Product Reviews
DevPartner Debugger for Oracle Visual Studio Edition
Smoothing the lines between Visual Studio and Oracle.
If you've worked with Visual Studio .NET and SQL Server, you've probably
come to enjoy their tight integration. One big win with this combination
is the ability to debug right down into stored procedures when your application
is running. But what do you do if you're not using SQL Server for your
database?
Well, if the database is Oracle, one answer is to install DevPartner
DB for Oracle Visual Studio Edition. After installing the product, you'll
have one additional project, the PLSQL Project. Add one of these to your
solution, and any stored procedure executed against an Oracle server will
immediately break into the debugger. (You can disable debugging for a
session with a checkbox, but you can't choose individual procedures to
debug).
As you might expect, there are some limitations—after all, Oracle
and VS .NET weren't really designed to work with one another. You must
have the Oracle 8i client installed, even if you're working against an
Oracle 9i server. Applications with Oracle debugging enabled will run
more slowly. And you must recompile your stored procedures in debug mode
if you want access to variable values.
Still, even with those limitations, this seems to be a useful tool for
Oracle shops. The installation was easy, as was setting up to debug. The
functionality here is a subset of what you get with their full Debugger
for Oracle product, which also includes a SQL Turner, a lock monitor,
a database browser, and various other utilities in a standalone package.
But for frontline use directly in VS .NET, this may turn out to be enough.
If you'd like to find out, you can request a 14-day evaluation copy at
the Compuware Web site.
About the Author
Mike Gunderloy, MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, is a former MCP columnist and the author of numerous development books.