The Data Warrior

Changing the world, one data model at a time. How can I help you?

Archive for the tag “Oracle”

20 Feb 2012
12 Comments

The best FREE data modeling tool ever

Yup, I said FREE!

Oracle just released the latest and greatest version of SQL Developer Data Modeler  (SDDM) and it is free to the world to not only download but to use in your production environment to develop all your models.

As many of you know, I have been using this tool for several years now and have mentioned it many times on various LinkedIn forums (just search for me and check out my activity). I have used SDDM for both Oracle and SQL Server. For forward engineering and reverse engineering. For conceptual, logical, and physical data models.

I think it is a great tool (even if it was not free).

I loved Oracle Designer and got quite good at that, but once shops stopped buying and using Designer (and Oracle pretty much sun-setted the tool), I suffered for a few years using other tools.

I was a very happy camper when Oracle came out with this new data modeling tool. I am even happier now with the new features they have added.

The one I like the most, so far, is the visual editor they added for defining views. The previous version had a decent declarative approach that allowed you to specify tables, columns, and joins, but you could not really “see” the implied data model.

The newest version of SDDM (version 3.1) has added in a visual editor that shows you a diagram of the tables, columns, and joins. So now when you open (or define) a view and press the “query” property button you get drag and drop interface to build the view and a nice visual diagram.

And the best part is when you upgrade your existing models from previous versions, the old views automatically get diagrammed.

To get the best out of the new version you need to run a one time utility labeled “Parse Older Style Views”. You can find that off the right mouse menu in any diagram with views. It runs very fast and basically reads the SQL for your views then parses it out to show up properly in the diagram.

One nice new feature with the parsed views is that if the underlying tables in the view are part of the same design file (hopefully you did not drop those), then the view object on your diagram will now list those tables below all the columns. This is nice because now I do not have to open the view definition to see which tables the view is pulling from.

The other great new feature is the “Test Query” button on the view property dialog.

No more writing views that do not work. You press the button, specify a database connection to use, then the base query for the view fires.

If there is an error in your syntax, or a table you don’t have access to, you find out immediately.

So gone are the days of writing the view in your modeling tools, loging into SQL Plus or SQL Developer, testing the view, having it fail, then going back to SDDM to fix it.

Now you can do agile view development! In one tool!

Neat!

Oh, and if the view works, there is a data tab so you can see the actual data the view will produce – live. Right in the data modeling tool.

Pretty cool.

Nice job guys.

Convinced yet? Head over to the Oracle site and download your own copy and give it try.

UPDATE 2015: Data Modeler is now up to version 4.1 and going strong. Plus now there is an Oracle Press book available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Developer-Modeler-Database-Mastery-ebook/dp/B00VMMR9EA/

And I even have a tips and tricks Kindle book out on SDDM. You can find that here.

Let me know what you think in the blog comments.

Talk to you all later.

Kent

P.S. For all the new features in SDDM 4.1 check out the full list over here.

P.P.S Need training on SDDM? Check out my post about my new workshop.

Posted in Data Modeling, Oracle, SQL Developer Data Modeler and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
02 Feb 2012

Ready for a Rocky Mountain High?

Got the mid winter blues?

Ready for some bright sunshine and fresh mountain air? Maybe some snow?

The wait is almost over! RMOUG Training Days 2012, February 14 – 16, is only 14 days away! That’s right, only a few days until the biggest, and the best regional Oracle users group conference kicks off! But why wait until the last minute?

You still have a few days to take advantage of the lower Standard Registration rates. Register by February 9 to receive the lower rate.

And don’t forget to sign up for a University session. I am participating in this one:

Data Warehouse Performance

Jerry Ireland, Rightsizing Inc., Mark W. Farnham, Rightsizing, Inc., Tim Gorman, Evergreen Database Technologies, Inc, & Kent Graziano, TrueBridge Resources

This session brings together four experts in performance and data warehousing. All are Oracle ACEs, two are members of the OakTable, and together they represent over ninety years of experience with Oracle. All of the ideas and techniques presented can be implemented with minimal additional hardware and most with a manageable effort. The session will start with some hints and tips that can be used on existing data warehouses and progress to a method of getting performance when the CBO does not recognize a star schema. The session will present partitioning strategies to increase scaling, and finally take a glimpse at some of the benefits of relatively new, but growing, database architecture. The day will be wrapped up with a Q & A with all symposium presenters.

So don’t delay, make your plans today!

And maybe get some skiing in?

See ya!

Kent

Posted in Data Warehouse, Oracle, User Groups and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
24 Jan 2012

Hello Montreal!

Well, it took all day, but I am safely tucked away for the evening in my hotel (Le Meridien Versailles) in Montreal.  I am here for a three-day Data Vault Certification class.

I left Houston this morning, flew through Cleveland (CLE) and then to Burlington, Vermont. There, my good friend, Dan Linstedt, kindly picked me up at the airport and drove us across the border to Montreal, Canada (which took about 2 hours) and deposited me at my hotel. Dan lives north of Burlington and was coming this way anyhow (he is actually teaching the class I am attending). It was a great chance for us to catch up as we have not seen each other (face to face anyway) for quite a few years. Look for some big things from Dan in the coming months.

Monday night I prepared for the class by loading up my laptop with all the latest Oracle toys: SQL Developer Data Modeler Release 3.1 Early Adopter, SQL Developer Release 3.1 Early Adopter, and the Oracle Database 11g Express Edition Release 2 (AKA Oracle XE). These are all free tools and very easy to set up (even for a non-DBA like moi). With that I should be able to actually build out the examples in the class for real.

(Hmm…maybe I can use those for examples in my KScope 12 session…)

In any case, it should be a fun few days meeting some new people, seeing a new city (I have never been here before), and seeing what new techniques Dan has come with in the Data Vault arena.

Stay tuned this week as I plan to provide some updates each day on what I learned in the class. (You might want to click the “follow” button if you haven’t already)

If there are any questions you want me to ask Dan, leave them below in the comments.

 

Posted in Data Vault, ODTUG, Oracle, SQL Developer Data Modeler, User Groups and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
06 Jan 2012

Don’t forget to register for RMOUG Training Days

Yes, it’s that time of year – time to get on board for the Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group annual training event in Denver, Colorado. All I can say is that it is certainly the biggest and best regional Oracle conference I have ever been too. (To be fair – I helped organize the very first one and quite a few after that!)

Don’t miss it – register soon.

I will not be attending in person this year but I will be there remotely delivering part of the Data Warehouse Performance university session.

Anyway – check it out .

Later,

Kent

Posted in Oracle and tagged | Leave a comment

Post Navigation

Newer Entries →