Data Definition Language (DDL) is used to describe an object in SQL. When you model a table in your relational model using Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler, you are probably very curious as to the code that is being generated to represent that object.

You can peek into this code using your mouse –

The Code behind the pretty picture

You can right-mouse-click on an object and choose ‘DDL Preview,’ or you can use the keyboard shortcut, Alt+Shift+I.

Here’s trick #1:

Mouse Over an object to get the DDL

Once the previewer is open, it’s dynamic. So click on another object in the model, and it will auto-refresh.

Auto-Generate DDL Text By Clicking on the Objects

And trick #2:

Change How the DDL is generated on the fly

Open the Preferences dialog under the Tools menu and proceed to the DDL page. There you can specify how to generate the DDL including:

  • Use Quoted Identifiers — this drives me nuts!
  • Generate Inline Column Constraints
  • Generate Comments in RDBMS

After you make this change, simply click back into the object and the DDL will auto-refresh based on your new setting. Here’s an example of how that looks with Quoted Identifiers.

The Options

DLL Generation Options

Previewing the Code

My object names are now case-sensitive, enjoy suckers!

You can expect more options and flexibility when it comes to generating the DDL in upcoming versions of SQL Developer Data Modeler. If you want to see something in particular be sure to add the request formally, or leave me a comment here.

Author

I'm a Distinguished Product Manager at Oracle. My mission is to help you and your company be more efficient with our database tools.

10 Comments

  1. Mario De Luca Reply

    hi,
    may i have an help about ddl appearence, when i select DDL preview from a table on Phisycal Design i see this for trigger syntax, there are all LF in bad position

    CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER USER.TR00_MY_TAB
    BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE ON USER.MY_TAB
    FOR EACH ROW
    ENABLE DECLARE
    V_SYSTIMESTAMP TIMESTAMP(6) DEFAULT SYSTIMESTAMP;
    BEGIN

    IF NOT ( INSERTING AND USER = ‘XXXXX’ AND UPPER ( SYS_CONTEXT ( ‘USERENV’ , ‘OS_USER’ ) ) = ‘ORACLE’ AND UPPER ( SYS_CONTEXT (
    ‘USERENV’ , ‘HOST’ ) ) IN ( ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ ) AND UPPER ( SYS_CONTEXT ( ‘USERENV’ , ‘DB_NAME’ ) ) IN ( ‘XXXXX’ ,
    ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ , ‘XXXXX’ ) ) THEN IF INSERTING THEN : NEW . ID_TMST_INS : = V_SYSTIMESTAMP ;
    END IF ; : NEW . ID_TMST_UPD : = V_SYSTIMESTAMP ; : NEW . ID_DEN_FUNZIONE : = TRIM ( : NEW . ID_DEN_FUNZIONE ) ; : NEW . ID_DEN_OPERATORE : =
    TRIM ( : NEW . ID_DEN_OPERATORE ) ; : NEW . ID_TXT_COMMENTO : = TRIM ( : NEW . ID_TXT_COMMENTO ) ; END IF ; EXCEPTION WHEN OTHERS
    THEN RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR ( – 20599 , ‘Errore Trigger: ‘ | | $$PLSQL_UNIT | | ‘ alla linea: ‘ | | $$PLSQL_LINE | | CHR ( 10 ) | |
    TRIM ( SQLERRM ) ) ; END ;
    /
    ————————————
    i prefer this

    CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER USER.TR00_MY_TAB BEFORE
    INSERT OR UPDATE ON USER.MY_TAB
    FOR EACH ROW
    ENABLE DECLARE
    V_SYSTIMESTAMP TIMESTAMP(6) DEFAULT SYSTIMESTAMP;
    BEGIN

