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MuSQL Release History
Version 3.10 (release date: 2018-12-19)
- New features
-- New file output option in menu command PF to save output from all databases
in separate worksheets of a single Microsoft Excel workbook; output from each
database is first created as a CSV file and then moved to the workbook.
The feature requires Oracle command line tool used by MuSQL to support
CSV formatting of query output, e.g. SQL Developer SQLcl or SQL*Plus version
12.2 or later
-- Support added for localized regional Windows settings where the separator
between list items in a CSV file is not a comma but a different character;
all MuSQL reports created in as CSV files (job reports, lists of running jobs
to kill, lists of running, suspended, or interrupted HTML-to-CSV conversions)
now use the correct localized value of list separator
-- Improved accuracy of determining which tnsnames.ora file the selected Oracle
Home or instant client or SQLcl tool will use to resolve net service names to
connect descriptors; support added for nested name resolution files (with
"IFILE=another file" entries in main tnsnames.ora and nested files, up to
three levels of nesting. The improvement affects creation/modification of
database groups, adding individual database names to the set of databases
selected for job execution, and verification of all database names selected
for the job execution
-- Support added for connecting to databases AS SYSRAC (menu command CA).
This feature is available when MuSQL is using SQL*Plus version 12.2 or later
-- When user closes MuSQL or is about to open another job after having modified
the current job, MuSQL now offers an option to review job features (script,
database selections, other settings and options) that have changed since
the job was last saved
-- Improved recognition and processing of situations where a CSV file that MuSQL
needs to update is open in Microsoft Excel which prevents such update
-- Improved logic of the SQL query in the sample SQL script init.sql which is
recommended for MuSQL users to set as a common SQL script to customize each
MuSQL database session (menu command FD, option 5). The purpose of that query
is to, upon every connection to a database during job execution, determine and
save the Windows process ID of the client program (sqlplus.exe) connected to
the database - so that the user can then have an ability to identify and kill
(using MuSQL command JK) that client process if the database session is
taking too long to execute the job script. It turns out that, in certain
situations, it is not possible to correctly determine client's process ID with
SQL queries, particularly when the command line tool used to connect to
databases is SQLcl rather than sqlplus, or when the database is a physical
standby database (Active Data Guard). As a result, menu command JK would fail
to kill the client process of such database session. The query in the sample
init.sql script now correctly identifies such situations and does not save
Windows process ID, thus effectively disabling menu command JK for such
database sessions
-- The main job menu now does not show menu commands that are not applicable to
the currently selected command line tool for connecting to databases
- Feature deprecation
-- As Oracle is catching up to MuSQL and now supports producing SQL query output
in CSV format - in SQL Developer SQLcl command line tool with SET SQLFORMAT
CSV command (along with many other format options) and in SQL*Plus version
12.2 or later with SET MARKUP CSV ON command, MuSQL job option to
produce job output in CSV format has been deprecated and may be removed in
a future release. Users are encouraged to install an Oracle database command
line tool that support CSV formatting and configure MuSQL to use that tool
with menu command FO. Native Oracle output formatting features are much faster
than MuSQL feature (which first creates output files in HTML format and then
converts them into CSV files) and uses less resurces
- Bug fixes:
-- When user selects menu command FD, option 5 to modify the common SQL script
that customizes each MuSQL database session environment, the prompt now displays
the correct type of currently select type of SQL executable (SQL*Plus or
SQLcl) instead of always displaying SQLcl
-- SQL*Plus command "WHENEVER SQLERROR EXIT SUCCESS" has been removed
from the sample SQL script init.sql that is recommended to set as a common SQL script
to customize each MuSQL database session. The command was added to the sample
script in version 3.00 with the intention to restore the original WHENEVER
SQLERROR setting after the script modified it. According to Oracle documentation,
the original (default) setting is EXIT SUCCESS when, in fact, it is CONTINUE.
