Re: Quick and dirty query tool

Folks,

Thanks for your comments.
As far as Oracle Discover or Business Object are concerned, they are not quick and dirty, and definitely not cheap. I did finally evaluate Advance Query Tool and DB Kwick Edit.

1. Advance Query Tool could be good, if the interface was not so clumsy. For example, you can select multple tables, but can not deselect. The only way to remove your selection is to select first, and then delete it in the query Window. In general the tool was fast but, as I said, it was clumry to use.
2. DB Kwick Edit is just a toy. It is okay if you are using it against SQL Server with 10 tables or MS Access. Connect it to a database with 250 tables, it takes three minutes to load. I sent an email to the folks with my feedback, still waiting for a reply.

So, I am back to square one. Apart from using SQL Pass through queries in Access, I have really not found anything worth while.

Regards.

Walt.

"TiefelHund" <nowhere_at_nowhere.com> wrote in message news:b082r0hrne7stbj96cmqt9iq9tvl4ii1nq_at_4ax.com...
> On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 03:02:39 GMT, "WQ" <noreply_at_no-reply-mail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Hello Folks,
> >
> >I was wondering if anyone can suggest a good but not too expensive Visual
> >Query Tool, which will make do the following:
> >1. Build my joins by drag and drop columns between tables
> >2. Build my output clause by double clicking on displayed column list
> >3. Support native oracle functions like decode, nvl etc. (See more on
this
> >later).
> >
> >Okay, there are perhaps a lot of tools out there. I myself have
evaluated a
> >few and most of them were very expensive compared to my minimal needs.
Two
> >of them, which I frequently use are Microsoft Access and PL/SQL Query
> >Reporter by All Round Automation.
> >
> >Here are the Pros and Cons:
> >
> >1. MS Access
> >Pros:
> >Extremely Fast because, when you link the table using an ODBC DSN, it
caches
> >the data dictionery. This makes joing tables very fast.
> >Cons:
> >Does not support native Oracle functions like Decode, NVL etc. The SQL,
> >which comes out is not formatted properly. You will et dizzy by the
number
> >of parenthesis it generates. Uses ODBC connections only vs ADO.
> >
> >2. PL/SQL Query Reporter
> >Pros:
> >Creates nicely formatted queries.
> >Cons:
> >Everything else is bad about this tool. It is slow, because it queries
the
> >DDL at the time of joining tables. Stores queries in a proprietary
format,
> >making it virtually unusable, if you were to switch tools.
> >
> >I am currently evaluating Advanced Query Tool and DB Kwik Edit.
> >
> >I would appreciate any input you can provide on this subject.
> >
> >Regards.
> >
> >Walt.
> >
>
> I use AQT (Advanced Query Tool). It's $125 for a license and can do
> drag and drop query building or straight forward SQL coded queries.
> Mark
Received on Sat Dec 04 2004 - 22:49:33 CST