Hi,

we have sometimes rather cryptic database and connection names like "HZ3DBU.AS-HZ3-DEV-01" and it is often kind of hard to remember which database instance was on which system and so on. However, internally most of this instances have "nicknames" like DEV01 or "PRODUKTION", which are quite easy to remember.

Could you add an edit field to the login dialog to "name" an instance and optionally display that name alongside the proper instance info when it is selected from a list or displayed somewhere? That would be very very helpful!

Thanks,
Frank

Can you put this nickname in tnsnames.ora?

Given a TNS entry:

dev01 =
(DESCRIPTION =
(ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 192.168.1.1)(PORT = 1521)))
(CONNECT_DATA = (SID = something-long-and-cryptic))
)

the PL/SQL Developer login dialog shows "dev01" and hides the cryptic-ness.

I'm not that familiar with the tnsnames.ora settings.
We have sometimes several database "instances" (which are in fact only "users") on the same connection. And each "user" would have his own "nickname", which can be quite different from the actual user name.
I guess this can't be handled with tnsnames.ora, right?

Version 9.0 will have a new connection concept. It allows you to define connection properties, including a logical name.

Also in a corporate environment it may not be a good idea (or indeed possible) to mess with the supplied tnsnames.ora. Or they might use LDAP.

The Connection Manager plug-in is pretty good, and lets you name connections.