Toad Data Point 6.1 - User Guide

Edit SQL

The editor combines a powerful SQL and procedure editor into a single interface.

Notes:

• See Editor Shortcut Keys for more information about keyboard shortcuts used in the Editor.
• Toad has implemented a large script mode to improve performance when opening files larger than 2 MB. By default, when you open a large file, some features such as word wrap, syntax highlighting, and the Script Map are disabled in the Editor. When a large script loads, a message indicates that you are in large script mode in the right margin of the Editor. You can cancel large script mode by clearing the option in Tools | Options | Editor | General.
• To show the Script Map, Script Results or Group Execute panes for the current Editor window select Editor | Windows | <pane>.

To edit SQL

1. Select Tools | Edit | SQL Editor.

   Note: You can query the worksheet from the Editor by entering a dollar sign ($) followed by a cell range to limit the results similar to the following statement:

   Select * from (MyWorksheet$A1:C10)

   You can also query the entire worksheet by entering a dollar sign ($) after the worksheet name; however, this returns empty rows and columns in the worksheet.

2. Review the following to help enter SQL:

   • Complete SQL Statements Automatically

   • Explore and Edit Script with Script Map

   • Insert Code Snippets and Create Code Snippets
   • Add Toad Views

   • Recall SQL Statements 

   • Add or Remove Application Code 

   • View Objects at Cursor 

   • Record and Play Macros 

   • Advanced Analytics
   • About Toad Script

3. Click to format the code. See Format SQL for more information.

4. Right-click a block of code in the Editor to see additional actions available in the context menu. For example, you can turn a line into comment, uppercase or lowercase it, surround with snippet, set numbered bookmark, collapse or expand nodes, send to Query Builder and etc. You can also right-click an object (e.g. a table) and manage it as if in the Object Explorer.
5. Hold Alt + left-click and drag to select vertical blocks of text in Editor.

6. Select the block of code in the Editor, and click to validate the syntax.

   Note: Toad undoes any changes to the object and data in the database after executing the script (notice that the Result Sets tab is empty). To modify the object and data, you need to execute the script.

7. Click Fetch n rows to specify the number of rows to initially retrieve when executing the query. You can set a default value for this option in Tools | Options | Database | General. See General Database Options.

8. Click to execute SQL on the current server or multiple servers at one time. See Group Execution of Scripts for more information. In the Editor toolbar, the execute SQL buttons are grouped under . The button will retain the function of the last execute action for the active Editor window. If you switch to another Editor window, the button will change to reflect the last action for that window. For more information, see Execute SQL.

9. Select the block of code in the Editor and click to create a stored procedure. Stored Procedure creation dialog automatically recognizes procedure body and declared parameters.

Tips:

• Toad automatically saves a backup copy of any modified editor file in the Application Data Directory to avoid losing your work. When you restart Toad after an unexpected close, Toad checks the timestamp on the backup file against the original file, and opens the file that has the latest timestamp. The document recovery option is in Tools | Options | Environment | General. See General Environment Options for more information.
• You can save the current connection, SQL script, executed results, filters, and group execute connections/results (if enabled) in a Toad editor file (.tef). This file format is useful for building scripts that have large result sets that you do not want to continue executing or for saving results when you have not finished building a script.
• Editor supports floating window mode.
• The script is automatically checked for syntax errors when executing current statement (F9), checking syntax, changing database, or refreshing the Script Map. The syntax errors are listed in the Script Results pane in the Messages tab.

• If you copy and paste a SQL statement from one editor window to another, Toad automatically rewrites the statement to match the syntax of the connection for the second editor window.

Configure Editor Options

You can specify options for the look and behavior of the SQL Editor by using the Toad Options dialog.

To configure Editor options

1. Select Tools | Options.

2. To specify one of the following options, select the corresponding page in the Options dialog.

   Option Description	Page in Options Dialog
   Display the tabs for the current connection only when using Tabbed windows	Select Environment | Interface
   Change background color of the Editor	Select Editor | General
   Use connection color as background color	Select Editor | General
   Position Editor tab headers vertically	Select Environment | Interface
   Set options to display line numbers, line modifications, and general text formatting	Select Editor | General
   Specify options to automatically replace typed text with the correct substitution text	Select Editor | Auto-replace
   Customize code formatting options including headers and layout characteristics	Select Editor | Formatter

Click here to view a video of this feature.

Editor Shortcut Keys

You can assign individual shortcut keys in Keyboard options. See Keyboard Options for more information. You can also customize Toad to use the shortcut keys of existing applications such as Toad for Oracle, SQL Navigator, or Query Analyzer in the Configuration Wizard (Tools | Configuration Wizard).

Caution! If you have some global access keys assigned, make sure that Toad shortcut keys do not coincide with them. When using such duplicating shortcut keys in Toad, the third party application commands, assigned globally, will be performed instead of ones assigned by Toad.

Tip: You can also use Auto-replace to specify words which can be used as shortcuts for entering phrases or statements. See Use Auto-Replace in the Editor for more information.

The following table describes the default shortcut keys in Toad.

Related Topics

About Editing SQL

Insert Code Snippets

About Debugging SQL

View Result Sets

The Result Sets tab displays a data grid for executed SQL statements and scripts that return data.

If you occasionally closed the Results pane, you can restore it by selecting Editor | Windows | Script Results.

Visual Inspection Grid

You can easily review all (or the selected Result sets) in one Result Sets tab. Left-click and hold Shift or Ctrl to select more than one Result sets of your script. Select All results to review all in one tab.

To enable view of all Result Sets in one Tab

• Check Options | Database | Script results | Enable all results view

Troubleshoot Data

• If you cannot edit data, click the red icon in the lower left corner of the grid, and then click OK on the window that displays. You do not need to edit fields in this window. See Edit Data in Read-Only Grids for more information.
• By default, auto commit is enabled and any row changes you make are automatically submitted to the database. You can disable this option in Tools | Options | Environment | Grid.

Tips for Working with Data

Related Topics

View Execution Log Messages 

Generate Explain Plans 

Filter Data 

Compare Differences in Data

You can compare result sets from the current editor or a different editor in the Database Explorer's Data tab or the editor's Result Sets without having to save one of the sets to a file.

Notes:

• If you want to synchronize data, use Data Compare instead of the Data Diff Viewer.  
• You cannot modify files in the Diff Viewer at this time.

To compare differences in data

1. Right-click data in the Editor's result set or Database Explorer's Data tab and select Compare To | Set_number.

   You can also save a result set and later use it as a historical comparison.

2. Review the differences.

   Tips:

   • To switch the contents of the left pane to the right pane, and the contents of the right pane to the left, click .
   • You can also open files to compare by clicking beside the drop-down list at the top of each pane.
   •  You can show or hide tables that contain equal records, different records, etc., at any time using the toolbar.

Related Topics

Compare Differences in Files