Anticipating NatTable

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steved
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:53 pm

Anticipating NatTable

Post by steved »

Hello,

Can you give your users some idea of what we can expect with the introduction
of NatTable.What was your motivation for it? What do you hope it will accomplish,
for Rel neophyte users, for more sophisticated users. Is stored Rel data
(in Berkeley Java DB) going to be accessed thru NatTable in Rev? What will be
the relationship between external (CSV/XLS/XLSX/JDBC) sources as relvars and
NatTable? Does NatTable have its own sublanguage/commands that will be at
users disposal? Will it feel familiar to Excel users? NatTable can ostensibly
export to Excel, does it offer any other export options? Do you see it offering
the ability to do simple "reports" (perhaps similar in fashion to MS Access).
Hope you will forgive all the questions. Chalk it up to excitement :D

thanks,
steve
Dave
Site Admin
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:19 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by Dave »

NatTable is a grid widget that integrates with the SWT widgets (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Widget_Toolkit) that I've used to build the new Rel user interface (which was formerly known as DBrowser.)

NatTable is simply used to display and edit relvars.

Doing data entry and updates via the command-line was certainly workable, but it was hardly pleasant. NatTable will make data entry quicker, easier and more convenient. It isn't a language and it doesn't have it's own commands; it simply presents the contents of a relvar in an editable, somewhat spreadsheet-like grid. Excel users will certainly find it familiar. It's part of my goal of making Rel friendlier, more powerful, and more of a general-purpose desktop database management system.

There is no relationship between NatTable and binding relvars to external data sources. The latter is a feature of the Rel dialect of Tutorial D. The former is a feature of the new Rel user interface.
steved
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:53 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by steved »

NatTable is a grid widget that integrates with the SWT widgets (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Widget_Toolkit) that I've used to build the new Rel user interface (which was formerly known as DBrowser.)
Will applications written in Rel version 1.0.12 run unchanged in version 1.0.13? Will we have
a place to input commands along with being able to clear, load, save etc like there is now?
Will output from operators be seen on an output pane like they are now. Will output still
have save as text, save as html etc. Will output from input statement(s)/operators have
any relationship with NatTable. What data stored where will be presented in the NatTable
interface?

thanks,
steve
Dave
Site Admin
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:19 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by Dave »

steved wrote:Will applications written in Rel version 1.0.12 run unchanged in version 1.0.13?
Yes, they should.
steved wrote:Will we have
a place to input commands along with being able to clear, load, save etc like there is now?
Yes. The command line is still available as before.
steved wrote:Will output from operators be seen on an output pane like they are now.
Yes, when using the command line.[/quote]
steved wrote:Will output still
have save as text, save as html etc.
Yes, when using the command line.
steved wrote:Will output from input statement(s)/operators have
any relationship with NatTable. What data stored where will be presented in the NatTable
interface?
The contents of relvars can be presented in the new NatTable interface or using the command line as before.

This is a screenshot of the familiar command line in the new user interface:
Screenshot 2015-08-11 10.21.54.png
Screenshot 2015-08-11 10.21.54.png (194.99 KiB) Viewed 13622 times
This is a screenshot of a relvar displayed using the NatTable interface:
Screenshot 2015-08-11 10.20.25.png
Screenshot 2015-08-11 10.20.25.png (232.15 KiB) Viewed 13622 times
The icons in the upper right corner are used to select between three main ways of working: The familiar command-line interface, the Rev query builder interface, and the new NatTable-based grids for editing relvars (titled as "variables", since "relvar" is an obscure term) along with facilities to edit and define views, operators, types, constraints, and queries.
steved
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:53 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by steved »

Version 1.0.13 looks and sounds great! I really hope it attracts new users.

Is Berkeley Java DB still being used in any way?
There is no relationship between NatTable and binding relvars to external data sources.
The latter is a feature of the Rel dialect of Tutorial D.
When we bind to an external data source what is at our disposal to operate on it?
What options in Rel do we have? What is Rels intent for using external data sources?
Can an external data source interact with native Rel data? Can an external data source
be accessed in a Rel operator?

thanks again,
steve
Dave
Site Admin
Posts: 372
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:19 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by Dave »

steved wrote:Is Berkeley Java DB still being used in any way?
Yes, every relvar that isn't bound to some external data source has its data stored using the Berkeley Java DB. Every relvar, whether it's bound to some external data source or not, has its metadata stored using the Berkeley Java DB.

NatTable is merely a user interface widget that provides a user-friendly way of entering/editing data in relvars.
steved wrote:When we bind to an external data source what is at our disposal to operate on it?
The same facilities that can be used on any relvar.
steved wrote:What options in Rel do we have?
Not sure what you're asking here. Sorry.
steved wrote:What is Rels intent for using external data sources?
A database management system is more useful if it can access external data sources in addition to managing data in its own native format.
steved wrote:Can an external data source interact with native Rel data?
If you can write code in Java, you can interact programmatically with a Rel DBMS. Eventually, I'd like to provide ODBC/JDBC drivers for Rel, which would allow a Rel DBMS to be accessed by a variety of programming languages and utilities.
steved wrote:Can an external data source be accessed in a Rel operator?
Yes, by binding a relvar to an external data source, you can access the data in the external data source in the same manner as any native relvar.
steved
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:53 pm

Re: Anticipating NatTable

Post by steved »

Using external data sources in Rel sounds great!
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