Rapid SQL Code Templates by Dan Hotka

This is part of a series of guest posts by Dan Hotka.

Hi!

This week I want to show how Rapid SQL can improve your coding productivity and technique by using its templates. A template saves me from having to look up the exact syntax.

To use, simply put your cursor on your code where you want a template and use the key strokes CTRL + Space bar. This brings up the template popup window:

From here, we select the code we want using a double-click operation, in this example, I’d like a CASE statement and it dumps the code into your PL/SQL!

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Now I can complete the code to my satisfaction.

To add your own templates, this is very similar to the blog I did on using Autoreplace (remember…to create your own coding shortcuts).

Go to Tools à Code Workbench then to the Code Templates tab.

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Notice that you can export and import your settings between releases of Rapid SQL. This is convenient to preserve your code templates.

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Notice here that we have the Embarcadero multi-database support showing up. IF you are just using SQL Server or just Oracle…you can easily delete the non-pertinent database options.

You can also add your own templates.

I’ve worked with a number of programming languages such as COBOL and C over the years. Most other languages have copy libraries, or chunks of code that is copied in at compile time. PL/SQL does not have this feature.

So…any chunks of code you wish to share across your PL/SQL routines, such as a standardized exception clause…simply add it here and include it with just a couple of key strokes and a mouse action!

The big difference between Auto Replace and Code Templates is Auto Replace is a one-line code snippet and is signaled from the space bar, where Code Templates can contain many lines of code and is signaled with the ctrl+space bar.

CTRL + Space Bar by itself brings up the entire list of options. You select one using a double click operation. As you get used to the short cut name, you can enter this and hit ctrl + space bar and this single code template will instantly load into your code.

What would I do? I’d customize these templates to my coding style and typical options I would have in my code. I’d add my own templates of code I commonly use. I would use templates for what would be copy libraries in other coding languages.

I hope this technique helps you in your day-to-day use of Rapid SQL.

Dan Hotka

Oracle ACE Director

Instructor/Author/CEO

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