1 Installing Oracle SQL Developer

1.1 SQL Developer System Recommendations

This section describes the recommended minimum values for CPU, memory, display, disk storage, and other resources on the supported systems.

1.2 Installing and Starting SQL Developer

This section contains subsections with instructions for installing SQL Developer on all supported systems.

SQL Developer does not require an installer. To install SQL Developer, you will need an unzip tool. You can download a free, cross-platform unzip tool, Info-Zip, available at http://www.info-zip.org/.

For Windows systems, there are two kits: one for systems on which the Sun Java SDK release 1.5 is installed, and another for systems with no Java SDK or a Sun Java SDK release lower than 1.5. Be sure to download the appropriate kit.

Before you install SQL Developer, look at the remaining sections of this guide to see if you need to know or do anything else first.

The steps for installing SQL Developer depend on whether or not you will be using it on a Windows system that does not have the Sun Java SDK release 1.5 installed:

• For a Windows system with the Sun Java release 1.5 installed, follow the instructions in Section 1.2.1.

• For all other systems (Linux and Mac OS X systems, and Windows systems with no Java SDK or a Sun Java SDK release lower than 1.5 installed), follow the instructions in Section 1.2.2.

1.3 Migrating User Settings from Release 1.0

The first time you start SQL Developer after installing it or after adding any extensions, you are asked if you want to migrate your user settings from a previous release. (This occurs regardless of whether there was a previous release on your system.)

These settings refer to database connections, reports, and certain SQL Developer user preferences that you set in a previous version by clicking Tools and then Preferences. However, some user preferences are not saved, and you must re-specify these using the new release.

To migrate user settings from SQL Developer Release 1.0:

1. Unzip the Release 1.1 kit into an empty directory (folder). Do not delete or overwrite the directory into which you unzipped the Release 1.0 kit.

2. When you start SQL Developer Release 1.1, click Yes when asked if you want to migrate settings from a previous release.

3. In the dialog box that is displayed, do not accept the default location for the settings. Instead, specify the location of your Release 1.0 settings, which might be a folder whose path ends with sqldeveloper\jdev\system.

See also Section 1.4, "Migrating Information from Previous Releases".

1.4 Migrating Information from Previous Releases

If you have used a previous release of SQL Developer or a pre-release version of the current release, you may want to preserve database connections that you have been using. To preserve database connections, save your existing database connections in an XML file. To save the connections, right-click the Connections node in the Connections Navigator and select Export Connections. After you complete the installation described in this guide, you can use those connections by right-clicking the Connections node in the Connections Navigator and selecting Import Connections

If you want to use any user-defined reports or the SQL history from a previous version, see Section 1.5 for information about where these are located. If you want to use any user-defined reports or the SQL history from Release 1.0 with both Releases 1.0 and 1.1, you must save them before using Release 1.1, because Release 1.1 modifies the files to a format that is incompatible with Release 1.0.

SQL Developer preferences (specified by clicking Tools and then Preferences) from a pre-release version of the current release cannot currently be saved and reused; you must re-specify any desired preferences.

1.5 Location of User-Related Information

SQL Developer stores user-related information in several places, with the specific location depending on the operating system and certain environment specifications. User-related information includes user-defined reports, user-defined snippets, SQL Worksheet history, and SQL Developer user preferences.

In most cases, your user-related information is stored outside the SQL Developer installation directory hierarchy, so that it is preserved if you delete that directory and install a new version. The exception to this is on Windows systems, where SQL Developer user preferences are stored under the installation directory. To preserve preferences on Windows systems when upgrading to a more recent version of the same SQL Developer release, but not to upgrade from Release 1.0 to 1.1, use the Check for Updates feature (click Help, then Check for Updates) to upgrade your system.

The user-related information is stored in or under the following location:

• On Windows systems: the HOME environment variable location, if defined; otherwise the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, if defined; otherwise as indicated in the following table

• On Linux and Mac OS X systems: the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, if defined; otherwise as indicated in the following table

The following table shows the typical default locations (under a directory or in a file) for specific types of resources on different operating systems. (Note the period in the name of any directory or folder named .sqldeveloper.)

^Footnote 1 SQL Worksheet archive files contain SQL statements that you have entered. These files begin with sqldev and then have a random number (for example, sqldev14356.sql). If you close SQL Developer with a SQL Worksheet open that contains statements, you will be prompted to save these files.

To specify a non-default SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR location, do either of the following:

• Set the SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR environment variable to specify another directory path.

