Mixed mode (mechanical process and english text) query building support for improving the process of building queries correctly

• US 8,442,992 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Kolz, Daniel P., Stevens, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Singh, Amresh
• Application Number:
  US13/535,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20120265777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 320 Days
• Field of Search: 707/766
• US Class Current: 707/766
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention allow verification of query language by providing a natural language description for the query language. A natural language description is generated for each query component along with selectable text representing the query component. Upon selection of the selectable text, the query component is rendered for editing.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed on a processor, perform an operation for verifying query logic, the operation comprising:

receiving a first user input corresponding to a query language, the first input defining a plurality of query components for a query being composed by a user;

for each query component, generating a natural language description for the query component, wherein each respective natural language description provides a statement of an action performed by the query component when the query is executed;

receiving a second user input, wherein the second user input modifies a portion of the natural language description; and

in response to the modified portion of the natural language description, modifying the query component corresponding to the modified portion to provide a modified query, which when executed, performs an action specified by the modified natural language statement.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a drop down selection upon receiving a selection of a particular portion of the natural language description, the drop down selection containing alternative natural language descriptions for the particular portion; and

selecting an alternative natural language description from the drop down selection, the selection being configured to modify the corresponding query component corresponding to the particular portion to reflect the selection.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the natural language description contains hyperlinks connecting the portions of the natural language description to respective associated query components and wherein receiving selections of portions of the natural language description comprises receiving selections of the hyperlinks and further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a given hyperlink for a given portion of the natural language description, navigating the user to the respective associated query component of the given portion.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of query components are selected from one of a conditional statement and an output statement.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the natural language description for each component is generated in real time as each corresponding query component is defined.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises:

displaying the plurality of query components of the query in a first panel of a graphical user interface; and

simultaneously displaying the natural language description in a second panel of the graphical user interface.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein both the first and second panels are editable and making edits to either panel results in corresponding changes to be automatically reflected in the other panel.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein receiving user input comprises:

receiving selections in one or more screens of a graphical user interface, the screens comprising one or more query components, wherein the selections define the one or more query components; and

in response to the selections, generating the query language.

9. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes an application program configured to perform an operation for verifying query logic, the operation comprising;

receiving a first user input corresponding to a query language, the first input defining a plurality of query components for a query being composed by a user,

for each query component, generating a natural language description for the query component, wherein each respective natural language description provides a statement of an action performed by the query component when the query is executed,

receiving a second user input, wherein the second user input modifies a portion of the natural language description, and

in response to the modified portion of the natural language description, modifying the query component corresponding to the modified portion to provide a modified query, which when executed, performs an action specified by the modified natural language statement.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a drop down selection upon receiving a selection of a particular portion of the natural language description, the drop down selection containing alternative natural language descriptions for the particular portion; and

selecting an alternative natural language description from the drop down selection, the selection being configured to modify the corresponding query component corresponding to the particular portion to reflect the selection.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the natural language description contains hyperlinks connecting the portions of the natural language description to respective associated query components and wherein receiving selections of portions of the natural language description comprises receiving selections of the hyperlinks and further comprising:

responsive to receiving a selection of a given hyperlink for a given portion of the natural language description, navigating the user to the respective associated query component of the given portion.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the plurality of query components are selected from one of a conditional statement and an output statement.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the natural language description for each component is generated in real time as each corresponding query component is defined.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

displaying the plurality of query components of the query in a first panel of a graphical user interface; and

simultaneously displaying the natural language description in a second panel of the graphical user interface.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein both the first and second panels are editable and making edits to either panel results in corresponding changes to be automatically reflected in the other panel.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving user input comprises:

receiving selections in one or more screens of a graphical user interface, the screens comprising one or more query components, wherein the selections define the one or more query components; and

in response to the selections, generating the query language.