This is at least the third time I report this issue...
My Situation:
1. All the tables (like "Customers") for which I want most to use the sql window "linked query" feature have at least 400 active foreign keys
2. I am perfectly able to write the SQL for a linked query by hand, and in 99% of cases I have to use it for COMPLEX linked queries: just displaying the related child records IS NOT what I need. I need to display totals and to join multiple tables.
So: I find the "create custom linked query" a GOLD feature. it is one of the coolest and most undervalued features of pl/sql developer.
The problem is that PL/SQL developer hides this wonderful feature under a (to me) GARBAGE, ANNOYING and TIME WASTING feature: it tries to propose ALL the possible foreign keys of the table you are querying when you press the "linked query button".
Did I say that the tables I want to use this feature the most have more than 400 active foreign keys? well I didn't say yet that I work on remote databases I connect to via VPNs.
Now here are all the ways this unwanted proposal of all possible foreign keys makes me hate my life:
1. IT TAKES 3 MINUTES on a for pl/sql developer to build the list of all these foreign keys on the databases I work on.
2. Once you press the "Linked query button", THE PROCESS CAN'T BE STOPPED and PL/SQL developer gets TOTALLY FROZEN until it has ended the process.
3. Did I press that button for mistake? PL/SQL Developer wastes 3 minutes of my life.
4. I didn't press it by mistake? After I have "patiently" waited for 3 minutes, I click by mistake outside the pop-up menu (I just have to do it during those 3 minutes: windows remembers the click) and the menu closes up without giving any warning and I have to wait again those 3 minutes clicking the button again and hoping this time I don't fuck up.
5. Now: Did I say that the only Option in this menu I want to click is the "Create Custom Linked Query?" Well: This option gets buried AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST, after all the unwanted 300+ menu options for the existing foreign keys: so I have to scroll until the bottom of the list to click it. Trying to scroll down looking for this option is the first and foremost reason for getting into the problem of the previous point
6. Even better: In pl/sql developer 15 the pop up menu is not scrollable any more: the list of all foreign keys does not fit in my 4K (!) monitor and the buttons at the top and the bottom of the list to scroll it are gone.
Now let me propose some possible alternative solutions to this issue:
1. Simple solution: add an option within the preferences "disable foreign/primary key lookup and proposal" for the "create linked query" button. I can guarantee I will disable it as soon as possilbe, if this option is made is available.
2. A bit more intelligent solution: Add a "maximum number of foreign keys" to be proposed. Instead of wasting my life for 3 minutes, allow me to define a cap to the number of items I want to see in that menu. if a table has more than the cap number I decided, just stop loading the menu and show me only the "create CUSTOM linked query option"
3. The professional-looking solution: Realize that the popup menù is the WORST possible user interface you can use for this feature: substitute it with a dialog that asks me if I want to go for the custom linked query (you could also explain the syntax for the link variables to be used in this dialog, to make it readily usable to new users) OR if I want SEARCH for a foreign key I want to build my linked query on. do not show me ALL possible foreign keys but only those that match my search criteria (search the substring I type). Make the query on the dictionary start only when I press the "search" button and make this query STOPPABLE if it takes too much time or if I change the search text while the query is running).
Please take in cosideration my request. I am pretty sure I did ask this to be fixed at least since pl/sql developer 12.
