Advanced Query Tool

Advanced Query Tool (AQT) is a Microsoft Windows based SQL query software tool used to administer and execute queries against the most common database management systems. AQT is created by a small New Zealand software company, Cardett, and is distributed and supported through the Internet. AQT is designed for use by database administrators and developers.

Architecture

AQT is a Windows application that uses ODBC to access the data, but is aware of the catalog structures of most common databases. This sets it apart from most software tools that use ODBC. The ODBC catalog is very slow on large systems, but AQT directly queries the catalog meta data of well known data base management systems, which makes it very fast for exploring the data structures of enterprise size data bases.

Catalog awareness is accomplished by using configuration files for each flavor of DBMS to define the queries to run against the data base catalog meta data. There are also separate configuration files for the administration component.

Data Base Management Systems of which AQT is aware of the catalog structure include IBM DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, Sybase, and Informix.

License

There are two levels of licensing of AQT: the Standard License, which allows most functionality, and the Extended License, which allows full use including the administration tools, data compare, and the data loader.

Functionality

Database explorer

AQT allows multiple database connections to be made. The connection can be made to any ODBC database defined. For each connection there is a database explorer window. The database explorer panel allows the user to display information about the database objects in that database. This is where AQT uses catalog queries rather than ODBC definition calls, which makes exploring database meta data very fast.

SQL editor

The SQL editor allows multiple statements, which can be run in order through a multiple statements dialog. There is a SQL formatter that makes hard to read SQL easier to read. The database connection that will be the target of the SQL execution can be switched with a simple pull down. The results of the SQL go to a data window by default, but can also be directly exported to various file formats. Database administrators find it useful to export the results of queries to another SQL window, which is useful for building and executing DDL using queries against the catalog meta data.

Data window

In addition to simply displaying the results of a query, the data window allows the updating of the data in the window. The query results can also be exported to various file formats including MS-Excel spreadsheets, CSV files, plain text, insert statements, and HTML tables.

A recent sophisticated addition to the data window includes the ability to edit data in related tables. This allows the user to be editing a row of a table, and the rows of a child table that are related within the same window.

GUI Query Builder

The GUI Query Builder allows building SQL queries with point and click simplicity, which is handy for novice SQL programmers.

Data loader

AQT Extended Edition includes a data loader tool that makes it easy to load data into tables from various sources. The sources can be other tables on the same database, a different database, a completely different kind of database (i.e. can load DB2 table from Oracle table), an Excel spreadsheet, a comma delimited (CSV) file, a flat file, or even a complicated

Structure compare

AQT can compare the structure of two tables from the same or different database connections. The connections can even be of different types. For example, the structure of a DB2 table can be compared to the structure of an Oracle table. There are few database administration tools that can do this with any ease.

Manage authorities

From the Data Base Explorer screen, AQT Extended Edition enables database administrators to grant and revoke privileges on database objects with point and click techniques.

Data compare

AQT Extended Edition can do a compare of all the data in a table to all the data in another tables. The tables can be on the same or different databases. It can also do subsets of data, for example, the compare could be performed on the results of two queries, which can be real handy for verifying the results of SQL statements.

Scripting feature

AQT allows creation and execution of scripts that allow instructions, parameters to be passed as part of a script file which can be run in interactive mode or in unattended mode. For example, a script may be created to export results of a query to a file, with a current date and a filename that is prompted for from the user.

History

AQT was created by an IBM Mainframe DB2 DBA from New Zealand who was frustrated by the lack of good query tools for DB2. He developed AQT on the side until he was able sell enough copies of AQT to be able to leave his day job and develop AQT full-time. The complete history of every change in the product is well documented in the "What's New" section of the help.

External links

• Official Web Site