Don't hesitate and, to get the most out of the product, explore some of the free online tutorials and webinars around using the product. For example, lots of great info at www.thatjeffsmith.com.

I would definitely advise others to look into this tool and it’s solution.

The number one criteria whilst choosing a vendor, is support. If you get the right support; that is if you are able to meet the SLAs, the business SLAs, and in my opinion that is what the company looks at.

One of the reasons, as I said, it is quite simple, but has its own complexities. For example, when you pull more than 20 million records from the finance table, there is some performance impact.

I think you should make yourself familiar with this product and get into the core functionality first, before making a decision.

I would rate it a nine out of 10 because I like its features, how well it is integrated into the core Oracle Database, and it's the first choice when you have to do stuff within the database.

Invest some time on standardizing the preferences/reports and centralize them so that all of your developers use exactly the same setup. For example, you could customize all the preferences that format your code in order to follow your company’s SQL and PL/SQL standards.

It has done everything that I needed it to do, and it doesn't cost you anything. That's the first pitch. Then, when you start saying, "Okay, well how do I get involved with SQL Developer, how do I take advantage of it?" One is, you can go to the OTN website or the downloads at the Oracle.com website, and you can download a copy. It's an install. Actually, it's not an install; it's an unzip. You don't have to worry about specific issues such as not being able to install software on your computer because of corporate policy; you just unzip the file you wanted.

Then I follow that with going back to this community perspective; there are tons of blog posts that I would say, “Do a search on Google for ‘How to do’ whatever it is you're doing in SQL Developer. You're going to get something back.”

The tool itself is very intuitive, and you can download documentation from Oracle's website. For, me the real documentation is what the people who are using it every day are pushing out; here's how I did or how you do these particular tasks. I've written several myself on how to connect to a database using SSH. There are a number of “How do I make this extension to run within SQL Developer”, which is a cool thing. I can write an extension and make it part of SQL Developer, if I wanted to use SQL Developer to monitor something. I have the ability to write code that I can then incorporate into SQL Developer, and have it do some additional task that it didn't come delivered with. Great tool, great feature. You might not see that in anything else.

Know what is unique to SQL, obviously, because it's a tool used to develop databases, develop applications within the database environment, and because you have to know how to configure SQL Developer to connect to databases, you might want to brush up on what that means as it relates to your database environment. A connection string in an Oracle database is going to be different than if you're trying to connect to a MySQL database, a TimesTen database, a DD2 database, or even MySQL Server. Being familiar with what you're going to connect SQL Developer to is very important, as it will save you a lot of the frustration of, “I don't see what's going on, I don't know how to do this.”

Get familiar with the PL/SQL debugging tool within SQL Developer. It allows you to skip through your code, so you can see what the output is going to be, or what these fine variables contain as you go through your codes. It obviously helps you with troubleshooting. It'll add optimization of your codes. Take advantage of the ability to, as I mentioned before, to separate out your codes so that you can see the before and what your changes are.

There are a lot of features. The editing, get familiar with editing within the IDE. It does block editing, all kinds of things that let you format your code for presentation purposes. Just kind of think about what your development environment would look like, and just download SQL Developer and just go through those things, and get familiar with them so when you're actually getting ready to say, "Hey, I'm trying to convince corporate that this is the route we need to take," you can then lay on top of what you're supposedly doing with how SQL Dev can actually help you achieve those goals.

For first-time users of Oracle SQL Developer, it's going to be a bit difficult, but they can find their way around over time.

I rate Oracle SQL Developer a nine out of ten.

I didn't face any other issues other than it being a bit slow when you have a lot of work to do.

I am a blogger, The Data Warrior, and I have multiple blog posts on it about these tools. My most popular blog post was when I wrote, probably almost three years ago now, about how to connect Data Modeler to SQL Server. The second most popular blog post is the very first one I wrote about the Data Modeler. Every so often, I go back and have to update it because there's new releases.

Every client I have had and every organization I have worked for since Data Modeler came out and SQL Developer came out, I get them using it. I have had several organizations that were using Toad and when time came for the support renewal on those, I usually got them to convert over to SQL Developer.

Try this if you do not need a lot of storage, especially since it is free and if it is the newer version with no GUI version. Everybody should try it because you do not have to code things to create output from JSON or DDL. It allows you to get everything you want together: tables, indexes, etc.

For data architects, it offers the advantage of being part of the same tool set as the cost-free license for Oracle Data Modeler. Together, they form a nice tool kit for data architects as well as database developers and other specializations.

I think it's a good product in the sense that it does not overwhelm you with many features. So I would give it a 10 out of 10.

I would recommend it.

It’s a great tool for accessing and exploring Oracle Databases.

It is a great open-source software, power packed with features. The initial setup is simple, which means less mess in terms of training the employees. Moreover, it is fairly stable which makes it a wonderful choice.

It's an independent platform. You can use it anywhere.

It's good, scalable and a lot of times, it works as-is. We have very few calls to support. It is Mac compatible team, and it is Java based.

Read Jeff Smith’s blog. If you think a feature should be there, investigate. Quite likely, it’s already there; maybe you just overlooked it. If it’s not, open a feature request at sqldeveloper.oracle.com. Learn a handful of shortcuts (or two), it will improve your efficiency enormously.

In terms of advice, I would first ask you what you are expecting from the tool and, if it is in the scope of Oracle SQL Developer, I would recommend it.

I rate this solution at nine out of 10. It accomplishes what I expect. It's a nine and not a 10 because, it needs better real-time monitoring of development.

Read as much as you can. Just use it. I've been doing this for 25 years, so it's very easy to me. The more you do it, the easier it is.

It's just the best out there.

Invest enough time beforehand so you would fully understand how Oracle SQL Developer works and behaves in some situations. It is a very powerful tool, but sometimes it "works in mysterious ways", just like any Oracle's desktop product. (JDeveloper is the best example.)

When selecting a vendor the most important criterion is that they are professional.

I rate this solution at six out of 10 because there are better tools that I am using. One of them is Toad, from Quest Software. Toad is more intuitive, easier to use, doing better work, and has more features.

I prefer Toad. But if it is a question of budget, it's better to use SQL Developer.

Just try it. It's very easy.

Take care during the initial setup and have patience. It can be too heavy and eat your memory.

It's very easy to use.

Download it, install it and never stop using it. I would give it a ten out of ten.

Invest some time in standardizing the preferences.

Using this solution depends on budget and on the number of developers. The more developers you have, the less you will want SQL Developer.