Musings from The Software Underground

The third beta version of SQLGrinder 2, the completely-rewritten version of our database development tool was posted today.

Please see the release notes page for the full list of changes.

A few of highlights from the new version:

• Added schema qualifier to reduce schema retrieval data set. Primarily for Oracle users, the database in the login sheet can now be specified as SID:schema so that instead of the entire world being pulled back, which is what the Oracle JDBC driver returns, a specific schema and only that schema will be loaded. Usage: DevDB:SCOTT will retrieve only the SCOTT schema from the database with an SID of DevDB. This is a lot faster than pulling everything back and displaying it, even when you can't view and edit most of the schema outside of SCOTT and don't need that data.


• Added "All Columns" to search field menus, so that all columns of a result set can be searched at once.


• Added an icon that shows the edit state of the data table in the schema browser. Only tables with primary keys can be edited.

The most significant change is the schema qualifier. Though it was primarily added because by default the Oracle JDBC driver returns EVERYTHING for an SID, it can actually be used to filter when connected to other databases as well. It allows you to easily specify just one schema or catalog to look at, so you don't have to see things like system tables, etc. if you don't want to, as this can really add to schema retrieval times and you probably don't need to see usually see this extra information.

Also, just a reminder that beta builds are full debug builds and aren't optimized for speed, size, etc. yet, and carry the usual "use at your own risk" warnings.

Finally, you can subscribe to the release notes page, which now has an RSS feed, to stay up-to-date on what's changed and what known issues there might be.

Pricing and availability for SQLGrinder 2

Pricing for the new version has been set at $59. During the beta period however, SQLGrinder 2 can be purchased for the current price of $49.95 with purchasers receiving a free upgrade to the final version once available. Owners of the current version can purchase an upgrade for only $19 by sending their current registration information to upgrades@sqlgrinder.com. Beta coupons will be sent out to users near the end of the beta.

SQLGrinder 2 for Mac OS X is currently available for a limited time as an unlimited beta version.

The beta of SQLGrinder 2 can be downloaded from the Advenio web site at: http://www.advenio.com/sqlgrinder/download.