The article deals with the Visual Studio add-ins for Oracle database development and management and provides an extensive comparison of two contenting add-ins for the aforesaid purpose, dbForge Fusion for Oracle and Oracle Tools for Visual Studio.
Why do Developers Need Plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio?
Perhaps there are no developers who are not familiar with Visual Studio that has proven to be a perfect IDE for developing almost anything, from a website to an application or a database.
Along with rich development-focused functionality, Visual Studio allows extending and custom-tailoring and the environment for the specific development needs with help of installing extensions s from Visual Studio Marketplace.
Oracle database development is no exception: it is hardly be imagined and, frankly speaking, possible without installing plugins into Visual Studio. In fact, you need one to establish a database connection.
As for the comprehensive development of oracle datasets, there is a number of extensions that can infuse Visual Studio with dozens of features for Oracle database development, administration, and management, this turning Visual Studio into the ultimate database development environment.
In this article, we will spot on the most notable plugins from the range, Oracle Developer Tools For Visual Studio and dbForge Fusion for Oracle.
Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio (ODT)
Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio is a free Visual Studio extension that allows developers to connect to Oracle databases, browse and modify Oracle schema objects and data, edit and debug PL/SQL, generate SQL scripts, and more.
The plugin functionality highlights include the following features for Oracle database development:
- Support for Oracle Cloud
- PL/SQL editor and debugger
- SQL Script editing and execution
- Oracle database projects
- Schema comparison and sync
- SQL testing and tuning
Devart dbForge Fusion for Oracle
dbForge Fusion for Oracle is a Visual Studio plugin designed to enhance the productivity of Oracle database development and simplify the data management process.
The plugin is compatible with the following Visual Studio versions:
- Visual Studio 2019
- Visual Studio 2017
- Visual Studio 2015
- Visual Studio 2013
- Visual Studio 2012
- Visual Studio 2010
- Visual Studio 2008
dbForge Fusion for Oracle provides a really impressive pack of features, including:
- PL/SQL code completion
- Oracle PL/SQL debugger
- Compare and sync both, schema and data
- Oracle database designer
- Query profiler
- Oracle schema export/import
To learn more about the functionality of this Visual Studio plugin for Oracle DB development, refer to the Features product page.
Extensions Comparison Review
Since the general information about both plugins above does not say much to make a clear conclusion about them, we have carried a rigid comparison of each and every feature.
The table below represents the results of the comparison of features of dbForge Fusion for Oracle, Professional Edition with Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2019. For more convenience, we have grouped all the features into the following categories: Connectivity, SQL Development, Database Design, Database Administration, Data Pump, and Data Analysis.
| Functionality | dbForge Fusion for Oracle | Oracle Developer Tools |
| Connectivity | ||
| Direct connection | Yes | Yes/No1 |
| Connection (with Oracle Client) | Yes | No |
| Oracle 12c, 11g, 10g, 9i, 8i*, Oracle Express Edition (Oracle XE) 11 R2, 10 databases support | Yes | Yes |
| Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Application Deployment | No | Yes |
| Amazon RDS support | Yes | Yes |
| Exporting/importing user settings Exporting/importing user settings | Yes | No |
| SQL Development | ||
| PL/SQL editor with syntax highlight, bookmarks, and text search | Yes | Yes/No2 |
| PL/SQL debugger | Yes | Yes/No3 |
| PL/SQL formatter | Yes | No |
| Context-sensitive code completion | Yes | No |
| Quick information about schema objects | Yes | No |
| Parameter information for stored routines | Yes | No |
| Visual Query Builder | Yes | Yes/No4 |
| Navigation to a schema object editor from code | Yes | No |
| Code snippets | Yes | No |
| Customizable DDL generation wizard | Yes | No |
| Query Profiler | Yes | No |
| Highlight Occurrences | Yes | No |
| Database Design | ||
| Visual editors for schema objects | Yes | Yes |
| Database projects | Yes | Yes |
| Schema comparison and synchronization tool | Yes | Yes |
| Database Diagrams | Yes | No |
| Find an object in a database | Yes | No |
| Object Viewer window | Yes | Yes |
| Dependencies lister | Yes | No |
| Database Administration | ||
| Database Administration | Yes | Yes |
| Security Manager | Yes | Yes |
| Session Manager | Yes | No |
| Event Monitor | Yes | No |
| Data Pump | ||
| Data comparison and synchronization tool | Yes | No |
| Data import and data export | Yes | Yes/No5 |
| Schema export and import (dump) | Yes | No |
| Data Analysis | ||
| Pivot tables | Yes | No |
| Data reports | Yes | No |
| Master-Detail Browser | Yes | No |
| Find data record in a database | Yes | No |
| Data editor with in-place filtering, grouping, and sorting | Yes | No |
1 Though Oracle Developer Tools provides a direct connection, some components will work in the limited functionality mode.
2 Oracle Developer Tools features merely basic SQ: Editor. The syntax highlight is limited to the keyword highlight.
3 Though the Oracle Developer Tools documentation states that the plugin includes the debugger feature, the internal Visual Studio debugger is used and does not allow debugging a PL/SQL query.
4 Oracle Developer Tools uses MS Query Designer.
5 Oracle Developer Tools allows importing tables (with/without data) only.
Conclusion
In this article, we took a rigid look at the two best Visual Studio add-ins for Oracle database development, Oracle Developer Tools and dbForge Fusion for Oracle, and handled out a detailed comparison of both tools.
A close look at the tools showed that Oracle Developer Tools suits best to perform merely simple database tasks, e.g. carry out minor database tweaks, perform a check the work that has been done already. Among the stand-outs of Oracle Developer Tools are support for Oracle Cloud and a handy database tree that neatly builds into Server Explorer.
As for full-featured database development, dbForge Fusion for Oracle seems to be a more suitable candidate. The plugin delivers really powerful functionality for every aspect of Oracle database development. To name a few, advanced SQL Development functionality with outstanding code completion, visual query builder, and query profiler; database diagram feature, import/export of both, schema and data, a full set of features for data analysis (data reports, master-detail browser, pivot tables), and much more.
If these Oracle developer tools sound good to you as well, we highly recommend downloading a 30-day free trial of dbForge Fusion for Oracle and check how it can move your Oracle database development further! Also, you can watch this video tutorial:
