Object Viewer

Insert at Cursor
Drag and Drop
Query and Count query

Object Viewer is a better alternative to the SQL*Plus DESC command. It is designed to work with the editor.
Press F12 to pass the current word (under the cursor) or selection into Object Viewer. If the cursor is on a
table alias in a SQL statement, SQLTools resolves the alias to its actual table name and opens the viewer for
that table, remembering the alias. You can also enter an object name directly into the top field of Object Viewer.

Insert at Cursor

“Insert at Cursor” is the simplest way to use the Object Viewer. Place the cursor where you want to insert text, then double-click an item in the tree, press Space, or use the right-click “Insert at Cursor” menu command. The exact text inserted depends on what is selected.

Note: if double-clicking does not insert anything, check the Settings — this feature may be disabled.

Inserting columns

When one or more Column nodes are selected, SQLTools uses an autocomplete-style insertion path. If the selection is a mix of columns and other item types, the non-column items are automatically deselected and only the columns are inserted.

Each column name is optionally prefixed with the table alias. The alias comes from the root table node in the tree. When Object Viewer is opened via F12 on an alias in the SQL text, the actual alias used in the query is remembered and applied automatically — no guessing is required.

If the cursor is already positioned immediately after a dot (e.g. t.), the alias prefix is omitted from the first column to avoid duplication.

The formatting of the inserted column list is controlled by three Autocomplete Settings:

• Insert columns on separate lines — when enabled, each column is placed on its own line. When disabled, all selected columns are inserted on a single line, comma-separated.
• Use leading comma — when inserting on separate lines, chooses between leading-comma style:

  col1
  , alias.col2
  , alias.col3
  , 

  (cursor left after the trailing , on a new line), and trailing-comma style:

  col1,
  alias.col2,
  alias.col3,
  

  (cursor left after the last comma, ready for the next column).
• Lowercase aliases — when enabled, the alias prefix is lowercased before insertion.

Inserting on a non-empty line if "Insert columns on separate lines" is disabled

If the cursor is on a line that already contains text, SQLTools applies several rules based on the characters immediately before and after the cursor:

• If the cursor is right after a comma, the inserted column will end with a comma.
• If the cursor is right before a comma, the inserted column will start with a comma.
• If the cursor is after ", ", the inserted column will also end with ", ".
• If the cursor is before " ,", the inserted column will start with " ,".

These rules prevent duplicated commas or missing separators.

SQLTools also checks whether the characters next to the cursor are alphanumeric:

• If the character before the cursor is a letter or digit, a space is added before the inserted column.
• If the character after the cursor is a letter or digit, a space is added after the inserted column.

This ensures the inserted column doesn’t accidentally merge with existing text.

Inserting non-column items

For all other item types (tables, procedures, package procedures/functions, sequences, etc.) the classic insertion path is used:

• Single item — inserted in default format. For procedures and package procedures/functions this includes the parameter list on a single line, e.g. proc(param1 =>, param2 =>);.
• Multiple items — each item is inserted as a short name, joined with a single space.

A space is automatically added before the inserted text if the character immediately before the cursor is alphanumeric, and after it if the character immediately after is alphanumeric, preventing the name from merging with surrounding text. The leading space is suppressed when the inserted text starts with a dot (e.g. when only the missing dot before a procedure name is being inserted).

Package procedure / function smart insertion

When a single package procedure or package function is inserted, SQLTools checks what already precedes the cursor and inserts only what is missing:

• If packagename. is already before the cursor — only the procedure name is inserted.
• If packagename is before the cursor but the dot is missing — .procname(params); is inserted.
• Otherwise — packagename.procname(params); is inserted in full.

Drag and Drop

"Drag and Drop" used to be more powerful than "Insert at Cursor" before the latest update, but that’s no longer the case. However, it’s still quite useful because it lets you select multiple items and drop them into the editor with different modifications, depending on the Shift and Control keys pressed.

Depends on <Shift> and <Ctrl>, the result of drag and drop of a single object is summarized in the table:

Object	Default	<Shift>pressed	<Ctrl>pressed
column	name	name and datatype	same as default
constraint	name	columns in line	columns in column
container / folder*	name	objects in line	objects in column
granted privilege	label	same	same
index	name	columns in line	columns in column
package spec / body	name	same	same
package procedure / function	call with parameters formatted in line	same	call with parameters formatted in column
partition / subpartition	name	partition clause	same
procedure	call with parameters formatted in line	same	call with parameters formatted in column
sequence	name	same	same
synonym	name	same	same
table / view	name	columns in line	columns in column
trigger	name	same	same

If multiple objects are selected for a drag and drop operation then the default (short name) format is applied to every item.
<Shift> and <Ctrl> are both ignored in the case of multiple selection.

Query and Count query

Object Viewer lets you make a quick (count) query from selected table (or partition/subpartition).
You also can select multiple columns belong that table (or partition/subpartition). If no columns are selected, * is used.
However only a single object can be chosen for "FROM" clause so it is either none, table, partition or subpartition.