Martin Bach

Ooops! Thanks Ilmar, I fixed the post

Why does my call to json_table return null for a column despite it not being empty? I recently worked on a fun project involving JSON and Oracle Database 23ai. I had to store rather large JSON documents, individual field lengths exceeding what I usually see. No problem with that, …

🔍 Seeing NULL from JSON_TABLE in Oracle even when the JSON field you query isn't null? It might be due to very long text values.

Here's how to debug & fix it 👉 martincarstenbach.com/2025/08/07/w... #OracleDB #JSON #SQLTips

Group-by-all is awesome for digging in performance data Oracle Database 23ai Release Update 9 introduces yet another new feature aimed at improving the developer experience with the database: group by all. Just like the new select without from dual clau…

🚨 Oracle DB 23ai Release Update 9 is here! 🚨

🆕 23.9 introduces GROUP BY ALL-no more errors for missing columns in GROUP BY!

Super awesome for ASH queries 😀

📖 Details: martincarstenbach.com/2025/08/06/g...

👉 Try it now in Autonomous DB or any other 23.9 db

#Oracle23ai #OracleDB #SQL

What’s new with MLE 23.9 – no need to grant execute on javascript Oracle Database 23ai introduces In-Database JavaScript for Linux x86-64 and aarch64. That’s Linux on Intel and Arm, respectively. Developers with a preference for Typescript can use it alternativel…

🚨 Oracle Database 23ai Release Update 9 is available 🚨

🆕 Beginning with Oracle Database 23.9 you no longer need to grant execute on javascript... to execute JavaScript code in the database

📖 Read the blog post for more details: martincarstenbach.com/2025/08/04/w...

👉 Give it a go on your database

Troubleshooting errors in ORDS container image entrypoint I’m a huge fan of Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) and use it extensively. I’m also very fond of the official container image, significantly simplifying the way I work with ORDS. The be…

Recently I needed to understand a problem related to starting an Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) container image in my lab. It ran into an error and aborted 😥 Turned out it was an oversight on my part but the troubleshooting story might still be useful for you. martincarstenbach.com/2025/08/01/t...

Device name persistence in the cloud: OCI Device name persistence is an important concept for everyone deploying the Oracle database. In this little series I’ll show how you can achieve device name persistence with Oracle Cloud Infra…

This is one of the reasons why I’m blogging: to avoid having to reinvent the wheel. Created a cloud VM today with a bunch of block devices and attached them automatically using Terraform. Guaranteed device name persistence 👍 martincarstenbach.com/2020/12/07/d...

Define Dynamic Property File Location in SQLcl Projects Learn to dynamically define property file locations in SQLcl projects for efficient APEX installations with customizable configurations

This is a great post showing you how to use multiple properties files in SQLcl projects. This trick comes in very handy when you want to deploy your APEX app to multiple environments. blog.neilfernandez.com/sqlcl-projec...

Sourcing environment variables from .env in compose I am a great fan of {podman,docker}-compose. Using compose I can whip up environments in no time, define dependencies, and do a lot of cool stuff I otherwise would have to script in Ansible or othe…

I haven't found a way to use secrets in Docker{-Compose}. Looking for alternatives I came across variable interpolation. In other words, you can use .env files with compose thus making your compose files more secure. Here is a short post how to do that: martincarstenbach.com/2025/07/30/s...

LiveSQL supports MLE/JavaScript 🎉 Oracle LiveSQL allows you to learn and share SQL, for free. You get instant access to the Oracle Database and learn from a collection of community scripts and tutorials. You can write your own SQL …

Have you heard about Oracle LiveSQL yet? It's the easiest way to access the Oracle database engine to run SQL, PL/SQL and now JavaScript. The JavaScript part in particular is interesting, and since it's new, I wrote a short blog post about it. martincarstenbach.com/2025/07/29/l...

What’s new for Developers in Oracle Database 23.7 For more information on what’s new in Oracle Database 23.6, see: What’s new for Developers in Oracle Database 23.6

Oracle Database has added many #SQL features in each RU for 23ai

@gvenzl.bsky.social runs through what's new in 23.7

TIME_BUCKET Function
Materialized columns
DBMS_DEVELOPER.GET_METADATA
Call PL/SQL from JavaScript stored procedures
Smallfile Tablespace Shrink

Photo of my new keyboard including special buttons for copy and paste

I have been eying these for a while and finally gave in. I’m a proud owner of a developer keyboard now 😀

Ever since publishing “Implementing DevOps principles with Oracle Database” I wanted to create a sample repository complete with a CI pipeline. Looks like I’m getting closer to implementing it in GitHub Actions. Only a few more things to add and I can hit the “change visibility” button 😁

Better support for JavaScript’s console.log() in ORDS handlers Oracle released Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) 25.2 recently, in other words it’s time for me to upgrade. The release highlights have been summarised elsewhere, so I won’t do that aga…

I wrote a short post about a cool enhancement in Oracle REST Data Services release 25.2 concerning console.log() output in JavaScript handlers. It's now much easier to identify output. Here are all the details: martincarstenbach.com/2025/07/10/b...

SQL Notebooks in Oracle SQL Developer for VS Code Introducing SQL Notebooks, a new way to work with Oracle Database SQL and PL/SQL scripts in the SQL Developer Extension for VS Code.

