Oracle SQL Developer 21.4: Configuring TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE Display Across Time Zones

Goal

Determine the optimal strategy for rendering TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE values in SQL Developer when users operate in different regional settings.

Constraints

• DATE columns lack time‑zone offsets; display relies on session NLS_DATE_FORMAT and JDBC defaults.
• On insert, TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE is normalized to the database time zone and returned adjusted to the session time zone.
• SQL Developer’s NLS preferences can change formats but do not alter the JDBC session time zone for all connection types.

Unresolved Decision

Should the client render TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE values in the operating‑system local time or strictly follow the database session time zone? The current behavior follows the session time zone, which may misalign with user expectations in multi‑region deployments.

Specific Questions

1. Which SQL Developer configuration setting, if any, can enforce rendering in the client OS local time for TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE columns?
2. Does the JDBC thin driver in 21.4 expose a property to override the session time zone used by SQL Developer?
3. What are the observable differences in query results when switching between a thick OCI connection and a thin JDBC connection in terms of time‑zone handling?