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SqlPro 1.2, $29.95 SqlPro is a simple editor for five popular databases (Access, SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, and SqlLite). It uses a three-pane interface to let you navigate data. To the left, a treeview tracks all the databases you have connected to and their data-bearing objects (passwords are stored in an encrypted configuration file). Above there's a pane for typing SQL; below is a grid for showing results. You can execute a single statement or a script of multiple statements and see what happens in the grid, and the associated log tab tracks messages back from the database. The grid only shows the most recently returned result set; older result sets are simply overwritten. Amenities here include color-coding of the SQL (though it's a bit nonstandard and somewhat garish), drag-and-drop of objects into the SQL pane to save you from typing their name, retrieval of SQL for things like stored procedures and triggers from the underlying database, and one-click creation of SELECT and INSERT statements. You can save SQL files and print result sets. While the functionality here is pretty basic, I see a clear niche for this software: it's a handy tool for cross-database use packed into a small space with all of the necessary drivers, and thus ideal for the USB keys that so many of us are carting around these days. The trial version comes in at a mere 1,012K and the full registered setup is only 6,218K (the difference is that the full version bundles the Oracle drivers that it needs; both versions include the drivers for Access, SQL Server, MySQL, and SqlLite). At that size, it's smaller than trying to carry around various command-line tools that could run SQL against the different database types, if you could even find them. Not bad for $29.95.
Mike Gunderloy is the lead developer for Larkware and author of numerous books and articles on programming topics. Published April 12, 2006 |
