Last week I found this beauty:

select * from SCHEMA.USERS where ID in

(105,145,165,166,167,168,169,187,188,189,190,225,245,

246,285,305,326,345,346,347,348,366,385,386, ... ... 8407)

and 1=1

and USER_GROUP_ID='108'

and DESCRIPTION like '%'

or DESCRIPTION is NULL

order by DESCRIPTION;

// description:   returns number of entries

   function get_user_list(&$ap_result, $a_id, $a_description, $a_group){

      $db =& db::get("schemaname");

      $l_query = "select * from ".USERS_TABLE." ";

      $l_query.= "where ".USERS_ID." in ($a_id) and 1=1";

      if($a_group)

         $l_query.= " and ".USER_GROUP_ID."='$a_group'";

      if ($a_description)

         $l_query .= " and ".USERS_DESCRIPTION." like '$a_description'";

      if ($a_description=="%")

         $l_query .= " or ".USERS_DESCRIPTION." is NULL";

      $l_query.= " order by ".USERS_DESCRIPTION;

      $l_res_id = $db->exec($l_query);

      if(!$l_res_id){

         api::debug("1901", "db error", $db->lasterr());

         return false;

      }

      while($l_row = $db->fetch($l_res_id)){

         $ap_result[] = $l_row;

      }

      $db->free($l_res_id);

      return count($ap_result);

   }

This post is dedicated to my favourite software that I'm using for administration of Oracle Database, debug or (occasionaly) for development.

1. Linux - I met with Linux for first time in 1999. Of course as former Windows user I had some habits and I was praying for the same features and behaviour as on Windows. After short acclimation (approx 3 months) I decided to stay on this (Linux) platform.
   I like the Fedora distribution (former RedHat free distribution) and I'm using it everywhere (Office Desktop PC, Notebook, Home Desktop PC and personal Notebook).
   Linux gives me everything what I need for free such as Open Office, Firefox browser, Evolution mail client, powerful and useful scripting languages (Bash, Perl), LDAP clients, GnuPG, local firewall and many other software and of course my favourite editor (not just) Vi(m).


2. rlwrap - If you are using SQL*Plus and you are missing functionality as you know from bash (for example) then rlwrap is the right sofware for you. rlwrap "is a 'readline wrapper' that uses the GNU readline library to allow the editing of keyboard input for any other command."rlwrap can be downloaded here.Installation is very simple. Install rlwrap from source or RPM package. Modify your .bashrc or .bash_profile and add following line:
   

   alias sqlplus='rlwrap sqlplus'



3. Oracle SQL Developer - If you are looking for some tool similar to TOAD and for Linux then you probably looking for Oracle SQL Developer. SQL Developer (formerly Raptor) is "a new, free graphical tool for database development. With SQL Developer, you can browse database objects, run SQL statements and SQL scripts, and edit and debug PL/SQL statements. You can also run any number of provided reports, as well as create and save your own. SQL Developer enhances productivity and simplifies your database development tasks."
   
   More informations you could find here and in Jonathan Gennick's article.
   What to add? It is for free and is available for Windows, Linux and MacOSX. It supports extensions (just like Firefox) and of course it supports online upgrade function.
   So what are you waiting for? Download it now!


4. JDeveloper - "Oracle JDeveloper is a free integrated development environment with end-to-end support for modeling, developing, debugging, optimizing, and deploying Java applications and Web services." As SQL Developer this application support extensions (also PHP extension) and is online upgradable.
   You could download it from here.
   


5. Firefox - I'm using Firefox since 0.6 version (formerly known as Phoenix browser). Even limited functionality (basic functions only), worst stability I was used it instead of Mozilla because it was much smaller and took much less system resources than Mozilla browser. Time has changed and today Firefox is one of most used browsers and supported by many designers (skins) and programers (extensions, Oracle related extensions too).


6. vim - Vim ("Vi iMproved") is the most popular text editor on the world. Vim (or old Vi) is included almost on every existing Unix or Unix clone. And probably that is the editor what you are using when you execute "ed" command in SQL*Plus. Vim exists also for Windows platform (but I don't think that many "Win" users is using it). If you are using it on your Oracle enviroment you could read this article written by my former colleague David.

I was thinking about my own blog for long time. Final decision was made after answering couple of my questions such as:

- Is there something meaningful you can write about?
- Will you find some free time for writing posts?
and so on...

Answer is pretty simple: "Don't know. I'll will be writing about Oracle, Linux or other Unix-like OS and other thoughts what crossed my mind. Basicaly I will publish anything I find as interesting..."

I decided to code my own blog because I couldn't found appropriate free blog software (which met all my needs) on Freshmeat site.

So "Hello Blog" and I belive you enjoy it.
My apologies for my English, corrections are welcomed.