• Edit the <sqldeveloper_install>\sqldeveloper\sqldeveloper\bin\sqldeveloper.conf file and substitute the desired directory path for SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR in the following line:

  SetUserHomeVariable SQLDEVELOPER_USER_DIR
  

If you want to prevent other users from accessing your user-specific SQL Developer information, you must ensure that the appropriate permissions are set on the directory where that information is stored or on a directory above it in the path hierarchy. For example, on a Windows system you may want to ensure that the sqldeveloper folder and the <user-name>\.sqldeveloper folder under Documents and Settings are not shareable; and on a Linux or Mac OS X system you may want to ensure that the ~/.sqldeveloper directory is not world-readable.

1.6 Database Certification for SQL Developer (Oracle and Third-Party)

This section describes Oracle and non-Oracle (third-party) databases that are certified for use with SQL Developer.

Table 1-5 lists the Oracle database certifications.

SQL Developer can be used to view metadata and data of several non-Oracle (third-party) databases. Table 1-6 lists the third-party database certifications.

For information about creating and using connections to third-party databases, see the information about database connections in the SQL Developer online help or Oracle Database SQL Developer User's Guide.

1.7 Advanced Security for JDBC Connection to the Database

You are encouraged to use Oracle Advanced Security to secure a JDBC connection to the database. Both the JDBC OCI and the JDBC Thin drivers support at least some of the Oracle Advanced Security features. If you are using the OCI driver, you can set relevant parameters in the same way that you would in any Oracle client setting. The JDBC Thin driver supports the Oracle Advanced Security features through a set of Java classes included with the JDBC classes in a Java Archive (JAR) file and supports security parameter settings through Java properties objects.

For more information about using Oracle Advanced Security, see Oracle Database JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference.

1.8 Finding SQL Developer Accessibility Information

For the latest configuration information or for information on addressing accessibility and assistive technology issues, see the Oracle Accessibility FAQ at http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/faq.html.

Also, check the SQL Developer release notes (readme.txt file) to see if there are any currently known issues regarding accessibility.

1.9 Using a Screen Reader and Java Access Bridge with SQL Developer

To make the best use of our accessibility features, Oracle Corporation recommends the following minimum technology stack:

• Windows 2000 or Windows XP

• Java Sun J2SE 1.5.0_05

• Sun Java Access Bridge 1.1 or higher

• JAWS 3.70.87, or 5.10 or higher

Follow these steps to set up a screen reader and Java Access Bridge. If you are using JAWS 3.70.87, see the additional configuration information provided after the procedure.

1. Install the screen reader, if it is not already installed. (See the documentation for your screen reader for more information about installation.)

2. Install SQL Developer.

3. Download Java Access Bridge for Windows version 1.1. The file you will download is accessbridge-1_1.zip. It is available from http://java.sun.com/products/accessbridge. (See the Java Access Bridge documentation available from this Web site for more information about installation and the Java Access Bridge.)

4. After downloading the file, extract (unzip) the contents to a folder, for example, accessbridge_home.

5. Install Java Access Bridge by running Install.exe from the <accessbridge_home>\installer folder.

   The installer first checks the SDK version for compatibility, then the Available Java virtual machines dialog displays.

6. Click Search disks. Then select to search only the drive that contains the SQL Developer build and the SDK version in the program files directory (if it exists).

   The search process can take a long time on a large disk with many instances of SDK or SQL Developer, or when searching multiple disks. However, unless you complete an exhaustive search of your disk, Access Bridge will not be optimally configured, and will not be correctly installed to all of the Java VMs on your system. After selecting the disk to search, click Search.

7. Confirm that you want to install the Java Access Bridge into each of the Java virtual machines displayed in the dialog, by clicking Install in All.

8. Click OK when you see the Installation Completed message.

9. Confirm that the following files have been installed in the Winnt\System32 directory (or the equivalent Windows 2000 or XP directory), or copy them from <accessbridge_home>\installer\installerFiles because they must be in the system path in order to work with SQL Developer:

   JavaAccessBridge.dll
   JAWTAccessBridge.dll
   WindowsAccessBridge.dll
   
   

   Note that the system directory is required in the PATH system variable.

