PL/SQL Developer: debugger

[Peter Dequidt]

We've just purchases PL/SQL Developer. One of the interesting features is the debugging tool. As database administrator, I'm, of course, concerned about performance and reliability.
Can someone tell me a little bit more about the technology behind the debug-feature? What Oracle Server procedure/packages are used for this? Does the "debug information" added to the code slows it down in any way? Can I allow debugging on production databases?

Thanks for any feedback,

Peter

 

[ScottMattes]

It used the built in Oracle dbms_debug package (I think thats the one).

It does add overhead, production compiles should be without debug info ALWAYS!

I think that it is REAL BAD to allow debug runs in production (and I am a developer faced with this right now, but I don't think it should be allowed). There should be an almost mirror image of the production DB for trouble shooting and development.

 

[Makker]

Another thing is that sometimes the debugger might 'hang'. This might be the case when using database linkgs, code called by triggers or dynamic sql. It sometimes helps to add a line like i:=dbms_debug.set_timeout(timeout => 60); at the beginning of your debug script.

 

[minervino]

Try this sql (correct now):

select trigger_name from dba_triggers where TRIM(TRIGGERING_EVENT) = ('ERROR')

If you have a trigger with TRIGGERING_EVENT = 'ERROR', is big the possibility of hang. Try disable it and do a test..

If this don't work, see if you have any of this types of trigger too:

'LOGON',
'CREATE OR ALTER',
'CREATE',
'ALTER',
'ALTER OR RENAME',
'LOGON',
'LOGOFF',
'TRUNCATE'

select trigger_name from dba_triggers where TRIM(TRIGGERING_EVENT) in ('LOGON','CREATE OR ALTER','CREATE','ALTER','ALTER OR RENAME','LOGON','LOGOFF','TRUNCATE')

Try disable it too and repeat the test..

Good lucky