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From: Glenn G. <gw...@co...> - 2006-02-17 18:09:36
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Hi Fabrice,
That sounds like a very nice feature. Would you like to build it? :-)
The following random thoughts come to mind:
- This should be do-able as a plug-in. As with any plug-in, we may need
to add some hooks to the core code for it to work, but that should not
be a problem.
- A graphical user interface for input is usually an order of magnitude
more difficult to build than a display-only interface because the user
needs to be able to not only grab and move objects, but also create
objects, insert things into them, resize them, etc. Sounds like a lot
of work, though the result could be worth it.
- Automatically generating CREATE and ALTER statements is much more
complicated than generating SELECTs because databases are much less
standardized in defining the names of their data types and how they are
defined. I'm guessing that the kind of tool you are describing would
need to have a strictly-maintained division between two sections:
- DB-agnostic code that handles the user interface and makes calls
to the.....
- DB-specific code (in plugins?) that understands the data types in
the particular DB.
For example, when the user wants to add a field to a table:
- DB-agnostic code shows the "add field" button and gets the action
command when the user clicks, and then calls the...
- DB-specific code which returns a list of the names of all the data
types within this DB...
- so the DB-agnostic code can present that list to the user for
selection
There will also be issues such as what options are allowed/required for
each data type (null/not-null, field size, etc) and, in some cases, the
exact syntax needed by the CREATE statement.
- I recall from a long time ago that some DBs did not allow ALTER on
tables after they were created. May not be a problem any more, but
something to look into.
- A decision will be needed on what to do with the result of the
design. Is it output to text files for use by another tool, or is it
executed by SQuirreL directly on the DB? What happens to data already
in the DB? What kinds of warnings should be generated about changing
the DB and possible loss of data?
- It would be good to include comments on the fields and the ability to
view and print the schema details, eg:
integer uid // unique user id
VARCHAR(6) userId // login and screen name
VARCHAR(30) userName // full name of the user
etc. Those comments can be critical to remind people of the format,
range, limits or expected use of the fields.
While it would probably be a lot of work, this could be a cool feature
for the product!
Glenn
Fabrice GONNON wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Squirrel is a fabulous product and last version with choice to
>integrate oracle plugin is very nice.
>Great work guy's ;o)
>
>I have a question:
>There is in Squirrel the graph vizualisation (very good).
>Is it planned or does exist a Designer plugin ? Because it is able to
>do a reverse representation, wuld it be easy to create a graph, and then
>to applicate it to a database ??
>Or does somebody know a product that could do so ?
>There is a market for it because it seems that DBdesigner4 is no more
>supported :-( and Druid does work only to create and doesn't have
>reverse design...
>
>If so, Squirrel would be the best product for databases client queries
>AND design.
>
>Thank's again for your so good contribution.
>
>Fabrice.
>
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