dbTool / News: Recent posts

A new version of dbTool (written from the ground up) is making good progress.
This version will have better database metadata, and a more flexible driver structure, allowing more database types to be supported.

Added prefix Oracle table and column names with schema name for use in Excel export.
Fixed bug in when adding dataserver and pressing enter rather than clicking OK caused a blank server alias name.
Fixed a race condition when opening a default database as part of opening a server.
Trap COM errors from Excel and display the SQL passed in the event of an exception.
Removed loading of unused toolbar images at startup.
Fixed bug where database object names differ only in case.
Fixed connection string for Excel export of Oracle queries.
Reduce the number of events generated when loading persistent model.
Alter cursor to show hourglass when busy, pointer when idle and combination of the two when working in the background.

dbTool has been designed to provide a uniform interface over heterogeneous data sources to enable simple data manipulation. The motivation for the tool was to simplify ad-hoc data population and extraction operation in a software development context.

New features in this release include:
- support for views, stored procedures and other types of database objects
- externalisation of database metadata scripts (anyone wanting to contribute enhanced Oracle scripts please drop me a mail)
- query editor
- improved file handling

The Excel 2003 export plugin for dbTool provides the ability to export queries directly into Excel as worksheets or pivot tables.
Exported queries may be refreshed from within Excel.
Please note: this is a beta release...

dbTool has been designed for developers who need to access databases and manipulate data; it is not a substitute for a database administration tool.

The design goal was simplify data population and query over a variety of data sources and provide a common interface to many different types of data providers. For each data provider, a dynamically loaded .NET assembly acts as a driver, thereby allowing more providers to developed independantly.... read more