SQL Developer insight

When using SQL Developer, there is a feature called Completion Insight which help you write SQL and PL/SQL in the SQL Worksheets. It will auto-pop helpful things, like object name when typing a SELECT statement, column names if it is aware of the object which you are accessing and things like that.

The pop-up seems to pop-up inconsistently, appearing when I don’t want it and not appearing when I do. I finally snapped and decided to work out (look up) exactly how this feature works. And it’s like this.

1. Make sure your SQL is correctly formed. If you have multiple bits of SQL in the Worksheet, and they are not terminated with a “;” or “/“, then it can get confused about where you are contextually within a statement and not pop-up.

2. The Auto-popup has a delay of either 0.3s (SQL) or 0.6s (PL/SQL). This can be changed in Tools -> Preferences -> Code Editor -> Completion Insight. I have now set a 1.0s delay so it’s not quite so eager to appear.

3. You want the pop-up to appear? Press CTRL + SPACE. If it still does not appear, then it cannot determine your SQL Context (see point 1) or there’s nothing to pop.

Hope this helps you. It’s certainly helped me.