how is it supposed to work "-c" TOAD command line option along with "Allow multiple copies of TOAD to be loaded" option?
by the documentation, "-c" should just "Make connections", it doesn't mention anything about starting its own TOAD instance.
if I do not enable the option "Allow multiple copies of TOAD to be loaded", I would have expected calling toad TOAD from command line with "-c" would start new connection within existing TOAD instance, if one is already running.
however, it always starts new separate TOAD instance.
is that expected behavior? or just something unintentional?
The "multiple Toads" option really is supposed to just apply to starting Toad without any parameters (like when you click an icon on your desktop). If you start Toad by command line with some parameters, we assume that you are calling a separate instance of Toad to perform some quick task (like run an action) and then shut down. That was the intent anyway. I don't think connections were supposed to count as "parameters" here to override the "prevent multiple Toads" option, but that's what's happening here.
Looking at the code though, it seems as if connections were once opened in the 1st instance, but this functionality may have broken several versions ago. We can fix that. Is that all you were trying to do - just use command line to make a connection in Toad? Or was there more to it?
I'm basically looking for a way if and how I could automate opening a DB session in TOAD having credentials stored externally in a centralized secured storage, yet still use just single TOAD instance.
if "-c" option worked that way it would help a bit, at least for cases where sensitive data are not part of and plain readable out of "-c" option (eg. externally and globally authenticated access).
in cases where sensitive data would need to be fully supplied for the "-c" (user/pwd@tns) this wouldn't be a suitable approach since that would be a security risk. maybe any thoughts to improve that in next releases somehow???
In the next beta, when "allow multiple Toads" is unchecked:
-c user/pass@db will make a new connection in the existing copy of Toad (rather than start a new one). If the "save passwords" option is checked in Toad, you don't have to supply password. You could just do -c user@db.
-a name_of_action will start a 2nd copy of Toad (invisibly) and run the specified action, then quit
I'm not really sure what you mean by "credentials stored externally in a centralized secured storage", unless this is just a fancy way of saying "checking the save passwords box in Toad". In that case, passwords are stored (encrypted) in Connections.XML, and the passwords can only be decrypted on your PC. So if someone steals the file from you, they won't be able to use it on their PC.