DB Solo is pleased to announce version 2.0 of its cross-platform database development and management tool. This release introduces several features such as a Hibernate/EJB 3.0/JDBC code generator, PostgreSQL Schema Comparator, support for Intel-based Macs, SQL Server 2005, Sybase 15, DB2 Explain Plan and much more. The main capabilities of DB Solo are:

• Cross-platform database tool with support for all major DBMS products
• Multiple simultaneous database connections
• Browse and manage database structures with a couple of mouse clicks
• Create and drop common database objects
• Enter ad-hoc queries in the query window that supports auto completion, syntax coloring, explain plan, persisted query history and multiple result sets
• Script Generator
• J2EE Code Generator for POJOs, EJB 3.0 annotations, JDBC persistence layer using the DAO pattern, JUnit tests, etc.
• Schema Comparison Tool

This is a commercial product. A free 30-day evaluation can be downloaded, and the package can be purchased for $59 USD (or less, based on quantity). There are specific versions for Windows, MacOSX, Linux, and Solaris. For more information, please see the DB Solo website. Message was edited by: joeo@enigmastation.com

Forgive my frustration, but there seem to be so many DB tools that come close to being really good, but fail miserably at things that should be easy. Examples include ADS, DB Solo, DB Visualizer, ExecuteQuery etc. and those are just the cross-platform ones - there are *lots* more that are platform specific. First and foremost on my list of sins for DB tools is horrific use of screen real estate. In DB Solo's query window about a quarter of the real estate (on my 20" monitor) is sucked up by a useless metadata panel that can't be hidden, won't collapse further etc. Next up...why is the limit on rows returned hard? Other tools manage to leave the cursor open and let me fetch additional rows if I decide I need them without re-executing the query. An initial fetch limit is useful, a hard rows-returned limit is quite a pain in the ass. But my #1 peeve is that most of these vendors have "Mac" support, but fail to configure their applications to use the basic mac key bindings. Things like cmd-arrow don't work, ctrl-arrow or option-arrow have weird effects. It's exceedinly frustrating to have to use different key-combos for basic things like this. If you really want to have an edge on the competition, quite adding all the new features and make the user experience for developers work! I have to admit that the only thing I regret about moving to the Mac years ago is my departure from Toad :( -Tim Fennell Stripes: Because web development should just be easier.

Toad is horrible...horrible..shudder.

Toad is horrible...horrible..shudder.

I have to admit it's been 4+ years since I've used it, so perhaps time has made my recollections of it kinder! -Tim Fennell Stripes: Because web development should just be easier.

I've got Toad version 8.0 and it still has very basic errors in its UI. Toad's developers don't know how to distinguish between vertical and horizontal scroll bar events. When scrolling through a result set and I scroll horizontally to see columns out of view to the right and then scroll down it resets the horizontal scroll position all the way back to the left. Someone who has read their first book on graphics programming learns how to handle vertical and horizontal scroll bar events, but not the Toad developers.

Yeah, whatever, it gets the job done many times faster and better than any java based db development tool I've seen.

Given almost any tool, I would argue every user will find things that are annoying, not customizable enough or plain bugs. People simply use their applications differently and have different levels of expectations. Having said that, you raise valid points. I can promise the 'uselesss metadata panel' (which really is a lot more than that) can be collapsed in the very next version of the product and the other issues will get addressed later. The difference between DB Solo and some of the bigger vendors is that customer improvement ideas will in many cases appear in the next version of the product and critical bugs will in most cases be fixed the same day. No tool is perfect but by sending enhancement requests and knowing they will get implemented quickly will hopefully make the tool 'not miss the mark'. Marko

Given almost any tool, I would argue every user will find things that are annoying, not customizable enough or plain bugs......but by sending enhancement requests and knowing they will get implemented quickly will hopefully make the tool 'not miss the mark'.

Hey Marko. Please don't read too much into my comments, I was expressing frustration at the state of this whole sector as much as with DB Solo in particular. If what you say is true, that you guys are very responsive to customer feedback, then I'd be more than happy to work with you guys to improve the product. It seems like most vendors aren't interested in making the user experience better - just in adding new features. If DB Solo is different in that regard, then it really wouldn't take much to fix most of my gripes and make it my new favorite tool... What's the best way to submit bug reports and feature requests? -Tim Fennell Stripes: Because web development should just be easier.

Tim, Best way really is to post your issue/request to the DB Solo forum at http://groups.google.com/group/DB-Solo If the issue involves sensitive data (such as table names you don't want everyone to see) you can also send an email to support at dbsolo dot com. Marko

I don't understand the usefulness of a hibernate (or any other ORM technology) generator. If I use an ORM tool I think in terms of objects, not tables. Those are "generated" by the ORM tool. Doing the other way round (define the tables and the decide what the objects are) seems to be a good anti-pattern. Guido.

This is generally true if you're starting from a clean slate, but a good portion of all projects are built on top of some kind of legacy database. In such cases ORM tools are not that useful and a code generator can same you hundreds of hours of manual coding. Also, anti-pattern or not, many people still start the design process from the schema. Marko

This is generally true if you're starting from a clean slate, but a good portion of all projects are built on top of some kind of legacy database. In such cases ORM tools are not that useful and a code generator can same you hundreds of hours of manual coding.

No, at all. ORM tools can be successfully used to map legacy databases. I agree, in **this** case code generators are useful.

Also, anti-pattern or not, many people still start the design process from the schema.

Marko

Sic ! I know :( Guido