Sad to see your online version limited to 100 lines - it makes it pretty much useless for me now. I can totally understand why you've done this, however it's not really an incentive for me to buy your product as there's a few other formatters online that format thousands of lines.
Thanks for the free use up until now though, the formatter has been a great help.
Peace
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2011 05:28PM by guidomarcel.
I concur with the others. I used this quite often and was testing it out before buying. I just had a 402 line SQL that was unable to be formatted. Useless now, but for small things I will still try and use.
I understand that the author is entitled to be compensated for his/her hard work. The problem is that the market is saturated with so many "Freeware" sites, that going "Demo-ware" may take this site out of competition.
I recommend going totally uncrippled freeware for the Desktop Version, make it free for home use, but require a $99 registration fee for professional use. Go for market penetration. Yes independent developers will use it for free, but they will introduce it to major businesses that will pay to keep their offices legal.
at home I use free version, but in the office we buy it, because all the developers are familiar with this tool and a few dollars for the company is nothing and everything is legal.
Hello,
many thanks for all of your comments. I appreciate them very much.
I added the 100 line option 2 weeks ago. What I can see so far in my web statistics is that the number of online users did not decrease since 21/07 and that 90% of the users come form Monday-Friday during office working hours. Therefore I assume that for the majority of corporate and private users the 100 lines are fine. Maybe it would be better to increase it to 150?! As always I am open for suggestions.
Regards
Guido
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2009 01:07AM by guidomarcel.
Hi Guido,
I was a big fan of the tool, and think it is a real shame that you have restricted it to 100 lines - this tool was fairly useful before you restricted it.
Although your stats show that usage hasn't decreased, I wonder if you could get some metrics on how many people exceeded the 100 lines when they used the tool.
100 Lines sounds substantial, and I hope this restriction does increase your sales. I think other solutions may work too, as people above have suggested - like advertisement supported, or even putting advertising comments in the generated code. But, it is a great product and I hope you succeed with the new change. Unfortunately, there is no chance that I can swing my boss to purchase it, and I would rather not buy it personally - so in the meantime I'll use a free alternative.
unfortunately I will not be able to use your great tool in the future.
The reason for this is, that I used it mainly to format Cognos generated SQL and these SQLs are always big!
I also doubt that my company would allow me to use the desktop tool, because it would need to be tested and certified by our PC service provider before they install it ...
Viele Grüße aus Frankfurt und ich wünsche viel Erfolg!
christian
I totally agree with the author's 100 line limit, just to be able to make up for his countless hours of work taken from his family and friends, just to helps us out there. If someone evaluates this software as I do, he will definitely buy a single user licence which is not very expensive I think.
If the author reading this, I would like to ask: If I buy a single user licence, for how long will I be able to use it, and when do I have to purchase another licence? I have put my E-mail address in this post, please post the information there as well, as I am willing to buy a licence anyway next month. Thank you for your hard work!
I did love it, I even gave Thelen some headaches with my suggestions some years ago... I find that tool so good, so easy to use... but now that it is limited to 100 line I will go elsewhere... I just don't want to use a desktop version.
Just this week, I showed that tool to some of my colleagues... everywhere I go, when I need it (which is VERY sporadic, being a consultant, I may go 15 months or more without touching a sql code line...).
I will miss the ease of use and the fact that I did not need a bookmark or anything, just type sqlinform and hop, I was in...
Although if there is an online licence, I am more than happy to cough up the few bucks asked for it.
I'd also chime in that I used this site quite extensively but I'm gone for good with a 100 line limit. SQL is typically extremely verbose and things like placing each column in a select list will make 100 lines extremely limiting (read: 100% useless).
This was my favorite formatting tool, but I have dozens of others available to me; there's no way I'm going to pay because I like the output slightly better than what comes out of TOAD. I'd still use it if there was an ad-supported version.
As a Capitalist, I understand paying for things. This was a really nice free tool and you obviously put much work into it. SQLinForm has value. I will consider a license since you update the desktop version so much - but the tool that I use, Oracle SQL Developer, also formats SQL with your older API, I believe. If I don't get a license, this would be why.
BTW, you may wish to consider removing "The Free Online SQL Formatter." "The Free Online SQL Formatter w/ Stipulations Your Code Don't Get Too Big" isn't as catchy.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2009 10:55PM by Dunlavy.
Hi Dunlavy,
thanks for your message. You are totally right, things must be indicated correctly. Therefore I removed "Free Online Formatter"
Regards
Guido
I was extremely disappointed to find out about this new length limit. SQLinForm used to be an exceptionally useful tool, but now it's practically useless. 100 lines is not nearly enough to cover most of the SQL scripts I work with.
And as other people have already said, it seems unreasonable to have to pay a fee to use the desktop version when there are already many free alternatives elsewhere online. Granted, SQLinForm is much more customizable than any other online formatter I've found, but it's just not worth the price tag. Besides, I find a web-based tool much more convenient than a desktop application to begin with.
I implore you to get rid of this length limit for the online version, or at least to substantially increase it. If not, I just don't think this application will be of any use to me anymore.
That is the point, you know.... It is disappointing, but if you use this thing day after day, it REALLY IS worth the price. The author probably has weeks and weeks of solid work poured into this code.
1. How do the upgrades work? Does the software automatically check for and download updates or is this something we have to do manually?
2. I'm probably Ok to pay for a site license, but I'd rather not have to send this around to multiple laptops, especially if the upgrade process is manual. Can this be installed on an internal web site for all developers?
I changed to another job... I was thinking about using SQLinForm here too and......... oh God, no more Free??????
I'm currently working in a worlwide bank company and buying software is not that easy... its a big process and needs authorization from several areas inside the company, needs to be tested and certified by an PC Service area and blablabla.....
I've only just come across this tool and I have to say it looks great!
Sounds like one approach is to keep the 100 line limit for a free online service, but provide a unrestricted online version for licenced users (need to log in to a secure area) in addition to the download version.
There are a couple of issues here:
* Are you licencing a user or a machine? I know that I use many PCs in the course of a day, so accessing online from wherever I happen to be is helpful.[/*]
* Many corporate entities do not allow you to download software without it going through a rigorous approval process. Like ours.
Guido, charging a few $$ for this tool is fine. You are completely right to charge for it, after all you put all the work into it.
I find it hilarious that prior to the 100 line change it was a "great tool" and after the change it has become a "bad tool", I guess some people are so cheap (or naive).
$29 is irrelevant to any sized business or the wage of a sql programmer
given the amount of time it saves it is well worth it
I just bought the software for my use at work
Like everyone else having work buy it through the company is a process. I do not bother anymore.
Now I get what works for me and I can use at every job.
When I worked as an electrician I always bought my tools as I couldn't imagine trying to be productive without my chosen tools. This was expected and subsidized.
I think there should be a balance between company provided tools and developer selected tools. The funding of which should either have tax benefits, company funding, or both.
Was a great tool, not anymore, at least for me and my colleagues.
