I was caught last week during our public Hibernate training not using the Eclipse Database Explorer or any fancy database tool such as Toad or Squirrel, but SQL*Plus. It’s been a while ;-).
I usually use Oracle XE when I have to do any serious database stuff, as certain things simply can’t be done on Derby or HSBLDB. I usually use the web interface you get with XE (that’s what an interface should be like; get rid of that enterprise manager!!), but the AMIS guys insisted I used SQL*Plus to demonstrate some locking strategies you can use when working with Hibernate on Oracle.
It seems to me that if you had ever used Aqua Data Studio you would have mentioned it. Since you didn’t, I thought you’d appreciate my passing the word on what a great little product it is for working in Ms Sql Server, Oracle, MySql, Sybase all at the same time. I gladly pay for a single license and use it where ever I am working. I really cannot say enough good things about Aqua Data Studio.