Inline View Check Option

Something I didn't know was possible, the "With Check Option" with an inline view. I knew this was possible with a "regular" view , but with an inline view...
The Check Option prohibits changes to the table (through the view) which would produce row that are not included in the view.
Let's start with a sample of how the Check Option works.

Going to OOW2010 - Long Wednesday

Wednesday morning at 5 o'clock as the day begins, the alarm clock wakes me. Time to get out, take a shower and get ready to go to Oracle Open World. Not only my first Oracle Open World, but also the first time that I will be invited to the Oracle Ace Directors Briefing. Looking forward to an exciting week and a half in and around San Francisco.

Oracle OpenWorld, the countdown has begun

One week from now I am flying to San Francisco. Very excited to go as this will be my first Oracle OpenWorld.

Birthday Gift from Oracle: Ace Director

Yesterday was my birthday which usually starts off by being woken up by my children showering me with drawings they made. Yesterday was no exception.
I also got an email from Oracle, a nice one I might add.

Alex-
I'm happy to inform you that your Oracle ACE Director nomination submitted by ------- has been accepted. The next step is confirming your understanding of Oracle's expectation as well as confirming the support of your company/management to participate.

As requested by my nominator in this matter, the name has been left out. Thank you for nominating me - you know who you are. :)

APEX 4.0: Removing Plugins

Just a quick note so I won't forget, and maybe help you along the way.
A little while ago I created my first APEX 4.0 plugin, which was a nice learning experience. Removing a plugin is (or at least to me) not as obvious as you might think.
This blog entry is about removing an installed plugin.

APEX 4.0 Plugin: Watermark

This simple plugin for APEX 4.0 shows some text inside an item. Usually a watermark is used to give the user extra information to assist with filling out a Form. Creating this plugin was more a learning experience than anything else. If you just want the plugin than follow this link to download it. If you want to go through the same learning experience I went through while creating this plugin, than keep reading.

Connecting Without TNSNames With EZConnect

On my laptop I run two databases, Oracle 10g Release 2 and Oracle 11g Release 2. Next to my regular consulting work, I also give an Oracle Advanced SQL and PL/SQL training called "7Up". This training covers "all" new features since Oracle7.
I tried using VM for having multiple versions of the database, but my laptop would grind to a halt.
Anyway, usually I use SQL*Plus for all my demo's - SQL*Plus Windows that is. As you may know, SQL*Plus Windows vanished from the Oracle 11g database.
Until now I was using SQL*Plus commandline instead, and that was fine.
Last week I received the latest Oracle Magazine (July/August 2010) at home and in it was the AskTom column on connecting without TNSNames.