Quest Software recently made a joint announcement with Microsoft, indicating that it will offer an Oracle Database Schema Provider for the upcoming release of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) 2010. Quest's new tool provides Oracle support for VSTS, enabling Oracle developers to fully participate with other VSTS team members throughout the entire application lifecycle. Previous to this, Oracle professionals could not benefit from the improvements in communication and workflow that VSTS offers. Oracle development in VSTS was limited, involved time-consuming manual processes, and did not support the system's new offline database development and design paradigm. With Quest's new tool, VSTS can now support both Oracle and SQL Server databases.
The new Database Schema Provider enables Oracle developers to perform offline design, development and change management in VSTS, and integrate their changes into the application's automated build schedule. This capability ensures that all database changes are managed and tracked in the system, unifying Oracle professionals with the rest of their organization's VSTS team. Daniel Wood, development manager for Quest Software, tells 5 Minute Briefing that "many developers already have applications running on an Oracle database that they would like to make changes to. Now, with the Oracle Database Schema Provider, they can import the existing application schema into VSTS, make the needed changes offline, and then push them back out to the production application."
Jason Zander, general manager of the Visual Studio Developer Division at Microsoft, tells 5 Minute Briefing that "the same process that has been in place for Microsoft SQL Server can now also be applied to Oracle databases. Namely, begin with your existing database, turn it into source code, perform source code control with consistent snapshots of code and schema, perform refactoring and impact analysis, do testing, and then apply the changes back into the production environment."
Quest sees a need in the developer community for Oracle support on Visual Studio Team System, and is working closely with Microsoft to provide a solution that will allow Oracle developers to work alongside other Visual Studio Team System users. The release of the Database Schema Provider will bring real value to the market, and underscores Quest Software's continued support for Oracle database professionals. Some of the benefits that Oracle developers will gain are increased productivity through the use of a single tool, better quality code, and reduced maintenance costs.
To find out more about the Database Schema Provider for Oracle databases or to register for the upcoming beta program, go here.