Re: oracle windows gui for newbie?

Chris <ckolar_at_yahoo.com> wrote:

>Hi. I'm not a database programmer myself, but I do a lot of work
>where I take existing data and move it into database environments such
>as Access or mySQL. I am now going to need to start working with
>Oracle and am looking for a suggestion on a good Windows GUI that is
>friendly for a person who is not a DBA.
>
>In short, I will be taking data that is stored in Excel or Access, and
>need to be able to port it quickly into tables in an Oracle DB. I
>need an interface that will make it easy to create a table, import the
>data, and later on join tables and normalize the data. I know that it
>is wimpy, but Access lets me do this relatively quickly and easily,
>which is important. I will have access through JDBC, but not ODBC if
>that makes any difference.
>
>I've been told to look at Toad and PL/SQL. I would appreciate knowing
>if there are any other friendly GUI tools that would work well for
>this sort of work, free/open source is fine if there is such a thing
>available. I also have the Oracle windows client running (9i R2), but
>am not sure if that is more useful for administration than for actual
>work with data. I have also managed to successfully connect
>Openoffice.org 1.1, but it seems to allow only read access -- I can't
>seem to create tables or input data through the program.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>--chris
>

OK, be prepared to have a very steep re-learning curve..

There is no quick method, for someone unfamiliar with Oracle, to do what you want to do.

Oracle is an entirely different system than any you have worked with, and expecting to be functional with it without some basic training or study is unrealistic and will lead to frustration. Some basic issues:
Who is going to create and configure the Oracle instance you wish to 'port' these tables to? Who establishes the constraints and normalization rules for that data? How much data is involved, how is it to be backed-up, who grants access to it, etc. etc, etc

For some ideas, go to http://technet.oracle.com, register ( its free) and read the docs and concepts manuals.

Good luck, Received on Thu Dec 18 2003 - 09:09:20 CST