-- When user changes the width of MuSQL window for the job (menu command PW) and
then tries to close MuSQL or open another job, MuSQL does not fail anymore to
recognize the change and requests a confirmation to save the job
-- When user requests (by using menu command JZ, option 1 or 3) to abort a running
HTML-to-CSV file conversion, such abortion does not fail anymore
-- After user changes MuSQL default Oracle home from a SQL Developer command line
tool SQLcl to SQL*Plus, MuSQL now does not revert back to SQLcl when a new
MuSQL instance is started but correctly uses SQL*Plus
-- A bug resulting in failure, in certain circumstances, to identify and remove
duplicates in the list of database names selected for job execution has been fixed
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Version 3.01 (release date: 2017-09-27 )
- Bug fixes:
-- With SQL.BAT executable file of SQL Developer SQLcl command line tool
selected as the tool to connect to databases, MuSQL would not stop and ask
user after executing job script in one database but would proceed to
executing the script in the next database. This has been fixed
-- Database include/exclude lists created or edited in Notepad and containing
just a single very short database name (2 characters of less) not followed
by a newline character are no longer disregarded
-- The failure, under certain conditions, to select Oracle Instant Client as the
command line tool to connect to databases has been fixed
-- Small cosmetic changes
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Version 3.00 (release date: 2017-08-17)
- New features
-- Support added for Oracle SQL Developer Command Line tool SQLcl as a
tool to access databases during MuSQL job execution. SQLcl claims
to support all SQL*Plus features and adds its own features, including
useful report formatting options
-- New menu option PX to choose a report file extension (only when SQLcl is
selected as the database access tool)
-- Improved support for using EZCONNECT database naming method and for using
full connnection descriptors as database names
-- Added support for global login profile script glogin.sql that produces
output but does not request user input
-- Added support for Oracle Home names that contain spaces
- Bug fixes:
-- The utility for picking files and directories when user types in
a file/directory name works correctly now under any conditions
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Version 2.79 (release date: 2017-02-02)
- New features
-- Installing and running MuSQL on Windows 10 machines is fully supported
-- Configuring MuSQL jobs to connect to databases AS SYSASM, AS SYSBACKUP,
AS SYSDG, or AS SYSKM is now supported (the last 3 connection modes
are available beginning with Oracle Database 12c and require a
corresponding version of Oracle Database client)
-- After the job script has executed in the last of the selected databases,
the Try & Ask dialog asking user whether the script ran as expected is
not presented anymore
- Bug fixes:
-- Improved detection of other MuSQL sessions running on the user's computer
-- Previously missing files with instructions on how to remove "Administrator: "
from window titles are now included in installation package
-- Checking for MuSQL latest version does not fail anymore with an "Unable to
determine..." message when an Internet connection is available
-- When the open job does not have any database groups selected and the user
tries to close MuSQL or open another job, MuSQL does not keep asking anymore
if the user wants to save the job even when no changes have been made since
the job was last saved
-- Detection of references to custom pre-connection programs in exported jobs
has been improved, so that user always gets reminded to copy those programs
to the destination machines on which those jobs will be imported
-- Checking for MuSQL latest version does not fail anymore with an "Unable to
determine..." message when Internet connection is available
-- When MuSQL job is executed in command-line mode and a pre-connection script
is enabled that sets only login IDs but not login passwords, job executions
do not fail anymore with a "not connected" message
-- Reliability of HTML-to-CSV report conversion has been improved; certain
characters in the reports that previously caused conversions to fail do
not cause failures
-- The bug has been fixed where, after selecting the option to review the job
script that was used to produce the interim HTML file for a _suspended_
HTML-to-CSV report conversion, the user was returned to the menu for
_interrupted_ HTML-to-CSV conversions
-- Pauses have been added after certain information messages in HTML-to-CSV
report conversion processing to allow user better opportunity to see
the messages
-- Error catching functionality for failed HTML-to-CSV report conversion processes
that run in separate windows has been improved; when a file conversion fails
with an error, the window does not close immediately but displays the error
message that may help identify the error's cause
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Version 2.78 (release date: 2014-01-19)
- New features
-- When current Oracle client home contains a SQL*Plus global profile script
glogin.sql that produces output, MuSQL does not crash anymore when user
enters a password, but shows a descriptive message and refuses to use that
Oracle home
-- The name of the Unistall shortcut now includes the application name so that it
is clear which application it uninstalls - useful on Windows 8 where multiple
similarly named shortcuts may appear on the desktop under the same header
- Bug fixes:
-- MuSQL shortcuts in Windows Start Menu and on the desktop have been modified,
and so 64-bit Windows systems no longer substutute a generic icon for MuSQL
icon when displaying open MuSQL windows
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Version 2.77 (release date: 2014-01-09)
- New features
-- When the titles of MuSQL windows on user's computer begin with "Adminstrator:"
and this prevents user from seeing the rest of the title, a tip is displayed
upon starting MuSQL advising user on how to get rid of "Administrator:" in
window titles
-- The MuSQL icon file now includes a 256-bit and a 48-bit icons which, in certain
situations, are used by the latest versions of Windows
- Bug fixes:
-- When importing MuSQL jobs from export file, a bug causing "'mkimpdirs' is not
recognized ..." messages instead of creating report directories for imported
jobs has been fixed
-- Under certain versions of 64-bit Windows, progress report of some file utilities
(search, convert, verify) was displayed by printing processed row counts or
file names one after another rather than each next entry overwriting the
previous one on the same line. This has been fixed
-- The non-working link to GNU General Public License in the Miscellaneous help
file has been fixed
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Version 2.76 (release date: 2012-03-22)
- Bug fixes:
-- Closing a job does not cause a '=?customCmd:"=?" was unexpected' error anymore.
