[xquery-talk] XQuery Visualization (GUI) for beginners

[kla gw]

Hi,

Sorrry I posted this again.

I want to make a GUI which can be used to query XML data without
writing any XQuery code, but by 'drawing' on the GUI. The program
would translate the drawing to XQuery then using the XQuery code
generated to query the database.

It is something like this:
User -> GUI (automatically translate to XQuery) -> query XML data

My target users would be those who do not really understand about XML or XQuery.

I know only by using GUI, the XQuery that can be supported is limited.
So I also would like to investigate what kind of queries can be
supported and queries that can't be supported. That's why I want to
compare between different XQuery visualization tool / design (such as
Stylus, Altova MapForce, XQBE).

I'm new to XML / XQuery so I really appreciate your advice.

Thanks,

Klarinda



On 4/11/06, Jonathan Robie <jonathan.robie at datadirect.com> wrote:
> kla gw wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm interested to know if there is any tool for XQuery visualization
> > (GUI), especially for beginners? So that by using the tool, the user
> > can formulate the XQuery by 'drawing' in the GUI (drag and drop, etc)
> > without knowing / understanding XQuery syntax.
> >
> > I have tried Stylus Studio XQuery Mapper and Altova MapForce. But they
> > are meant for advanced users / developers, not general / beginner
> > users. I have also read about XQBE (XQuery by Example)
> > http://dbgroup.elet.polimi.it/xquery/XQBE.html But I feel that the
> > visualization is too complicated for beginners.
>
> Hi Klarinda,
>
> In Stylus Studio, were you using the graphical windows, or dragging and
> dropping into the text of the query? I work for the same company that
> makes Stylus Studio, but in a different group (the DataDirect XQuery
> group), and I'm also quite comfortable with XQuery syntax, but I've been
> very happy with the Stylus drag and drop for what I do with it: I always
> open a window with the text of the query, and drag from the data sources
> into the query text to create path expressions.
>
> What would you like your GUI to do, and how much of the power of XQuery
> do you want it to support?
>
> Jonathan
>
> --
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>
>