nxqddb RelationName
QDDBDIRS=/u/eric/databases:/usr/local/databases
The main screen in nxqddb(1) has a row of menubuttons at the top and a scrollable canvas containing entry boxes for each attribute. A general search box is located above the attributes' canvas and queries in this field are not attribute-specific. Attribute-specific queries (such as Name == "Eric Herrin") should be entered in the attributes' entry fields. A query may be initiated by either invoking the Search menu item (under the Edit menubutton) or by pressing <Return> in any field.
All menu buttons have accelerators defined as <Alt>-c, where c is the underlined character in the menu button. Any menu item under a menu button may be selected by bringing up the menu and typing the underlined character. For example, to invoke the Clear function you would press <Alt-e> C.
There are 4 modes in nxqddb(1). The default mode is called Search Mode. In search mode, you may enter values in any attribute field and/or the general search field. The result is the intersection of all tuples that match each given value. When a query is complete, a listbox will appear detailing the tuples that matched the query. If only one tuple matched the query (and the search configuration doesn't specify fields that produce multiple rows), then the tuple is immediately brought into Change Mode. If multiple tuples matched the query, the listbox will contain all unique rows for each tuple that matched the query and the values are specified by the current search results configuration. If another application has the selected tuple locked, then you are placed into Read-only Mode. In Read-only Mode, you may not save the tuple, but you may modify it and save it as a template. Up and down arrow keys may be used to move the selection over the entries in the listbox. A Button-1 mouse press, <Return>, or clicking on the Select button will select the entry to be brought into change mode. Add Mode is selected by Button-1 on the Modes menu button, then click on Add Mode.
Note: Qddb requires an operating system that supports fcntl(2)-style record locking. nxqddb will fail if you attempt to run it over NFS without a lockd, for example.
<Tab> : Goto next entry box <Shift-Tab>: Goto previous entry box <Control-a>: Goto beginning of line <Control-b>: Back one char <Control-d>: Delete current character <Control-e>: Goto end of line <Control-f>: Forward one char <Control-h>: Back one char, delete current char <Control-k>: Kill to end of line, place in cut buffer <Control-n>: Goto next entry box <Control-p>: Goto previous entry box <Control-w>: Delete current selection, place in cut buffer <Control-y>: Yank (paste) cut buffer to current cursor position <Alt-w> : Copy current selection into cut buffer <Button-3> : Paste current selection at current cursor position <Return> : Search in search mode, same as <Tab> otherwise <Down> : Goto next entry box <Up> : Goto previous entry box <Right> : Forward one char <Left> : Back one char
Most listboxes have the standard TK bindings, plus <Up> and <Down> arrow keys. Text boxes have the standard entry except:
<Return> : Goto next line <Control-n>: Next line <Control-p>: Previous line <Control-o>: Open current line <Down> : Next line <Up> : Previous line <B2-Motion>: Scroll text
Radiobuttons have the standard <space>, <Return>, and <Button-1> bindings for setting the radiobutton's value. <Shift-space>, <Shift-Return> and <Button-3> undo a radiobutton's setting.
word range: [a-z0-9]-[a-z0-9]
numeric range: number-number
date range: mm/dd/yy-mm/dd/yy
word: [a-z0-9]
number: integer or real number
date: mm/dd/yy
regexp: any V8 regular expression
Automatic search-type determination is performed as
follows. First, nxqddb checks for a "-" in
the string and checks the string types on either
end. If both strings appear to be either
a word, number, or date, then the appropriate range
searching method is used. Next, nxqddb attempts to
match the string as a word, number or date respectively.
If that fails, nxqddb defaults to regexp. Regular expressions
are matched only against full words, so the regular expression
a.*b will not match the word carbine but will
match the word a123b.
Intersection, union and binary exclusion are supported by nxqddb. If the TCL list (or sub-list) contains three elements (atom operator atom), then both atoms are evaluated and the binary operation is performed on the two atoms in their specified order. If the TCL list contains more than three elements or there is no operator, nxqddb evaluates the expression from left to right, treating spaces as intersection, commas (",") as union and bang ("!") as exclusion. Exclusion is a binary operation where the expression "a ! b" means all tuples that match expression "a" that do not match expression "b". Commas and bangs must be separated by spaces. The key to learning the syntax is knowing that all expressions must be a valid TCL list.
Examples
Search for all records with either the words "eric herrin" or the words "raphael finkel" in any fields.
{eric herrin} , {raphael finkel}
Search for all records with the words "herrin" or "herron"
but not the word "eric."
{herrin , herron} ! {eric}
Search for all records with "eric" and "herrin", then perform
a union with all records containing the word "raphael", then
an intersection with all records containing the word "finkel."
{eric herrin , raphael finkel}
Search for all tuples matching the regular expression
(.*)abc(.*), or containing the words "special customer,"
but do not contain the word "delinquent." Merge that result
with all tuples containing words ranging from "ba" through "bz."
{{(.*)abc(.*) , {special customer}} ! delinquent} , ba-bz
Search for all records containing either a date
from January 1, 1994 through June 1, 1994, or
or from January 1, 1995 through June 1, 1995 (note: dates and
date ranges only work in fields marked as type date.
1/1/94-6/1/94 , 1/1/95-6/1/95
Search notes
Date ranges are useless unless you use the type specifier "type date" on some attribute(s) in the Schema file. Specifying a date search in the generic search field, or in a field that is not "type date" will be read as regular expressions.
