Chapter 9. Reporting Techniques

It's important that the data returned from a query be presented in a manner that is easy to interpret. The reporting features of iSQL*Plus, SQL*Plus, and SQL*Plus Worksheet make it easy to give columns more meaningful names, as well as provide report headers and footers so that the contents of the report are clear.

In fact, changing how reports are formatted and displayed is one way that you can customize the iSQL*Plus environment to suit your needs. You can also change how the interface appears and change an account's password.

Along with formatting, another way to improve a report is by using substitution variables, which prompt the user to enter portions of the query at runtime. For example, instead of including a department number in a SELECT statement, a query can ask the user to enter a department number. Finally, after you've come up with a set of commands that you'll want to reuse, you can save them in a file and run them later.