Re: Viable alternatives to SQL?

On Thu, Aug 27, 2009 at 06:43:51AM -0700, Kelly Jones wrote:
> Are there other viable ways to query data? I read a little on
> "Business System 12" (BS12), Tutorial D, and even something called
> T-SQL (I think), but they all seem theoretical and not fully
> implemented.
>
> I want a query language that non-techies can use easily, but also
> supports arbitrarily complex queries. Does such a language exist?

I've never heard of the first two, as far as I can recall. T-SQL is quite
common, however (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transact-SQL) but although I've
never used it, I seriously doubt it will make things any more user friendly.

Several business intelligence applications try to allow users to generate
their own queries by providing a query builder system of some sort. These are
far from simple drop-in systems, in general. For instance, I'm using Pentaho
(http://www.pentaho.com) in a project, to allow users to write their own
reports. I've had to create a sort of schema "metadata" thing, which tells
Pentaho what my database looks like, how various tables relate to each other,
etc., and creates a set of objects my users will immediately understand, along
with some method to turn those objects into database queries. Pentaho allows
the users to drag and drop those objects into a report, creating filters and
sorting constraints, different groupings, etc., in a fairly user-friendly way.
When they run the report, Pentaho translates their input into SQL.

Anyway, you might try using a reporting package rather than trying to write
your own query interface and provide for user-friendly error reporting, decent
security constraints, etc.

--
Joshua Tolley / eggyknap
End Point Corporation
http://www.endpoint.com