Most software developers prefer to use appropriate software application tools that they are familiar with rather than experiment with newer dynamic tools that may assist in making the development task easier and or more efficient. “When the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat all your problems like nails” is a saying that can be found to be quite true when it comes to software application development.  This article goes on to discuss which software application development projects are best tackled by Oracle Developer by examining the criteria for Oracle Developer applications.

Oracle Developer applications criteria:

Not all software devolvement projects can be tackled by Oracle Developer. This can be observed with the illustration of the Chess Game demos Oracle distributed with the first GUI release of Forms 4.5 (a predecessor to Oracle Developer). Though this illustrated what was possible, the use of another development tool would have been better suited for the job. As such it is vital to establish which kinds of applications are best developed using Oracle Developer. Oracle Developer is generally geared towards applications that: depend on the Oracle database, use a large number of forms and reports, span multiple platforms (i.e. Unix and Windows) and used multiple deployment methods.

1. Applications that depend on Oracle DB: Applications that rely on Oracle Database here refer to only those that extensively use Oracle. Though Oracle Developer may be used with other ODBC databases it is typically not recommended as a primary software application development tool. This is mainly because Oracle Developer is intended to be used with Oracle Database and has built in features which significantly reduce development time. Oracle Developer was initially created to interact seamlessly with Oracle Database and as such enables the development of master detail forms to be created employing as few steps as possible. This allows for an efficient and quick development of fairly complex application elements.

2. Applications that use large number of reports and forms: If your are looking for a software applications development tool that is great for developing database programs that use a large number or reports and forms then Oracle Developer is the tool to use. Forms here are best described as user modifiable data screens that are typically used to add data or modifications to the database. Reports on the other hand are simply used to display data. Developers building applications that only require the use of hundreds of forms and or reports have a great deal to benefit from Oracle Developer.

3. Applications which span multiple platforms: Oracle was among the first software companies to embrace and develop cross platform products. As such even though Windows seems to be most users platform choice Oracle continues to support application environments like Unix dumb and X-terminals.