Database deployment using QSR (Quest Script Runner) is slow

It's not clear from your question what brand of database you are connecting to. I will assume it's Oracle. You need this information:

• name of the server the database is on
• name of the database --sometimes called a service name
• is the database parameter db_domain configured with a value? (usually the domain name)
• the port the database listener is using (usually port 1521)
• a user and password, be good and don't connect as sys

Let's try the easiest way, connecting directly

• open toad
• select session/new connection from the menu
• select the "Direct" tab from the right side and enter
  • User and password
  • Host = machine name of the database server
  • Port = 1521
  • Service Name = Name of the database
• connect as normal if you are not connecting as sys
• ensure that the Installed clients picks up the correct install of your Oracle client

and....press connect.

This is the easiest way. More involved is adding the name of the database to the TNSNames in your oracle client. Another good check is to log onto the server where the database is and start a DOS command line window. Enter lsnrctl status . This will give you the database name and port and if the listener is ready to receive connections.

drop, along with create, alter, truncate etc is a DDL (Data definition Language) statement. DDL is not allowed in PL/SQL blocks. Your script is a PL/SQL block (it has begin and end, along with variable declarations).

The way to work around it is to use execute immediate:

declare
myTestId VARCHAR(32);

begin

select  '23423DSSF34SD234' into myTestId from dual;

--Here my drop for my_test_table1 and my_test_table2
execute immediate 'drop table my_test_table1';
execute immediate 'drop table my_test_table2';

--Here create table my_test_table1 and my_test_table2

--Here I have a bunch of inserts

--Here are some selects statements

end;

Be aware that executing DDL in a PL/SQL block in this fashion will implicitly perform a commit. Any errors (such as ORA-00942: table or view does not exist) will also abort the script execution, though there are ways around this. You could first query the ALL_TABLES data dictionary few to check if the table exists before attempting to drop it, for example.

Variable use is massive subject... If you have a specfic question about it, you'd be better off asking a new question on the site.

As far as creating temporary tables are concerned, this is different than creating a true temporary table, as frequently used in Sybase and SQL Server - don't worry about it, your approach is fine for test scripts.