10. Confirm that the following files have been installed in the <sqldeveloper_install>\jdk\jre\lib\ext directory, or copy them from <accessbridge_home>\installer\installerFiles:

    access-bridge.jar
    jaccess-1_3.jar
    jaccess-1_4.jar
    JavaAccessBridge.dll
    JAWTAccessBridge.dll
    WindowsAccessBridge.dll
    
    

11. Confirm that the file accessibility.properties has been installed in the <sqldeveloper_install>\jdk\jre\lib\ext directory, or copy it from <accessbridge_home>\installer\installerFiles. Confirm that the file accessibility.properties includes the following lines:

    assistive_technologies=com.sun.java.accessibility.AccessBridge
    AWT.EventQueueClass=com.sun.java.accessibility.util.EventQueueMonitor
    AWT.assistive_technologies=com.sun.java.accessibility.AccessBridge
    
    

12. Only if you are using JAWS version 3.7, do the following: modify the file sqldeveloper.conf located in the folder <sqldeveloper_install>\sqldeveloper\bin to uncomment the AddVMOption line, as shown in the following:

    #
    # Prepend patches to the bootclasspath. Currently, rtpatch.jar contains a
    # patch that fixes the javax.swing.JTree accessibility problems.
    # Uncomment the line below if you need to run SQL DeveloperSQL Developer under JAWS.
    #
    AddVMOption -Xbootclasspath/p:../../jdk/jre/lib/patches/rtpatch.jar
    
    

13. Start your screen reader.

14. Start SQL Developer.

These steps assume you are running Windows and using a Windows-based screen reader. A console window that contains error information (if any) will open first and then the main SQL Developer window will appear, once SQL Developer has started. Any messages that appear will not affect the functionality of SQL Developer.

access-bridge.jar   size: 27295   version: access-bridge-1.0.4
JAWTAccessBridge.dll   size: 28672   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
jaccess-1_3.jar   size: 43584   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
jaccess-1_4.jar   size: 46597   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
JavaAccessBridge.dll   size: 139264   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
WindowsAccessBridge.dll   size: 77824   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3

accessibility.properties   size: 353   version: AccessBridge-1.0.3

JavaAccessBridge.dll  size: 155648  version: AccessBridge_1_1_GA
WindowsAccessBridge.dll  size: 77824  version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
JAWTAccessBridge.dll  size: 28672  version: AccessBridge-1.0.3

access-bridge.jar   size: 27295   version: access-bridge-1.0.4
JAWTAccessBridge.dll   size: 32768   version: AccessBridge-1.0.4
jaccess-1_4.jar   size: 46573   version: AccessBridge-1.0.4
JavaAccessBridge.dll   size: 139264   version: AccessBridge-1.0.4
WindowsAccessBridge.dll   size: 77824   version: AccessBridge-1.0.4

accessibility.properties   size: 153   version: AccessBridge-1.0.4

JavaAccessBridge.dll  size: 155648  version: AccessBridge_1_1_GA
WindowsAccessBridge.dll  size: 77824  version: AccessBridge-1.0.3
JAWTAccessBridge.dll  size: 28672  version: AccessBridge-1.0.3

1.10 Uninstalling SQL Developer

Before you uninstall SQL Developer, if you plan to install SQL Developer (the same or an updated version) later, you may want to save your existing database connections; and if so, see Section 1.4 before uninstalling.

To uninstall SQL Developer, remove the entire SQL Developer installation directory (that is, the directory named sqldeveloper and all directories and files under it in the hierarchy).

If you also want to remove all user-specific SQL Developer information, you should also delete the directory under which that information is stored (that is, the SQL Developer user information directory). For the location of this directory, see Section 1.5.

If you have created a shortcut for SQL Developer, and if you do not plan to install SQL Developer into the same location again, you should remove that shortcut or modify the shortcut properties to reflect the new location.

1.11 SQL Developer Documentation

SQL Developer provides user documentation in the Oracle Database SQL Developer User's Guide and in the online help. To see the help, click the Help menu, or click the Help button or press the F1 key in relevant contexts while you are using SQL Developer.

As a convenience, the SQL Developer online help topics are also available in a single PDF file, which you can download separately from the SQL Developer kit.

1.12 Oracle on the Web

Oracle provides a number of resources on the Web. These are some sites you may find helpful:

• SQL Developer home page (OTN): http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/

• SQL Developer discussion forum (OTN): http://forums.oracle.com/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=260

• Oracle Technology Network (OTN): http://www.oracle.com/technology/

• PL/SQL page on OTN: http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/pl_sql/

• Oracle Accessibility site: http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

• Oracle Corporate site: http://www.oracle.com/