Since the upgrade to 4.1.5, I have noticed improvement in functionality. I'm not freezing up any longer.

One of the options that I would like to see is the cloud solution (if they have any) because we already implemented the HCM module last year.

We took out the HR part from JD Edwards and moved it into the cloud. That is one of the features that I would like to see, if there is some integration between cloud and organized applications.

I think it would be great to have an overview over the sessions it opens so that we could easily see and control which connections to the database we want to keep open, which ones are hanging; and it would be great to make them independent from each other. 

The GUI ‘navigator’ screen uses different icons for partitioned, indexed organised tables. temporary and of course conventional tables. This allows users to see at a glance the type of table object in use. This is not the case with indexes in the viewer - they all look the same so can’t tell if it is a bitmap index, a unique index, a partitioned index or what. A minor irritation, not a big problem.

I would like to see the Monitor Sessions functionality to provide access to SQL Monitor reports in the same format used by Oracle Enterprise Manager. That would help developers to see what their SQL statements are doing as they run.

The output (generated report) is the same. It's an HTML+ flash type of report that both products allow to save. The part that I like about Oracle Enterprise Manager is that once you get into a report, it keeps refreshing its execution statistics and performance metrics as the query progresses. SQL Developer only shows a snapshot of the execution statistics and performance metrics at the moment you request the report.

Both products have access to the same API to produce these reports so I thought it would be nice if SQL Developer could match OEM's default behavior.

I would like to see more functionality to assist in having database-enforced source control on objects and data.

There are always areas of improvement as it relates to the tool's ability, the process that you need to go through in order to connect to some of the non-Oracle databases. You've got to go find the drivers for connecting to a DB2 database or connecting to even a MySQL database, which is now all by Oracle. Some of those components are just not included. Some of the tasks that the DBAs have to do could be worked out a little bit more.

They've done a great job with providing or producing a dashboard screen; very interesting metrics that you want to see as it relates to what's going on with the database. That's great, but - and this is just feedback that I get from DBAs - some of the features that it deals with, with their role in exploring what's happening in the database, are not there. That dashboard screen that you can now pull up has definitely moved in the direction that allows DBAs to go through there.

Growth in a monitoring perspective is something that I would like to see as it relates to the tool. It gives the developers the ability to say, "Oh, I ran the SQL and here it is outside of the normal suite of tools that Oracle has"; just something very simple to look at and go, okay, I can see how this is impacting the system.

Growth in those areas is where I would see the biggest benefit, but also a very big benefit in how I can connect and say, "Let me see what's going on," and I actually can get a snapshot of what's happening at that moment in time, what opportunity in the future could we push that, as it automatically refreshes that information.

Feature-wise, it has everything that I need. My only complaint over the years has been memory usage, which seems to improve with each release. I also understand that this may be out of the developer’s control (i.e. Java).

Oracle SQL Developer could improve the speed, it is a bit slow.

The competing products have more features. 

I am not aware of any areas for improvement at the moment.

There are a lot of options and I think, as with any tool, making finding those options the easiest would be something that that this tool could work on. Sometimes it kind of takes a while to go through and remember where different options are. I've seen as we've gone through different versions of the tool, they're continuing to get better at that.

There's always going to be streamlining, and one thing they could improve is the installation. Even though it installs easy, there is a lot of Java behind the tool. It seems like some of the Java is more memory-intensive. Sometimes I feel like the Java side of the tool kind of gets in the way.

I tried using SQL Developer once, when I was still working as an employee, using one of the older versions. It worked nicely, and I liked that I didn't need an installation, it was very convenient. But after many years, when I tried to use it again, against the more advanced Oracle Database, it did not work. Something in the Java was not compatible. I would have had to install it again, and I didn't do so. 

But now I am properly studying the issue of installing a database of my own, versus installing a virtual box with an Oracle appliance inside. I will have to see which one works best for me because each one has pros and cons. I am not a DBA. So if I get involved in an installation problem, I don't know how to get out of it.

It would be nice to have the ability to access DBs than Oracle.

While working with Data Pump, I have faced a few problems. For example, sometimes it won’t let me change the set file type. Although this was not that big of an issue, yet I think that the Data Pump feature could be further improved.

It should be more Mac friendly.

There is room for improvement in the Real Time SQL Monitoring.

I would say the layout should be improved. I've also have used PL/SQL Developer, and I like the layout, the landscape, of that application better than SQL Dev. Even though, in SQL Dev, you can highlight every single view and save the DDL, where you can't do that in PL/SQL Developer, the layout is what I would suggest as far as an area with room for improvement.

Could be made to load faster.

Off the top of my head (I don't use it that often):

• Just copy IntelliJ's IDEA for PL/SQL
• Projects - there are none and are much needed
• More code formatting options
• To be able to handle db object scripts that end with /
• File browser
• Filtering
• Favourite locations
• Versioning is there, check. But it sucks a lot, double check. Maybe except SVN.

It's getting better with every release. I would have rated it much lower a couple of years ago. With Oracle's resources, it could be much much better.

I would like to see better tuning modules. It could also be more intuitive, easier to use, not so complicated finding the things you need to do, and support background processes better.

If they had something on the Web then you wouldn't need to install it, just query, like Enterprise Manager.

Execution plan.

Queries. 

The interface could be friendlier for the DBA by having the dashboard show real-time statistics from the database engine. It could also give details from active sessions, details about PGA, information about background processes like DBWR, LGWR and RVWR, alerts when you pass thresholds, logical reads, physical reads, and direct physical leads.

The interface could be friendlier for the DBA by having dashboards, like Enterprise Manager.

I would like to see it support NoSQL database.

Although the GUI is nice, it could still use improvement, a better user interface.

There are many additional features I would like to see. The main one would be installation with an installer.