Erik van Roon

Example defining annotations on a table and column in Oracle Database 19.28

With all the new stuff in the 23ai RUs, it can be easy to overlook some cool changes in 19c such as

Schema annotations have been backported to 19.28

These enable you to add key-value metadata to describe tables, columns, and other database objects

Oracle23ai - a SQL-Macro for Epoch - The Better version. TL;DR: I had a function to produce "Epoch", similar to python. When I tried to speed up function-calls by using a macro I found an interesti...

The "epoch" function got better by turning it into an SQL-Macro.
simpleoracledba.blogspot.com/2025/07/orac...

With Thanks to Erik, Jonathan and Priit for their remarks.
/cc @evrocs.bsky.social @jloracle.bsky.social @ppiipuu.bsky.social
@oracleace.bsky.social

GROUP BY ALL (23.9) Automatically generate GROUP BY clause with all unaggregated selected columns Example of this on the hr.employees table

Group by enhancements

Automatically place any unaggregated columns in the select into the group by clause

SELECT col1, col2, ...
FROM ..
GROUP BY ALL -- generates col1, col2

Non-positional insert statements (23.9) INSERT INTO … SET col1 = val1, col2 = val2, … for row-based inserts INSERT INTO … BY NAME SELECT … to match query column aliases to column names

Non-positional inserts

Assign column values in the SET clause for row-based inserts:

INSERT INTO … SET col1 = val1, col2 = val2, ...

Match columns from the source table to the target table in INSERT-SELECT by name rather than position with

INSERT INTO … BY NAME SELECT …

Outer Joining With ANSI SQL-89 and SQL-92 Introduction I recently implemented a quick fix for the rule G-3130 to transform queries to ANSI SQL-92 syntax. One of the challenges was to handle Oracle’s outer-join syntax (+). In ANSI SQL-89, join...

Do your outer join queries produce more rows than expected? In this blog post, I show a strange result when using filter predicates in the join clause.

dbLinter can help you sort your join and filter criteria and spot issues like this.

www.salvis.com/blog/2025/07...

Learned something I didn't know, but should have known, about the merge statement.

Georgia court vacates order citing AI-invented caselaw : 'We are troubled by the citation of bogus cases in the trial court’s order'

So, after the times when "the first hit of a google search leads to the one and only truth" we are now in the era of "want to know the truth, ask chatgpt".

Even in court.

Georgia court throws out earlier ruling that relied on fake cases made up by AI • The Register share.google/G3lwklID3iil...

Do you have SQL or PL/SQL code? Check your code quality against more than 150 rules. Configure your rule set. Apply quick fixes for chosen issues or even all fixable issues in a file. @hartenfeller.dev shows how to get started with dbLinter.

YouTube video by United Codes PL/SQL code quality checks in VS Code with dbLinter

📢 dbLinter is officially in free preview!

Get automated quality checks for your #oracle #plsql code right in VS Code.
Customize rules, severities, and naming conventions in our app.
Watch it in action: youtu.be/V-ePBfUFhhk #dbLinter #orclAPEX #VSCode

we have an official MCP Server for Oracle Database as of...today

It's nice that you can pick her up again in only 2 weeks 👍

I always bluntly refuse for exactly these reasons, plus I pay extra for extra legroom which I don't intend to give up because *they* can't do basic math: [cubic meters of overhead compartment space] / [number of seats] = [max size of carry-on]

I'm pretty confident there will be further development.
It's just that being able to use these things in with clauses is such a basic feauture (note: not saying easy to implement) that if I was running the show (thank god I'm not) it would never have been releases without it.

I know. Very annoying too.
Very nice feature, but it's time we get a new and improved one IMHO.

Screenshot of errormessage telling me I can't use SQL macros in a with clause

Do you know that feeling when you're with the one you deeply love, but suddenly, out of the blue, they do this annoying thing again, and in that moment there's nothing you want more than get a divorce?

Looking at you Oracle 🤬

Terminal (CLI) life can be pleasant, if not enjoyable! #Oracle gives you what you need, and then some.

I am honored to be promoted to Oracle ACE Director and I am proud to be the first ACED in Romania.
Many thanks to Monica Godoy for nominating me, and to @mikedietrichde.com, Sandesh Rao, Andreea Munteanu, Stefan Dobre, @basheerkhan.bsky.social, @rhjmartens.bsky.social for supporting my nomination

I just noticed the 23.8 version of 23ai Free has a different file name to previous versions. It now includes the version number. Nice!

www.oracle.com/uk/database/...

@OracleDatabase #oracle #database

I don't want to say I agree, but I agree

But not artificial, so can't be reliable

Scripting in SQLcl with @evrocs.bsky.social and many cats at #itougtd2025

And we're about to start
#ITOUG #TechDay2025

We’re thrilled to welcome #MySQL as a partner of #POUG2025! 🎉
POUG turns 10, MySQL turns 30 - coincidence? Sounds more like a destiny for us.😎
🎟️ Join the epic celebration: poug.org

Saying goodbye to my beautiful neighbors in Rust, Germany to drive from #APEXconn25 to Milan for #ITOUG25 with a short stop to have a coffee with dear friend @julianfrey.ch in Switserland.

Life could be worse.

Dynamic stats for PL/SQL functions (23.8) Improve row estimates for PL/SQL functions in SQL with dynamic stats By default row estimates for pipelined table functions are poor

Dynamic stats for PL/SQL functions (23.8) Improve row estimates for PL/SQL functions in SQL with dynamic stats With dynamic PL/SQL stats in 23.8, get accurate row estimates for pipelined functions

Oracle Database Free 23.8 is now available

Get it at

www.oracle.com/database/fre...

This has a neat tweak if you're getting poor row estimates for PL/SQL in SQL:

Enhanced dynamic stats for PL/SQL in FROM & WHERE

This can be particularly useful for estimating pipelined table functions

The mix of technical knowledge, an engaged audience, and a non-formal atmosphere. Only at #POUG2025!

Listen to @martinwidlake.bsky.social advice and join us in September: poug.org/edycja/poug-...

The introduction of the APEX song at #APEXconn25

😂

Kickoff of the 11th #APEXconnect by @nielsdb.bsky.social

We're having three great days ahead of us

Celebrating speaking at POUG this year with a local beverage :-)

ice cube says i got to say it was a good day in a video ALT: ice cube says i got to say it was a good day in a video

Woke up to some awesome news…I’ll be speaking at #POUG2025 for the first time!