-- A bug with an error message "'nosuch' is not recognized as ..." when renaming
or moving a job folder has been fixed
-- A bug resulting in file or folder name incorrectly appearing as something like
"~85" when saving a new job or renaming/moving a job folder has been fixed.
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Version 2.75 (release date: 2012-02-03)
- New features:
-- New menu command JK (Job Kill) allows user to terminate a stuck or runaway
job executuion rather than kill the application window. This allows user
to regain control of the application and save the job
-- Job reports can now be saved in a CSV (comma-separated values) format. Reports
are initially saved as HTML files and then converted to CSV format. If the
file is big, conversion is started in a separate window; conversions can be
suspended and later resumed. Consequently, the name for menu command PM to
select job report format has been changed from "Markup" to "Format"
-- New menu command JZ can be used to suspend, resume, or abort HTML-to-CSV
report conversions
-- The Enter Password utility has been redesigned. It now runs in the main window;
the characters of the password being entered are never displayed; the utility
is not subject to the Windows bug that previously prevented a "blind"
password window from being displayed
-- The utility to select multiple items or files from a list now utilizes full
width of the window if necessary rather than truncate long entries to 65
charachers
- Bug fixes:
-- SQLPlus command-line options -L and -R are not used when MuSQL uses an Oracle
Database client that does not support those options
-- HTML markup is now suppressed when MuSQL uses an Oracle Database client that
does not support HTML markup
-- When no valid network configuration file tnsnames.ora is found for the current
Oracle home, verifying a database group now does not display a message
"All group names successfully verified" when the group has no references
to other database groups
-- Working with menu command RD (Delete Report) no longer causes crashes
-- An option to canced and return to the menu has been added to the set of options
for menu command JR (Rename jobs)
-- File selection utility, when invoked with file extension wildcard filter, now
correctly displays only files matching the wildcard filter
-- File selection utility now does not show empty CD drives in the list of
available drives when "Select another drive" option is selected
-- Handling and display of job and folder names containing exclamation marks "!"
has been improved
-- The bug introduced in version 2.73 that on 64-bit operating systems prevented
MuSQL from finding some installed Oracle homes has been fixed
-- Support for Oracle Instant Client has been improved
-- Support for Windows 2000 has been improved
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Version 2.74 (release date: 2011-11-09)
- Bug fixes:
-- Fixed endless cycle in user choice dialogs that was happening in some localized
Windows environments
-- Implemented a workaround for a Windows bug that prevented a "blind" password
window from being displayed on some machines and caused application to hang;
application does not hang anymore but posts a message that "blind" window
feature is not available on that machine
-- Removed calls to Windows GRAFTABL.EXE utility which is not available on some
Windows 7 machines
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Version 2.73 (release date: 2011-07-06)
- New features:
-- A list of recently opened jobs is now maintained; user can open a job from the
recently opened jobs list (menu command JT)
-- A new job option (menu command PW) added to increase MuSQL window width for a
job; useful when job script sets LINESIZE to a value greater than 80
-- Improved handling (creation, maintenance, export/import, etc.) of jobs and
database groups with names that contain characters not supported by the
active code page and extended ASCII (upper-ASCII) characters
--- assigning job names and database group names that contain characters not
supported by the active code page is not allowed; hash characters "#" in
database group name are also not allowed since they will be treated as the
beginning of a comment in another group definition file that references
the group
--- a new menu command JX (Check Job Names) added to the Jobs menu to find jobs
with names that have characters not supported by the active code page; if
such jobs are found, they can be renamed
--- a new command added to the Database Groups menu to find groups with names
that have characters not supported by the active code page and also hash
characters "#"; if such groups are found, they can be renamed
--- when exporting a selected list of jobs or database groups, the list file with
the selected names is now encoded using the current ANSI code page rather
than with the OEM code page. As a result, file names with extended ASCII
characters are recognized by the export utility (zip.exe or pkzipc.exe )
and such files are included in the export file
-- When using Oracle Database client version 10 or newer, virtual (SUBSTed) drives
are not created anymore during job execution; this eliminated situations when
