Oracle Tips - March 2007

Here are my Oracle Tips columns published at TechRepublic.com during March, 2007:

Gather Query Tuning Data via Oracle's Dynamic Performance Views - March 6, 2007
The dynamic performance views supplied with the Oracle database include several that make the process of gathering tuning information easier. This tip describes four of them: V$SQL, V$SQLAREA, V$SQLTEXT, and a new one, V$SQLSTATS.

Test XML Queries Interactively in Oracle 10gR2 SQL*Plus - March 13, 2007
The SQL*Plus program can now process XML (and SQL) queries using the XQUERY command added in Oracle 10gR2. This tip shows you some of the possibilities.

Capture an Oracle 10g Audit Trail in XML Format - March 19, 2007
Oracle 10g can be configured to write its audit logs to XML files in operating system directories. This tip shows the configuration changes that need to be made, as well as how to access the resulting XML files.

Use Logon Triggers to Initialize User Sessions in Oracle - March 27, 2007
Application contexts enable you to store data in memory for applications to use. The After Logon database trigger is a convenient way to initialize a user session by setting application context values for it. This Oracle tip shows you why�and how�it's done.