Re: Query tool for smart usersQ
From: Anna C. Dent <anacdent_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 18:23:22 -0800
Message-ID: <vSUvb.15312$kl6.10276_at_fed1read03>
>
>
> Great book! All aces, I hold it in highest regard, but its not for the
> audience I have in mind. Maybe the chapter on analytic functions or even
> the one on materialized views might be for them a bit later, after
> they've figured out correlated queries and
> the difference between inner and outer joins.
> I was thinking along the lines of something like Kolko's (if I have the
> name right) "SQL for Smarties") ....something that takes
> the abso-posolute beginner , but one whose been exposed to some maths,
> and gets them up to speed so that they can get
> the "answers" and the "numbers" that are lurking there in the all that
> data.
>
>
>
>
> SQL*Plus does not give much help to the novice, or even to people who
> dont know the names of all the tables and columns.
> Sure you can select tname from tab, and cname from col, and even get
> comments out of all_Tab_comments and all_col_comments, but you have to
> know the magic names AND you have to be prepared for the data to go
> screaming past
> you at a mile a minute off the screeen. Didnt set spool filename? Gosh!
> Too bad. Forgot some sql syntax bit? RTFM my friend, no help from sql*plus.
> Even a simple thing such as returning a result set in a spread-sheet
> like rows and cols display which is then scrollable goes a long way to
> making the user feel a bit more accomodated.
>
>
>
> Hmmmm.....that might have some possibilites. I dont have all that much
> experience with Access. I seem to remember that its a bit of a pain
> getting it to "pass through" Oracle syntax through the ODBC layer, but
> at least it does have some user friendly interface bits.
>
>
>
> Quantify? 42.
>
>
>
> I mean something that supports the end user's quest to get modest
> volumes of meaningful data with enough formatting to help with
> readability but nothing elaborate , out of the database.
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2003 18:23:22 -0800
Message-ID: <vSUvb.15312$kl6.10276_at_fed1read03>
Lee wrote:
>
>
> Anna C. Dent wrote:
>
>> Lee wrote: >> >>> I have some fairly tech friendly users who would like to be able to >>> do their own SQL queries. >>> >>> Two problems: >>> 1. Can anyone suggest a good book on SQL (better yet, Oracle's flavor >>> of SQL) that might be appropriate for people with >>> a technical mind set but pretty much zero background in databases, >>> Oracle, query languages, etc, >> >> >> >> Tom Kyte's Expert One on One
>
>
> Great book! All aces, I hold it in highest regard, but its not for the
> audience I have in mind. Maybe the chapter on analytic functions or even
> the one on materialized views might be for them a bit later, after
> they've figured out correlated queries and
> the difference between inner and outer joins.
> I was thinking along the lines of something like Kolko's (if I have the
> name right) "SQL for Smarties") ....something that takes
> the abso-posolute beginner , but one whose been exposed to some maths,
> and gets them up to speed so that they can get
> the "answers" and the "numbers" that are lurking there in the all that
> data.
>
>
>> >> >>> >>> 2. Natrurally we can set them (the users, I mean) with sql*plus BUT >>> thats pretty spartan. They would be using wintel clients to access >>> our remote UNIX server. >> >> >> >> What else do you require that SQL*plus does not do?
>
>
> SQL*Plus does not give much help to the novice, or even to people who
> dont know the names of all the tables and columns.
> Sure you can select tname from tab, and cname from col, and even get
> comments out of all_Tab_comments and all_col_comments, but you have to
> know the magic names AND you have to be prepared for the data to go
> screaming past
> you at a mile a minute off the screeen. Didnt set spool filename? Gosh!
> Too bad. Forgot some sql syntax bit? RTFM my friend, no help from sql*plus.
> Even a simple thing such as returning a result set in a spread-sheet
> like rows and cols display which is then scrollable goes a long way to
> making the user feel a bit more accomodated.
>
>> >> How about MS ACCESS?
>
>
> Hmmmm.....that might have some possibilites. I dont have all that much
> experience with Access. I seem to remember that its a bit of a pain
> getting it to "pass through" Oracle syntax through the ODBC layer, but
> at least it does have some user friendly interface bits.
>
>> >> >>> Can anyone suggest a better tool, either Oracle or thrird party? If >>> third party its got to be cheap (GJ Linker's SQL*XL >>> qualifies, for example) >> >> >> >> Quantify "better".
>
>
> Quantify? 42.
>
>> >> Based upon what criteria?
>
>
> I mean something that supports the end user's quest to get modest
> volumes of meaningful data with enough formatting to help with
> readability but nothing elaborate , out of the database.
In the past I've run across some tools written in Java which have the same basic capability of the now retired Oracle Browser. They have a GUI which shows available tables and the table columns. You then point & click to build the WHERE clause & it would display the selected records.
I'm going senile so I don't recall the product names, but you might be able to find some via Google or such. Received on Sun Nov 23 2003 - 03:23:22 CET