a job could not be executed because no more drive letters were available for
SUBST when several other MuSQL instances were executing jobs, or after MuSQL
instances had crashed or had been killed while executing jobs but were still
holding SUBST drive letters
- Bug fixes:
-- Entering S (for "view Script") after selecting menu command SD now shows the
script and does not cause an error
-- Erroneous message "Top folder is not \\ and is not a parent folder of start
folder" is not displayed anymore when saving a job in a subfolder
-- Menu command RM (Manage Reports) now shows a correct message when selected
while MuSQL has an unnamed job open
-- Job and folder names containing parentheses no longer cause crashes
-- Working with an Oracle home whose path is not in PATH environmental variable
or is preceded there by another Oracle home is now handled correctly
-- User regained the ability to suppress a reminder to use menu command Q to close
the application rather than kill the window (the ability was lost in ver. 2.72)
-- MuSQL now correctly determines which TNSNames.ora file will be used by Oracle
Database client in some situations when no client is registered in Windows
registry and an ORACLE_HOME environment variable is defined
-- Multiple improvements in the single file/folder picker utility:
--- the listing no longer shows an empty page beyond the last item when the number
of available items is a multiple of 20 and user enters L (last page) command
--- performance improved (pages are displayed much faster) when the number of
available items is very big
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Version 2.72 (release date: 2010-10-06)
- New features:
-- Upon startup, MuSQL now optionally checks if a newer version is avaialble
-- A new function (menu command FD, option 5) allows user to create a default
SQL*Plus script, common for all jobs. The script will be executed every
time MuSQL connects to a database, before specific job script is executed.
The common script creates the same SQL*Plus environment for every session
-- Before saving an existing job under another name (menu command JA), MuSQL
now checks if the new name is different from the old name; when a job
with the new name already exists, MuSQL now checks if the job has reports
or if it is open in another MuSQL session before overwriting it
-- New job menu commands JN (New) and JO (Open) have been added as duplicates
of existing N and O commands for consistency with command naming
-- Multiple single file/folder picker utility changes:
--- user can now type in a file or folder name from any allowed folder or drive
- an alternative to navigating to the desired folder and entering the
item's number; a new name can be entered when allowed; short 8-dot-3
substitutions for long file names are supported; user input is checked
and validated
--- file and folder names containing Unicode characters are no longer displayed
with question marks "?" substituted for those characters; instead, such
items are filtered out and user is notified
--- when showing a list of available drives, physical paths for virtual
(substituted) drives are now displayed next to drive letters
--- a ? (help) command is now available
- Bug fixes:
-- Job and folder names containing parentheses no longer cause crashes
-- User is now referred to www.info-zip.org for _information about_ downloading
zip.exe and unzip.exe utilities, not for directly downloading (the site
does not offer executables for download)
-- The old menu command JY (to copy/clone a job) which had been replaced by JA
command (Save as) in an earlier release but was still accepted if entered
from the Job group menu is no longer accepted
-- Job names and folders containing ampersand character "&" are not anymore
displayed with a caret "^" preceding the ampersand
-- Full job names that begin with a comma "," or semicolon ";" are now correctly
displayed in the window's title bar
-- Multiple job deletion and move functions now correctly handle job and job
folder names containing exclamation marks "!"
-- Multiple job deletion and move functions now correctly determine when a job
or job folder to be deleted or moved is open in another MuSQL session
-- When job export encounters errors and the export file is not created, a
"partial success" message is not displayed anymore
-- After a job export, the list of exported jobs referring to external SQL*Plus
scripts no longer erroneously includes jobs configured to be executed in
database groups with names containing character "@"
-- After a job import, the list of imported jobs referring to custom pre-
connection programs and external SQL scripts now correctly displays job
and folder names containing exclamation marks "!" and double spaces
-- MuSQL will no longer crash when executing a job with a name containing a
closing parenthesis ")" and with an option to display job name in HTML
report title enabled
-- When user creates a database group by typing database names in a Notepad
session and the saved file is empty, the user is no longer asked to
assign a name to the group
-- Improved handling of cases when an attempt to delete or overwrite a file
fails (due to lack of access rights, read-only drive, etc.)