Make sure to put spaces between atoms and operators. A query of the form:
{ {Joe Blow},{Henry Blow} }
will give you an error message, but something like
{ joe, blow }
will assume that you want a regular expression "joe,"
intersected with "blow".
Avoid unpruned regular expressions such as (.*) unless you want to wait a while. This is especially true for large (20-30MB or more) databases.
Leaves that are constrained to a particular search type may provide search data in any form acceptable by the search engine. For example, a date in the form "today -1 year" is acceptable by the search engine, but the simple search will parse it as three words. If you specify "date range" as the search type, then "today -1 year" will be treated as a date.
You can always save your changes and additions to disk by selecting the "Save" button in the menubar. nxqddb(1) also gives you the option of saving your changes away separately, in a template. A template is an ASCII file containing the readable form of a tuple. You may save values to a template in either Search Mode, Change Mode, or Add Mode. You may only read the values from a template in Search Mode or Add Mode. If you want to save some changes and return to them later without affecting the database, you can view them in Add Mode and discard them when you are finished. If you want to use those values, you can first delete the original tuple, then add a new one inserting the template. Templates are accessed via the "Templates" menu button.
nxqddb provides you with a fairly nice set of configuration options. You can set the type of the entry box in the main window to either Entry, Text, or Radiobutton, and set the size of the boxes. nxqddb restricts you to a single width for all entries because it is a generic interface, and our current method of displaying the view generically is in a single column. However, the overall column width can be configured by choosing the Entry Widths cascading menu from the Configure menu button. You may also utilize the flexibility of QddbScript (see URL:http://www.hsdi.com/qddb/qddbscript) If you want checkbuttons, formatted screens, or other niceties, you can design your own custom interface with Qddb's Fx Toolkit (see Fx(n)) and/or QddbScript (also see qddbscript(1) and qddb_script(n)).
Listbox configuration
You may configure both the search results listbox and all instance view listboxes. The search results listbox is capable of listing any attribute. You can configure the search results by selecting "Configure" from the menubar, then "Search Results". The instance view listboxes are capable of listing only those attributes that are children of an expandable attribute. You can get an instance view configuration window with <Control-Button-3> over the attribute's label. Alternatively, you can use <Control-3> while the focus is on any Add, View, or Del button or in an attribute's entry.
Widths for fields in the listbox may be specified in the configuration screen. The listbox configuration specifies (1) the sorting order, (2) ascending/descending, (3) attributes to print, (4) field widths, (5) justification, and (6) field separators. A field width of 0 means unlimited.
The selected attributes form a set of logical rows in the listbox. For example, you might have a student database with the following schema:
Student (Name Address)
Semester ( When Course (Name Grade) * ) *
In this case you could review all of a students grades by
selecting the attributes Semester.When,
Semester.Course.Name and Semester.Course.Grade for the
Semester instance listbox. To view only semesters, you
would select only Semester.Course.When.
To review a student's courses
for a semester (not grades), you would select only
Semester.Course.Name for the Semester.Course instances.
Since only Semester and Semester.Course
are expandable, they are the only attributes that allow
new instances and have instance listboxes.
By default, when a listbox appears, the first element selected will destroy the listbox and bring the selected instance (or tuple) into view. The Pin checkbutton pins the listbox until the close button is pressed. While a listbox is pinned, you may select instances, review them, and edit them.
Configuring search results and instance views
When configuring the search results from the Configure menubutton, you may select the attributes to show, their width, separators between columns, how to sort those attributes (Sort), and the order in which to show them (Print). The default width is 0 (unlimited).
Instance views may be configured by pressing <Control-Button-3> over an expandable attribute's label. A listbox similar to the search results listbox will appear.
Configuring the entries
The entries can be configured by pressing <Control-Button-3> over the leaf attribute's blue label. A dialog will appear, allowing you to set the type of entry (Entry, Text, Radiobutton), width, height, default values, plus mandatory and read-only properties.
QDDB_DATESTYLE="us" # %m/%d/%y style
QDDB_DATESTYLE="european" # %d/%m/%y style
You can also configure nxqddb's date style through the Configure menu.
#ifndef COLOR *Entry*foreground: black *Entry*background: white *Text*foreground: black *Text*background: white *Listbox*foreground: black *Listbox*background: white *Button*foreground: black *Button*background: white *Scrollbar*foreground: white *Scrollbar*background: black *Label*foreground: white *Label*background: black *activeForeground: black *activeBackground: white *Checkbutton*selector: white *Radiobutton*selector: white *Menu*selector: white #endif
xmodmap -e "clear Mod1"
xmodmap -e "clear Mod2"
xmodmap -e "add Mod2 = Alt_L"
Some systems require #! scripts to have interpreters with paths less than 32 characters. For this reason, qddb_wish is named qwish and qddb_tclsh is named qtclsh. Links are made to qddb_wish and qddb_tclsh respectively. Other systems will not let you use #! scripts with an interpreter that is not in /etc/shells. You can always start up nxqddb(1) by:
$ qddb_wish /usr/local/qddb/bin/nxqddb Relation
A Guide to QDDB Eric H. Herrin II and Raphael A. Finkel Qddb User's Guide An ASCII Database for Fast Queries of Relatively Stable Data Eric H. Herrin II and Raphael A. Finkel Computing Systems, Volume 4 Number 2 University of California Press, Berkeley CA Schema and Tuple Trees: An Intuitive Structure for Representing Relational Data Eric H. Herrin, II and Raphael A. Finkel Computing Systems, Volume 9, Number 2 MIT Press, Cambridge MA