Method of generating database transaction statements based on existing queries

• US 7,765,226 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2004
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Stevens, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Khanh B
• Application Number:
  US10/753,520
• Publication Number:
  US 20050154756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,392 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219
• US Class Current: 707/768
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90332 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

The present invention is generally directed providing a method, system and article of manufacture for automatically generating database transaction statements (such as queries, inserts, updates, and deletes) based on fields from existing queries and user input. By identifying fields of existing queries (or statements) and gathering attributes of those fields, a transaction generator can be configured to provide users with a selection of generated transactions that can be performed on data that corresponds to the selected fields. The selection of transactions may be provided to users via a variety of interfaces including graphic interfaces and plug-in components utilized by external applications.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a transactional database statement based on an existing database statement, comprising:

parsing the existing database statement to identify fields and corresponding field attributes;

utilizing one or more interfaces for receiving input regarding the transactional database statement; and

generating the transactional database statement based on the identified fields and user input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transactional database statement is one of:

an insert statement, an update statement, and a delete statement.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating the transactional database statement based on the identified fields and user input comprises:

generating a transactional database statement with one or more of the identified fields; and

populating one or more of the fields with input received via the one or more interfaces.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising attaining metadata regarding one or more of the identified fields.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein utilizing the one or more interfaces comprises:

generating at least one graphical user interface for receiving input from a user, wherein the graphical user interface allows the user to specify one or more records to affect with the transactional database statement.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein utilizing the one or more interfaces further comprises:

issuing a query to retrieve data related to at least one record specified by the user via the graphical user interface; and

displaying the data retrieved in the graphical user interface.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the transactional database statement is an update statement;

the graphical user interface allows the user to make changes to at least a portion of the retrieved data; and

submit the changes to the database via the transactional database statement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the graphical user interface allows the make changes data related to more than one record; and

submit the changes to the database via the transactional database statement.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising providing the user access to the graphical user interface screen via a plug-in component to an application.

10. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program for generating a transactional database statement based on an existing database statement which, when executed by a processor, performs operations comprising:

parsing the existing database statement to identify fields and corresponding field attributes;

generating one or more interfaces for receiving input regarding the transactional database statement; and

generating the transactional database statement based on the identified fields and user input.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the transactional database statement is one of:

an insert statement, an update statement, and a delete statement.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein generating the transactional database statement based on the identified fields and user input comprises:

generating a transactional database statement with one or more of the identified fields; and

populating one or more of the fields with input received via the one or more interfaces.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein generating the one or more interfaces comprises:

generating at least one graphical user interface for receiving input from a user, wherein the graphical user interface allows the user to specify one or more records to affect with the transactional database statement.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein generating the one or more interfaces further comprises:

issuing a query to retrieve data related to at least one record specified by the user via the graphical user interface; and

displaying the data retrieved in the graphical user interface.

15. A data processing system comprising:

a processor;

a database;

an existing query statement residing in storage;

a query interface allowing users to issue query statements against the database; and

a transaction manager which, when executed by the processor, is configured to generate a transactional statement against the database based on fields and corresponding field attributes of the existing query statement;

wherein the transaction manager is configured to generate the transactional statement against the database by;

parsing the existing query statement to identify the fields and corresponding field attributes;

generating one or more interfaces for receiving input regarding the transactional statement; and

generating the transactional statement based on the identified fields and user input.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the transaction manager is configured to attain, from the database, metadata for use in generating the transactional statement.

17. The data processing system of claim 15, further comprising one or more plug-in components allowing access to the one or more interfaces from the query interface.

18. The data processing system of claim 17, wherein the one or more plug-in components provide access to an interface for entering input to be used in an insert transactional statement.

19. The data processing system of claim 17, wherein the one or more plug-in components provide access to an interface for updating a record.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the one or more plug-in components provide access to an interface for updating multiple records.

21. The data processing system of claim 19, wherein the database is one of:

a relational database, an object-relational database, an XML database, and a relational database.