Now that I want to achieve Oracle certification, I am using my installation of Oracle Express Edition to try things out with the database. Oracle XE comes with a web front end to perform database tasks. However I need to execute commands from the command line to learn. Oracle XE also has a menu choice called “Run SQL Command Line”. I started using it but found it limited. I am used to SQL*Plus and PL/SQL Developer.It took a little while for me to realize that “Run SQL Command Line” is actually SQL*Plus command line version. It connects you to database XE. I prefer the Windows graphical version of SQL*Plus (sqlplusw.exe). I tried connecting my install of PL/SQL Developer to the XE database. It did not work. PL/SQL Developer requires components not installed with Oracle XE.
In lieu of PL/SQL Developer, I downloaded and installed Oracle SQL Developer. It worked with my Oracle XE installation. But I just did not like it as much as PL/SQL Developer. I really need a tool like this to do advanced querying. So it might be time to install the Oracle client to make PL/SQL Developer working.