    IF NOT (
    INSERTING
    AND USER = ‘XXXXXX’
    AND UPPER(SYS_CONTEXT(‘USERENV’, ‘OS_USER’)) = ‘ORACLE’
    AND UPPER(SYS_CONTEXT(‘USERENV’, ‘HOST’)) IN ( ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’ )
    AND UPPER(SYS_CONTEXT(‘USERENV’, ‘DB_NAME’)) IN ( ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’,
    ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’, ‘XXXXXX’ )
    ) THEN
    IF INSERTING THEN
    :NEW.ID_TMST_INS := V_SYSTIMESTAMP;
    END IF;
    :NEW.ID_TMST_UPD := V_SYSTIMESTAMP;
    :NEW.ID_DEN_FUNZIONE := TRIM(:NEW.ID_DEN_FUNZIONE);
    :NEW.ID_DEN_OPERATORE := TRIM(:NEW.ID_DEN_OPERATORE);
    :NEW.ID_TXT_COMMENTO := TRIM(:NEW.ID_TXT_COMMENTO);
    END IF;
    EXCEPTION
    WHEN OTHERS THEN
    RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20599, ‘Errore Trigger: ‘
    || $$PLSQL_UNIT
    || ‘ alla linea: ‘
    || $$PLSQL_LINE
    || CHR(10)
    || TRIM(SQLERRM));
    END;
    /

    thanks

    • Mario De Luca

      Hi Jeff i find that if i use in the body of a trigger the syntax clause DECLARE thats give the problem about indentation that i observe when i produce the DDL Preview for a Table from a Phisycal model Design.
      Using in a trigger body the syntax structure
      DECLARE

      BEGIN

      END;

  2. Mario De Luca Reply

    thanks Jeff, it’s possible in Oracle Data Modeler have a model to customize the layout of a ddl script before it was generate?

    • There are a ton of options for determining how your DDL will look, what information it will contain when you generate it from your design. What exactly are you trying customize? Not sure ‘layout’ makes sense for a text file…maybe give me an example?

    • Mario De Luca

      this is an example of ddl script, i know that i can modify the visualization of the table syntax clause (PCTFREE etc properties) with a check in the menu Tool – Preference – Data Modeler – DDL and DDL/Storage panel.
      Or decide something else (from 20.4.0.379.2205 version of SQL Developer) in Tool – Preference – Code Editor – Format like UPPER case o LOWER case for table name.
      But if i want modify the PK clause and write the columns in same line (column1, column2, column3) or a line break before word PRIMARY KEY?
      or having not shown the properties NOT DEFERRABLE in FK constraint clause?
      or only one line break after a clause, sometimes i found most of one line break?

      CREATE TABLE schema.table_name (
      column1 NUMBER(9) NOT NULL,

      column8 NUMBER(5),
      column9 NUMBER(5)
      )
      PCTFREE 0 PCTUSED 0 TABLESPACE tablespace1 LOGGING
      STORAGE ( PCTINCREASE 0 MINEXTENTS 1 MAXEXTENTS UNLIMITED FREELISTS 1 FREELIST GROUPS 1 BUFFER_POOL DEFAULT );

      ALTER TABLE schema.table_name
      ADD CONSTRAINT xps_table_name PRIMARY KEY ( column1,
      column2,
      column3 );

      ALTER TABLE schema.table_name
      ADD CONSTRAINT fk01_table_name FOREIGN KEY ( column3 )
      REFERENCES schema.table_other ( column3 )
      NOT DEFERRABLE;

  3. Hi Jeff,
    Thanks for your website and all answers !
    I have an issue with SQL Developer Data Modeler. Since I have versionned (with Subversion) my diagram I can’t export it to DDL statement for Oracle Databases.
    I have post an question to Oracle Community (https://community.oracle.com/message/12629531) you will see a screenshot.
    Thank you very much for help.

  4. Chuck Martin Reply

    Jeff thanks for this informative website. Do you know of a way to limit the line length when generating table data insert statements? We are setting up a code and data deployment system and one problem is when “insert statements” are generated from existing table, sqldev sometimes generate lines with >2499 char length, and of course sqlplus errors in running those (SP2-0027). Thanks in advance for your tips!!

  5. Very cool! I did not know about the mouse over trick to see DDL on any object in the diagram. (Plus the animation on the figure in the post is really cool.

    • I didn’t know about it either until the developer showed us in a team meeting. I figured it was hard to explain in words or even screenshots, so I built the animated GIF using Camtasia.

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