SQL query construction using durable query components

• US 20040068489A1
• Filed: 10/03/2002
• Published: 04/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Tenner, Jeffrey W., Stevens, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases

Abstract

The present invention generally is directed to a system, method and article of manufacture for generating a reusable query component. The reusable query component may include one or more query conditions and may be used to facilitate building a database query including the one or more query conditions. Reusable query components may also include reusable query subcomponents, each including one or more query conditions. The query subcomponents may be statically or dynamically linked to the reusable query component.

Claims

1. A method for generating a reusable query component for use in building a database query, comprising:

specifying, via a graphical user interface (GUI), one or more query conditions to include in the reusable query component; and

specifying, via the GUI, a name to identify the reusable query component.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the one or more query conditions and the name in a database for later retrieval.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the one or more query conditions comprises storing XML representations of the one or more query conditions.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising entering a description for the reusable query component via the GUI and storing the description with the name.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising specifying whether or not to make the reusable query component available to other users.

6. A method for generating a reusable query component for use in building a database query, comprising:

specifying at least one query subcomponent to include in the reusable query component, wherein a first one or more query conditions are associated with the query subcomponent; and

specifying a name to identify the reusable query component.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing the first one or more query conditions associated with the query subcomponent and the name.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing a link to the query subcomponent.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising building a database query by:

specifying the reusable query component;

retrieving, via the link to the query subcomponent, a second one or more query conditions associated with the query subcomponent; and

including the second one or more query conditions associated with the reusable query subcomponent in the database query.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first one or more query conditions and the second one or more query conditions associated with the query subcomponent are different.

11. A method of providing access to data having a particular physical data representation, comprising:

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) for specifying one or more reusable query components for use in building an abstract query, wherein one or more query conditions defined by one or more logical fields are associated with each reusable query component; and

providing mapping rules for mapping the one or more logical fields to physical entities of the data.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising building an abstract query including one or more query conditions associated with one or more reusable query components specified by a user.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transforming the abstract query into a query consistent with the particular physical data representation according to the mapping rules.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the query consistent with the particular physical data representation is one of a SQL query and an XML query.

15. A computer-readable medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor, performs operations comprising:

receiving, from a user, one or more query conditions to associate with a reusable query component;

receiving, from a user, a name for the reusable query component; and

storing the one or more query conditions and the name for later reuse.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise providing one or more graphical user interface (GUI) screens for receiving the one or more query conditions and the name from the user.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from a user, one or more reusable query components to add to a query.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise providing a graphical user interface (GUI) screen displaying a list of the one or more reusable query components.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein providing a graphical user interface (GUI) screen displaying a list of the one or more reusable query components comprises displaying a description for each of the one or more reusable query components.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise building a query based on the reusable query component and issuing the query against a database.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more conditions are defined by one or more logical fields.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise mapping the one or more logical fields to physical entities of data in the database.

23. A database system, comprising:

a graphical user interface configured to receive, from a user, a reusable query component for use in building a query, the reusable query component having one or more associated query conditions; and

a query building component configured to build the query using the one or more query conditions associated with the reusable query component.

24. The database system of claim 23, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to receive, from a user, the one or more query conditions to associate with the reusable query component.

26. The database system of claim 25, wherein the one or more query conditions are abstract query conditions defined by one or more logical fields and the query building component is configured to build an abstract query.

27. The database system of claim 26, further comprising:

a data repository abstraction component comprising mapping rules which map the one or more logical fields to physical entities of data; and

a runtime component for transforming the abstract query into a query consistent with the physical entities of data according to the mapping rules.