Chapter 3. The Power of SQL Reports

In addition to browsing objects and writing your own ad hoc queries against the database, Oracle SQL Developer has a separate Reports navigator with a set of predefined SQL queries known as reports. The main focus is the set of predefined data dictionary reports that range from providing basic details about your database to database administration, security, and quality assurance. Having these predefined reports means that you can quickly run a variety of SQL queries to analyze and assess the health and status of your database, saving you from needing to write the queries yourself.

The Reports navigator provides shipped reports to review the results of any non-Oracle database migrations that have been run, the details of any Database Data Dictionary and Data Modeler designs that have been exported, and any available Oracle Application Express applications. The output of any of these reports is controlled by the database connection used while executing a report.

You can extend the set of shipped, predefined reports by adding your own local or shared reports. While creating your own reports, not only can you add to the existing data dictionary reports, but you can also build up a set of reports to review and analyze the instance data in any application under development.

In this chapter, we will review the Reports navigator entirely. You will learn more about the shipped reports and how to run them. We'll look briefly at the Migration, Oracle APEX, and Data Modeler reports. These are also covered in the chapters on each of these topics. We'll review the various report styles available and show how you can make use of these different styles while creating your own reports.