Customize the Toad Interface
Toad provides many ways for you to customize the interface to suit your work style and improve your productivity. Most areas of the interface are customizable, from the toolbars and menus, to the grids and workspace itself. You can also set custom defaults for actions, commands, and other tasks that Toad performs for you.
Customize the Toad Interface
Toad provides many ways for you to customize the interface to suit your work style and improve your productivity. Most areas of the interface are customizable, from the toolbars and menus, to the grids and workspace itself. You can also set custom defaults for actions, commands, and other tasks that Toad performs for you.
You can use connection colors to help you distinguish among open connections. The color coding displays prominently on all windows related to the connection throughout Toad's user interface. For example, you may use red for all production databases and yellow for all test databases. The color coding also extends to any options that display a list of connections, making selecting the desired connection fast and easy.
The color coding displays as follows:
To select a connection color
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Click on the standard toolbar to open the Database Login window.
You can also select Session | New Connection.
- Select a color in the Color column in the connection grid, or under Color on the right-hand side.
The Database Login window displays your connections in a grid format, known as the connections grid. You can organize the connections and reduce the number of connections that are displayed.
To open the Database Login window
Do one of the following to open the Database Login window:
- Click in the standard toolbar.
- Select Session | New Connection.
Display Only Favorite Connections
You can mark the connections that you use frequently as favorites and then hide the other connections until you need to use them.
To select favorite connections
- In the connections grid, select the Favorite check box of the connection you want to make a favorite.
To view only favorites in the connections grid
- Below the connections grid, select the Show favorites only check box.
To view all connections in the connections grid
- Below the connections grid, clear the Show favorites only check box.
Add Custom Columns
You can add columns to the connections grid. For example, you may want to add a Locations column if you manage databases in multiple physical locations, or you may want to add an Environment column to distinguish between Test and Production databases.
To add a custom column
- Click in the Database Login window toolbar.
- Click Add.
- Enter the name for your custom field.
Group Connections (Create Tree View)
You can group connections by column header to create a tree view. You can add multiple column headers to add grouping levels.
To group connections in the data grid
- Drag a column header into the gray area above the grid.
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Drag additional column headers to add grouping levels.
To remove grouping
- Drag the column header into the connections grid.
Hide/Display Columns
If you have a small screen area, you can hide some of the columns that display in the connections grid.
To hide or show columns
- Click in the left-hand side of the grid headers.
- Select the columns you want to display, or clear the check box for columns you want to hide.
Display Only Connections for Selected Oracle Home
If you have many connections using different Oracle homes, you may want to display only those using a particular home in the grid.
To limit connections to one Oracle home
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Select the Oracle home you want to display in the Connect using field on the right side of the Database Login window.
Note: You can only connect to one Oracle home at a time. This field is disabled if you are already connected to a database. See "Select a default Oracle Home" in the online help for more information.
- Click the Show selected home only check box at the bottom of the window.
Display Tabs for Each Server or User
By default, the connections grid does not contain tabs; it is a unified grid that displays all connections. You can change the grid to display separate tabs for each server or user. Each tab contains a grid of its database connections.
To display tabs for each server or user
- Click at the top of the Database Login window and select Tabbed by Server or Tabbed by User.
- In addition, select Multi-tab to display the tabs using multiple rows.
To filter the tabs
- To filter the tabs displayed, right-click a tab and select Filter Tabs. Then enter a text string in the search box. If you clear the Partial Match check box, only exact matches are returned. The filter persists while the Database Login window is open.
- To remove the filter, right-click a tab and select Clear Filter.