New post: SQL Notebooks in our SQLDev extension for VS Code.

www.thatjeffsmith.com/archive/2025...

Geeking out on Linux: file descriptors and their open modes & flags While preparing my talk for the upcoming POUG 2021 conference I wanted to know which flags Oracle passes to open(2) when accessing a data file. A file needs to be opened before its contents can be …

I have been blogging for a long time, mostly so I don't forget how to do things. Today was one of these days where that came in handy :) I'm preparing for my #POUG talk and was quite happy to find my intro to bpftrace martincarstenbach.com/2021/07/12/g... Let's see how all of this changed since 2021

Podman secrets: a better way to pass environment variables to containers Podman became the standard container runtime with Oracle Linux 8 and later, and I have become a fan almost instantly. I especially like the fact that it is possible to run containers with far fewer…

A little while ago I wrote a post about Podman Secrets and how to use them with Oracle Database 23ai Free. This post has enjoyed a lot of popularity and that was enough to merit a big update. Each and every component is now current: martincarstenbach.com/2022/12/19/p...

Jump-start developing APEX apps using MLE/JavaScript: Containers Support for In-Database JavaScript is one of the most exciting new features in Oracle Database 23c Free. JavaScript is the first language supported by Oracle Multilingual Engine (MLE), powered by G…

This has got to be the most updated article on my blog: martincarstenbach.com/2024/01/11/f... Besides the MLE/JavaScript aspect it's a great showcase for the power of containers. Want to create an APEX environment with 1 command? Head over to the blog to see how to do that

GitHub - martincarstenbach/javascript-blogposts: This directory contains most of the code used in my JavaScript blog posts This directory contains most of the code used in my JavaScript blog posts - martincarstenbach/javascript-blogposts

Today is "late spring cleaning day": I updated all blog posts containing compose files for Oracle Database 23ai Free and ORDS/APEX. Moved the code to GitHub because it's easier to maintain over there. If you are interested in a hands-free-APEX installation here's the repo: github.com/martincarste...

Thementage 2025: CI/CD demo part 2 The first part of this mini-series dealt with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery in the context of database applications. More specifically how to use the SQLcl (Oracle SQL Developer Comman…

Part 2 of my mini series explaining CI/CD in the context of relational databases is live :) In this now-complete mini series you learn how to use the awesome SQLcl projects command to update your database application to the next release. martincarstenbach.com/2025/06/26/t... #thementage25

Thementage 2025: CI/CD demo part 2 The first part of this mini-series dealt with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery in the context of database applications. More specifically how to use the SQLcl (Oracle SQL Developer Comman…

Part 2 of my mini series explaining CI/CD in the context of relational databases is live :) In this now-complete mini series you learn how to use the awesome SQLcl projects command to update your application from version 1.0 to 1.1. martincarstenbach.com/2025/06/26/t...

Thementage Die Thementage Remote 2025 bieten mit 6 Konferenztagen im Livestream und über 600 Stunden Session-Aufzeichnungen eine große Bandbreite an aktuellen Entwickler-, Architektur- und IT-Betriebsthemen.

I had the privilege to present about CI/CD and relational databases during #Thementage25 (www.ittage.informatik-aktuell.de/thementage.h...) I promised I'd polish my demo and blog about it, and that's what I did today. Here's to SQLcl project and Oracle 23ai: martincarstenbach.com/2025/06/25/t...

Goldmine of information below 👇 Please read if you are even in the slightest interested in the Java database component

ora2know Hands-On Workshop: Upgrade to Oracle 19c and 23ai Let's kick it off. When the ora2know group started at DOAG conference in Nuernberg in November 2024, we committed ourselves to support them. And this is exactly the reason why I am going to invite you to this unique event in Munich on July 10, 2025. I will run an ora2know Hands-On Workshop: Upgrade to Oracle 19c and 23ai. And you are going to type 🙂 You need to sign up early since we have only a limited number of seats available.

ora2know Hands-On Workshop: Upgrade to Oracle 19c and 23ai

Let's kick it off. When the ora2know group started at DOAG conference in Nuernberg in November 2024, we committed ourselves to support them. And this is exactly the reason why I am going to invite you to this unique event in Munich on July…

Oh now I am curious…

An interesting follow up question is this: once the majority of content creators stop creating new content, what do the AI firms use to train the next-gen model?

You should join @krisrice.io and I for an hour of show and tell in a few weeks. The MCP support has the potential to really change how you work with our Database.

go.oracle.com/LP=148941?el...

YouTube video by Oracle Register Now: Oracle DatabaseWorld 2025

Join us for #Oracle DatabaseWorld: #Multicloud #AI Edition
Advance your AI and multicloud strategies

Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 9 a.m. PT

www.youtube.com/watch?v=d706...

www.oracle.com/database/dat...

I took 3 pictures but none showed the white background properly

A photo showing Daniel and a config file for patching a database

Another interesting session about to begin: @dohdatabase.com is going to show us that patching is for everyone. #AOUG25. Apologies for the distortion in colours

Photo showing Sebastian right before the start of the session

Sebastian Solbach taking to the stage explaining how to manage and monitor Oracle databases in a multi cloud environment