Mac SQL Database Tool, Orac. Updated

Version 0.9.66 of Orac has been uploaded.

This version features the following updates.

You can now query any SQLite database. The window settings, stored servers and stored scripts for Orac are all stored in a SQLite file in the Orac directory, Orac_LocalCache.r10. You can view them using csh_win_main, csh_set_main and csh_sql_main respectively.

A text file containing a SQL query can now be dragged and dropped onto the SQL query input field.

The useless 'splash' window has been eradicated with extreme prejudice. What was I thinking ??

Many small UI tweaks.

I have had a number of requests to continue with my original idea to make this product work on Windows. I can do this but there are a few technical issues I would have to solve and to be honest I am still of the opinion that it would not be cost effective from a business perspective. Besides, the shift towards all things Mac continues ... ;-)

Sales have been very poor this week, although compared to the same period last month I am almost exactly at the same position, still - it's worrying, so next week will be mostly spent marketing :-)

www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development

Orac and ArtenSUITE Updates

Yesterday was an interesting day. My first task was to do some custom development in ArtenSUITE. Essentially the customer wanted to show his clients on a map with a different icon depending on the type of client (Broker, Individual, Manufacturer etc.) and a different colour depending on the status of the client (yellow = customer, red = on hold etc.).

I sweated on this for a while and then implemented the solution using Google Maps. The HTMLViewer control in REALbasic is very poor and while this caused a few problems I was able to win through in the end. It works well and I impressed even myself :-)

Having earned my corn for the day I decided to make some more changes to Orac my Mac OSX SQL Tool. These changes were based on tester feedback and have in my opinion made the product much better. Although in the early stages of development there does appear to be a lot of interest judging by the download statistics, although not yet much in the way of feedback.

The changes I made were as follows:

1. Enhanced Keyboard Support. If you turn on the 'tab to all controls' option on your Mac, you can now use the keyboard for most things in Orac.

2. The Results List now uses a clearer, larger font by default and if you adjust the font size the row height increases proportionally.

3. The UI has had a major re-design to make everything clearer and more accessible. The window size will now (just!) fit on a 1024 x 768 monitor.

4. The Stored Server setup now allows you to specify the particular type of database this configuration applies to.

5. A lot of behind the scenes work to make working with multiple types of databases and switching between them much easier and cleaner and from my point of view the code will be far more manageable.

You can see a few screenshots below:















www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development

Orac: Mac OSX SQL Tool Updated

Orac Update
Version 0.9.6 of Orac is now available for download.

http://www.artenscience.com/autoupdate/latestversions/orac_osx.zip

This version works with Oracle 9i+, and will refuse to connect to an Oracle 8i database. Until I sort out the reason for the issues with 8i I decided it was preferable to not let the software connect at all. 8i support coming soon though :-)

In addition I think the Syntax Highlighting facility is working properly now, all the edge cases that I am aware of have been sorted.



www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development

Orac Update

Version 0.9.4 of Orac is now available for download.

http://www.artenscience.com/autoupdate/latestversions/orac_osx.zip

There are a number of small improvements to this pre-release version, mainly the Syntax Highlighting when entering a SQL Query. You can choose for the SQL Keywords to be formatted as Bold, Uppercase or Coloured, or any combination of the three.

The keywords are derived from a simple text file that comes with the application, therefore additional keywords can be easily added/amended/deleted if necessary.

A screenshot is shown below. Click the image for a larger picture.



www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development

A Change of Direction for Orac

Following feedback from my last post regarding Orac, my new database query and management tool, I have decided to alter the scope of the development.

For a start I now intend to support Mac OSX only (Universal Binary) and add support for several additional databases. The decision to drop support support for the Linux platform was easy, the Linux community being closely tied to the Open Source movement are not fond of paying for software so that was an easy decision. As for dropping support for Windows, that was a much harder decision.

Although over 80% of my software sales go to Mac users, a product like Orac could potentially draw in more Windows users. However I now believe that the market for this kind of product is adequately covered on Windows and I would be unlikely with my small marketing budget and even less resources to be able to make the effort worthwhile. Therefore I am developing Orac for the Mac and maybe later if the product is successful will I consider making it available for the PC.

I have been unable to find a decent database tool like this for the Mac, there are two available that I know of at a reasonable price, and to be honest I do not like either. I'm stuck with Oracle SQL Developer on the Mac and although it's a fine program it has many limitations, not least it's complexity.

More information on Orac including a pre-release download can be found here: http://www.oractotherescue.com

www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development

Orac: Cross Platform / Multi Database Query and Maintenance Tool

At the weekend I started development on Orac.

Orac is a 'Cross Platform / Multi Database Query and Maintenance Tool'.

In a nutshell this means an application that will run natively on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Macintosh OSX and Linux. Orac is not developed in Java or any other 'runtime' environment, the software is provided as native executables on each platform.

The early versions of Orac operate against Oracle only. Before commercial release it will work with Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL. Support for further databases will be added following release.

This tool is designed to replace the five or so different tools that I currently use to query and manipulate the databases I support. If I have this problem, then likely so do many other people. Orac will be a one stop shop for database querying and maintenance without the need to even install, let alone load and run the software provided by the database manufacturer. In addition no middle ware or ODBC configuration will be necessary. Orac itself doesn't even need installation. Download and extract the zip file, double click to run. You could keep versions for all your supported operating systems on a USB drive and use them on any computer - no installation necessary.

Orac is a long(ish) term project. I have to earn a living with my consulting gigs as well as finish a couple of other applications over the next few weeks, but I expect Orac to be available for commercial release by the third quarter this year.

With respect to the feature set, I am looking for feedback. If you currently use a commercial or Open Source database management or query tool I would like to hear from you as to what are your favourite features and what features do you wish were available ?

The development of this tool will be very public. Early releases will be available to anybody who wishes to be part of the Alpha / Beta test program. Substantial discounts on the finished product will be given to anyone who contributes significantly to the development in terms of feedback.

Very early screenshots of the Mac OSX versions are shown below. Click the screenshot to view the images full size.







If you would like further information on Orac or would like to join the Alpha / Beta program, please contact steve@artenscience.co.uk

www.artenscience.co.uk
Quality Commercial Software and Custom Software Development