How to connect to Oracle, MySQL or any database using Squirrel SQL client

Use SQuirreL to connect to many different databases in one RDBMS.

When using environments that use a relational database management system, or RDBMS, you may come across the need to connect to multiple databases -- such as Oracle or MySQL -- from multiple vendors at the same time. You may also need the interface to be simple so that people who aren't database specialists can also view the data. SQuirreL SQL client is an excellent tool to meet these needs. It is open-source software that free of cost and distributed for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Things You'll Need

• Java Virtual Machine (Java Runtime Environment) installed

Instructions

1. Download the free tool from the SQuirreL website. Run this command to install the tool, replacing "version" with the actual version number and accepting all default installation options.

   java -jar squirrel-sql-version-install.jar.

2. If you have any JDBC driver that you need to specifically use, copy it to the following location:
   C:\Program Files\SQuirreL SQL Client\lib

   Run the tool. Select "Drivers" and then "New Driver." Provide the driver class name and example URL. The driver class must to exist in one of the jars

   Now select "Aliases" and then "New Alias." Enter the driver that you just created along with the username and password.

3. Connect to the database. A new window opens with a left and right pane. On the top left of the pane you will see two tabs,Objects and SQL. Use the Objects tab to view the different schemas, tables and stored procedures. Use the SQL tab to run explicit SQL queries.

Resources

• SQuirreL SQL: Installation