connection problem: bug or feature?

[Gabor]

Hi!
I've been using PL/SQL Developer 7.0 for several years, and have just upgraded to 9.0 and I am having problems with setting it up properly: formerly, if I opened an SQL script from a file, I could change the database where I would like to run it simply by selecting it with the key icon (log on). Now this new version seems to "remember" the database where I opened the file: if I change the database with the key icon, the window where the previously opened script is, "remains" in the former database. Example:
1. I'm in database "A", and open script.sql which contains "select * from B.TABLE".
2. I notice that I should be in database "B" to run the script, and change (log on) to database "B"
3. Try to run the select, and get the error message: "Table or view does not exist"
4. I stay in database B, and open a new SQL window, and type the select by hand: "select * from B.TABLE", I get the results of the table
5. If I click back on the window where the opened file is, and try to run the script, I realize, that the window stayed in database A, I see everything in database A from that window, but in the header of the PL/SQL Developer window I see the connection settings (x@B) of database "B", and get the same error message by selecting from the table in "B" (table does not exist).
Is this some kind of bug or feature? I want my developer to switch ALL open windows I actually use in one Developer instance to the schema and database where I last logged on, just as in my former developer versions...
Does anyone have a solution?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Gabor]

Hi again!
I already understand the concept behind the phenomenon: you can set a database connection behind every active window in version 9. Which means, you don't have to start a new developer instance, if you want to work in different databases simultaneously. If you want to change the connection settings of a window, then you can do it at the bottom of the window by selecting an other preconfigured or any other connection.
So I consider this as a feature, but I still don't know the answer to my original question: can I set the schema and database settings all at once to the same one in one developer instance for all windows?...

 

[Bernhard S]

You can set the main connection via "Session" - "Set main connection".
You can change windows connected to one connection via connection panel context menu "Reconnect all Windows". All your recent connections should be in connections pane folder "Recent". If you are connected to several connections you have to repeat this for each connection.
You can disconnect unused connections via context menu "disconnect".

BTW: I never really understood the purpose of keeping connections open where neither a window nor the main connection is still connected to. The only purpose might be, that it speeds up connecting windows back to this connection. I would however appreciate a preferences setting to automatically disconnect unused connections.

 

[Bernhard S]

Allowing multiple connection is one of the main features in PL/SQL Developer v9. (seehttp://www.allroundautomations.com/bodyplsqldev90.html)
If you want to have to old behaviour however, you can disable multiple connections via "Tools" - "Preferences" - "Oracle" - "Connection"
and unchecking "Allow multiple connections" there.