Re: Query tool for smart usersQ

[Quoted] Anna C. Dent wrote:

> Lee wrote:
>
>> I have some fairly tech friendly users who would like to be able to
>> do their own SQL queries.
>>
>> Two problems:
>> 1. Can anyone suggest a good book on SQL (better yet, Oracle's flavor
>> of SQL) that might be appropriate for people with
>> a technical mind set but pretty much zero background in databases,
>> Oracle, query languages, etc,
>
>
> Tom Kyte's Expert One on One

[Quoted] Great book! All aces, I hold it in highest regard, but its not for the audience I have in mind. Maybe the chapter on analytic functions or even the one on materialized views might be for them a bit later, after they've figured out correlated queries and the difference between inner and outer joins.

I was thinking along the lines of something like Kolko's (if I have the name right) "SQL for Smarties") ....something that takes the abso-posolute beginner , but one whose been exposed to some maths, and gets them up to speed so that they can get the "answers" and the "numbers" that are lurking there in the all that data.

>
>
>>
>> 2. Natrurally we can set them (the users, I mean) with sql*plus BUT
>> thats pretty spartan. They would be using wintel clients to access
>> our remote UNIX server.
>
>
> What else do you require that SQL*plus does not do?

[Quoted] SQL*Plus does not give much help to the novice, or even to people who dont know the names of all the tables and columns. Sure you can select tname from tab, and cname from col, and even get comments out of all_Tab_comments and all_col_comments, but you have to know the magic names AND you have to be prepared for the data to go screaming past
you at a mile a minute off the screeen. Didnt set spool filename? Gosh! Too bad. Forgot some sql syntax bit? RTFM my friend, no help from sql*plus. Even a simple thing such as returning a result set in a spread-sheet like rows and cols display which is then scrollable goes a long way to making the user feel a bit more accomodated.

>
> How about MS ACCESS?

[Quoted] Hmmmm.....that might have some possibilites. I dont have all that much experience with Access. I seem to remember that its a bit of a pain getting it to "pass through" Oracle syntax through the ODBC layer, but at least it does have some user friendly interface bits.

>
>
>> Can anyone suggest a better tool, either Oracle or thrird party? If
>> third party its got to be cheap (GJ Linker's SQL*XL
>> qualifies, for example)
>
>
> Quantify "better".

Quantify? 42.

>
> Based upon what criteria?

[Quoted] I mean something that supports the end user's quest to get modest volumes of meaningful data with enough formatting to help with readability but nothing elaborate , out of the database.

>
> To a large degree SQL is SQL.
>
We dont have Web DB set up (we're still on 8i, havent gone to 9i yet) but it looks as if the web db sql interface is a bit more friendly.

Oh well. Received on Sun Nov 23 2003 - 01:33:00 CET