New Oracle SQL Developer Release Helps With SQL Server > Oracle Translation

In the ongoing struggle to translate and copy database objects and data to and from SQL Server and Oracle two major impediments remain, namely different Data Types and SQL Dialects (TSQL vs PL/SQL). While both Microsoft and Oracle claim to have delivered solutions to help with inter-server communications and data movement none work as well as they could and often the only reliable solution in the end is writing code.

There are a number of Third Party Tools that provide helpful aids, however this discussion will concentrate on recent offerings from the main players themselves. One of the most improved offerings in this area is the Translation Scratch Editor found in Oracle SQL Developer versions 1.54 and higher. The current release is 2.1 and the TSE utility is found under Tools/Migration. Entering any Microsoft SQL Server TSQL, Acces SQL, Sybase TSQL or DB2 SQL-PL script into the left source pane in the TSE utility will generate Oracle PL/SQL in the right output pane. Several formatting options are available in the translation process.

I have found the Oracle SQL Developer TSE Utility partcularily helpful in translating TSQL DDL statements into equivalent Oracle SQL DDL scripts. When the Import/Export Facilities fall short in SQL Server Managment Studio and in Oracle Datapump facilities with the often encountered Data Type conversion errors it is very handy to have such as utility as the Translation Scratch Editor Utility in Oracle SQL Developer which will handle all DDL and Data Type conversion issues in one pass.

As expected though, the Oracle SQL Developer TSE Utility is a one way solution, namely for translating to Oracle not from Oracle. In a perfect world such a utility would work in both directions.