-- MuSQL no longer skips files and other items whose names begin with a
semicolon ";"
-- Multiple improvements in the single file/folder picker utility:
--- the listing no longer goes beyond the last page when the number of available
items is a multiple of 20 and the user enters an L (last page) command
--- improved input validation of user-typed file/folder names
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Version 2.71 (release date: 2009-12-30)
- New features:
-- Improved support for installation on 64-bit Windows operating systems
- Bug fixes:
-- Program no longer asks for user input in non-interactive batch-file mode
-- When displaying the set of databases in which a job will be executed (menu
option CS) for a selection of database groups referencing other groups,
the warning that the set will be reordered before job execution is no longer
displayed. An option to reorder the set and remove duplicates is offered
only if the resulting set contains duplicates
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Version 2.70 (release date: 2009-08-27)
- New features:
-- Install-time verification that the version being installed is the latest one
-- Improved security: supplying database password as argument to sqlplus.exe
command is discontinued; password is now invisible to even advanced Windows
process management tools
-- Improved security: database password is not supplied anymore as part of
the local sqlplus.exe command line and therefore is not visible to even
advanced Windows process management tools
-- New job options:
--- include run-time job argument values in job reports
--- enable keyboard input during script execution (now disabled by default)
-- New menu options:
--- save modified job under another name ("save as") - replaces the option to
copy/clone the job in previous versions
--- preview saved jobs (shows first 10 lines of job script of each job)
--- check if a newer version of the tool exists
--- go to tool's website
--- contact support
-- Clarified instructions for using non-local database name resolution methods
(name directories, etc.)
-- Improved debugging capabilities
- Bug fixes:
-- Error message no longer displayed when the user has lost write permission
to the directory where the tool is installed
-- Command options in custom report file manager command are now supported
-- Error message no longer displayed when a job or database group export/import
command is selected and an expired trial version of PKZIP.EXE is found
-- Multiple script argument values are now properly processed when supplied
in MuSQL command line
-- Timestamp part of job report file names no longer contains spaces
-- Misleading error message is no longer displayed when a job is being saved
with Unicode characters in its name
-- Error messages is no longer displayed after a database group is deleted
(current directory is now restored to the original directory)
-- Application will now work when CMD.EXE command extensions are not enabled
-- Installation and application programs will now work when directory with
non-Windows (e.g. Unix/Linux-type) command utilities like FIND.EXE are
listed in PATH before the Windows system directory
-- Application will now offer to save the modified but not yet saved job after
menu option FG (Database Groups) and then its option Q (Quit) is selected
-- Uninstallation program will not remove Windows Start Menu entries and desktop
shortcuts for other BS Utilities for Oracle tools (like PassAid) installed
at other locations
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Version 2.65 (release date: 2009-04-23)
- Installation is now supported on machines where installing user does not have
local administrator rights or has UAC (User Account Control) enabled
- Modified installation program that failed on versions of Windows Vista where
EXPAND.EXE utility is incompatible with those in other releases
- Modified batch utilities to support the changed output format of REG.EXE Query
command on some versions of Windows Vista
- Modified file picker utilities to filter out folders and files with some special
characters (like percent sign %) in their names instead of rejecting the
operation outright
- Fixed a bug introduced in version 2.63 that under certain conditions prevented
User ID change
- Discontinued disabling of command history (previously entered command recall).
Because of Windows bugs, in Windows XP and earlier versions such disabling
caused an instant system crash when user accidentally pressed certain function
keys (F2, F3), while in Windows Vista disabling did not work and command history
remained enabled.
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Version 2.63 (release date: 2009-04-03)
- Bug fixes:
-- Fixed bugs in displaying job names in job picker and in window title when job
name contains character '&'
-- Fixed incorrectly generated job report names on systems with some locales
-- Fixed nonworking menu option in Job Connections group menu
- Improved password entering module to allow tab characters in passwords
- Reformulated and clarified wording of some instructions and prompts
- Added a reminder to end each sql statement in job scripts with a semicolon or
a forward slash in next line to avoid job execution hanging
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Version 2.62 (release date: 2008-06-03)
- Bug fixes:
-- Fixed a bug where an attempt to change a default settings (user ID, database
selection, etc.) changed the current setting
- Implemented a workaround for inconsistent Windows XP installation that caused
calls to Windows' TASKLIST.EXE to display error messages during MuSQL startup
- Reformulated and clarified wording of some instructions and prompts
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Version 2.60 (release date: 2008-04-04)
- New features:
-- Nested database groups
-- Export/import of jobs and database groups
- Bug fixes:
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Version 2.52 (release date: 2008-01-21)
- Bug fixes:
-- Fixed invalid URL in support.html
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Version 2.51 (release date: 2007-10-18)
- Bug fixes:
-- Fixed a bug in Database Groups program that, when started directly from Windows
Start menu, prevented it from finding Oracle Home.
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Version 2.50 (release date: 2007-08-24)
- First public release
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