QUERY AUTHORING BY MODIFYING A VIEW OF THE RESULTS OF THE QUERY

• US 20090265370A1
• Filed: 04/21/2008
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hodes, Benjamin Neiman, Leonard, Arthur Charles, Rucker, Erik Jon, Boske, Kevin J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2423 Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema

Abstract

Technologies and concepts are described herein for authoring a database query through the modification of a view of the data to be returned by the query. A user interface is provided for authoring a database query through the modification of a view of the data to be returned by the query that includes a view showing the results of a database query. A user interface is also provided for modifying the view to define the results of the query. As the view is modified, a query definition is generated which, when executed against the database, will return the results of the database query shown in the view. When the desired results are shown in the view, the query definition can be saved and run against the database to perform the database query.

Claims

1. A method for authoring a database query by modifying a view of the results of the database query, the method comprising:

generating a view of the results of a database query;

providing a user interface for modifying the view to define the results of the database query;

generating a query definition capable of returning the results of the database query defined in the view; and

running the generated query definition on a database to perform the database query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface for modifying an order of one or more fields shown in the view;

receiving a new order of the fields through the user interface for modifying the order; and

in response receiving the new order of the fields, updating the query definition to reflect the new order of the fields.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface for adding a field from a table in the database to the view; and

in response to the addition of a field to the view, updating the query definition to reflect the addition of the field.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

providing a user interface for removing a field from the view; and

in response to the removal of a field from the view, updating the query definition to reflect the removal of the field.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

providing a user interface for sorting the view based on a field contained in the view; and

in response to the sorting the view based on a field contained in the view, updating the query definition to reflect the sorting of the view.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

providing a user interface for filtering the view; and

in response to filtering the view, updating the query definition to reflect the filtering of the view.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing a user interface for grouping the view; and

in response to grouping the view, updating the query definition to reflect the grouping of the view.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

providing a user interface for aggregating the view; and

in response to aggregating the view, updating the query definition to reflect the aggregating of the view.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

providing a user interface for adding one or more fields in a second table to the view; and

in response to adding one or more fields in a second table to the view, updating the query definition to reflect a database join operation for adding the one or more fields in the second table.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a user interface for defining and executing an action query based upon the query definition, the action query comprising one of a delete query, an update query, an append query, or a make table query.

11. A computer storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

display a query design surface, the query design surface configured to display a view of the results of a database query;

provide a user interface for allowing a user to interact with the query design surface to modify the results of the database query shown in the view; and

to

generate a query definition capable of returning the results of the database query defined in the view when utilized to query a database.

12. The computer storage medium of claim 11, wherein the query design surface comprises one or more columns, each of the columns corresponding to a field in a table of the database.

13. The computer storage medium of claim 12, wherein the query design surface further comprises one or more rows, each of the rows corresponding to a record within the table of the database.

14. The computer storage medium of claim 13, wherein the user interface comprises a field list displaying one or more fields in the table in the database, and wherein the fields displayed in the field list may be added to the query design surface.

15. The computer storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user interface further comprises a user interface for sorting or filtering one or more fields shown in the query design surface.

16. The computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the user interface further comprises a user interface for grouping or aggregating the one or more fields shown in the query design surface.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the user interface further comprises a user interface for performing a database join operation between the one or more fields shown in the query design surface and a field from a second database table.

18. A method for authoring a database query by modifying a view of the results of the database query, the method comprising:

displaying a query design surface, the query design surface configured to display a view of the results of a database query and comprising one or more columns and one or more rows, each of the columns corresponding to a field in a table of the database and each of the rows corresponding to a record within the table of the database;

providing a user interface for interacting with the query design surface to define the results of the database query shown in the view, the user interface comprising a field list for adding one or more fields from the table to the view, a control for sorting the view based on or more fields shown in the view, and a control for filtering the view;

generating a query definition capable of returning the results of the database query shown in the view; and

running the generated query definition on a database to perform the database query.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user interface further comprises a user interface for grouping or aggregating the one or more fields shown in the query design surface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user interface further comprises a user interface for performing a database join operation between the one or more fields shown in the query design surface and a field from a second database table.