Oracle Tips - November 2006

Here are my Oracle Tips published at TechRepublic.com during November, 2006.

Import Data via a Network Link in Oracle 10g - November 7, 2006
Oracle 10g's import utility can use a network connection to directly import data from another Oracle database. Bob Watkins explains how it's done.

Group by Grouping Sets for Custom Rollups in Oracle - November 14, 2006
The GROUPING SETS option of GROUP BY lets you generate custom sets of subtotals, without seeing as many rows of output as GROUP BY CUBE. In this tip, Bob Watkins offers code samples of how to use GROUPING SETS.

Find Sequence Runs using Oracle's Analytic Functions - November 20, 2006
Bob Watkins responds to TechRepublic member Sachin Jayashekhar's question about detecting sequence runs within a group of rows, and provides a sample script that selects the first and last value in each run.

Examine User Creation Scripts before Migrating to Oracle 10gR2 - November 28, 2006
Oracle has changed the meaning of the standard CONNECT role in 10g Release 2 (10gR2). Be sure to examine any scripts your organization uses that create new database user accounts before migrating to this version.

MCTS SQL Server 2005

The new Microsoft certification track for SQL Server database administrators consists of two steps: Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (MCTS), and Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP).

I'm in the process of upgrading my Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) credential to SQL Server 2005.  As of August 30, 2006 I'm halfway there, with the MCTS earned.

Oracle tip: Bulk binding exceptions

Our Oracle tip of the week, published at Techrepublic.com:

Handle bulk binding exceptions in PL/SQL

The downside to bulk binding in PL/SQL is that if any of the data values result in an invalid UPDATE, the entire set of iterations is rolled back. Bob Watkins explains how you can get around this issue.

Oracle tip: Oracle's online documentation

Our Oracle tip of the week, published at Techrepublic.com:

Navigating Oracle's public online documentation

Here's a quick guide to navigating Oracle's public online documentation library, which contains hundreds of books. Bob Watkins also offers a rundown of his favorite offerings in the collection.

Oracle tip: 10gR2 regular expressions

Our Oracle tip of the week, published at TechRepublic.com:

Search text with new Perl-like regular expressions in Oracle 10gR2

Oracle 10g Release 2 contains new Perl-like regular expressions. If you're developing scripts against Oracle 10gR2, check out these nifty shortcuts for searching text.