Server: problems

I had to "migrate" a program that worked beween two Oracle Databases via DBLink to a program that would between oracle and SQL Server.

The connection between Oracle and the SQL Server was provided by Oracle Gateway for ODBC (not the Oracle Gateway for SQL Server).

For the developer point of view the connection it's a simple DB Link and the developer without making a query would not know that in the "other side" it's a SQL Server. Good thing? No!

Problems:
1. the call to table columns must use double quotes (") to ensure that the right capitalization is used
2. To Oracle columns of some types are not available (like ntext)
3. decimal and numeric columns values are truncated to int :-(
4. subqueries with a mix of SQL Server tables and Oracle Tables are not possible
5. using || to concatenate strings is not possible (in SQL Server that is and arithmetic addition)
6. oracle updating a float,decimal or numeric column in a SQL Server table with a not integer value was not possible
7. some transaction error would occour after some updates in sql server tables and then trying to update some oracle table
8. trying to use a varchar2 in a query comparing (or given the value) to a sql server collumn of the type nvarchar would give conversion error.

workaround:
1. use " (double quotes)
2. make a view with a cast in the SQL Server (or a SUBSTRING like function)
3. make a view with a cast to float in the SQL Server
4. rewrite the code (to a cycle for with another query inside for instance)
5. if possible contatenate ouside the query (to a variable)
6. I wrote the value as and integer (multipied by multiple of 10) to another table in the SQL Server and in that table I had a trigger that would take the value received and the multiplied valor and divide the value and put it in the table (as a non-integer )...its very strange to be able to read floats correctly but not inserting or updating
7. make a commit after changing rows in sql server
8. declare a variable of the column type of the sql server table. use that variable in the query.

Anyone was another way to solve these problems using this gateway (Oracle Gateway for ODBC)? Specially the updates with non-integer values?
Thanks

Digital version of Oracle Magazine March/April 2011 available

Digital version of Oracle Magazine March/April 2011 is available. Cloud and Exadata are the focus.

	March/April 2011
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Update: direct link for facebook version (it doesn't need subscription info)

"Slides" da apresentação: "SIGARRA - a case study"

Disponibilizei os "slides" da apresentação que fiz conjuntamente com o António Cunha e Nuno Ornelas em Dezembro no evento da Oracle Portugal: "Open Our Windows" realizado em Lisboa: "SIGARRA - a case study" sobre o uso da DB Oracle no Sistema de Informação da Universidade do Porto e como "site"(s) oficial(ais).

Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler 3.0 released

Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler 3.0 (3.0.0.665) is available.
It includes the ability to create user defined design rules and transformation scripts, integrated reports and support for collaborative development and version control through Subversion.

Check the new features document. Video demonstrations of the new features are also available.

Recent articles to read

Here is a list of some recent articles (last month and half) that I think are very interesting and I advice oracle developers and DBAs to read:
Concurrent Statistics Gathering introduces the Oracle Database 11g r2 latest patchset 11.2.0.2 new concurrent statistics gathering mode.
BTW I think 11.2.0.2 should have been 11.3 due to the addition of several features :-).

100 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Oracle Database series:
Part 1: Myth of Commit Causing Buffer to be Flushed to the Disk
Part 2: Myth: Oracle has a Central Locking System and it's followup

Oracle DBMS_SCHEDULER Part 1–The Basics: A good start for a series of articles about DBMS_SCHEDULER. This article make a very complete introduction to concepts behind this 10g feature that for many people is still a mystery.

And last oracle Magazine Articles:
Simulation Demonstrates Performance: it show the use a of new 11g r2 feature of the SQL Performance Analyzer (new in 11g r1) that allow to get statistics of how the performace would with Exadata;
Ask Tom column specially the about histograms entry

Error: PLS-00801

Today (using Oracle 11.2.0.1.0 ) I got this error when compiling a pl/sql package:

PLS-00801: internal error [phdcsql_print_kge_errors::parm pos]
PL/SQL: Statement ignored
ORA-00900: invalid SQL statement


The description for PLS-00801: internal error [string] says:

Cause: This is a generic internal error that might occur during compilation or execution. The first parameter is the internal error number.

Action: Report this error as a bug to your Customer Support representative.