PostgreSQL GUI

I just started coding a GUI for PostgreSQL. I would like to hear, what you
think about that.
It will be open source. I haven't released any code yet, but there are some
screenshots at http://www.maekitalo.de/pgexplorer.html.
I code it it Qt with linux. It should compile under this so popular single
user OS too.

Dear Tommi,

This sound very ... very exciting.

Do you take advantage of Qt3 PostgreSQL widgets? Do you make use of a
database abstraction layer to be able to query (and migrate) MySQL or Oracle?

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE

Jean-Michel POURE wrote:

I just started coding a GUI for PostgreSQL. I would like to hear, what you
think about that.
It will be open source. I haven't released any code yet, but there are some
screenshots at http://www.maekitalo.de/pgexplorer.html.
I code it it Qt with linux. It should compile under this so popular single
user OS too.

Dear Tommi,

This sound very ... very exciting.

Do you take advantage of Qt3 PostgreSQL widgets? Do you make use of a
database abstraction layer to be able to query (and migrate) MySQL or Oracle?

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE

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Hi,

no I don't use Qt3. I use qt2 by now. I have written my own little
C++-layer on top of the C-api.

Mirgrating to MySQL or Oracle would be pretty hard. The program tries to
show and modify all I can get out of the systemtables. And these are
very postgreSQL-specific. If I would use a abstractionlayer I doubt
other databasesystems (or SQL-filesystems like MySQL;-) ) will not give
me exactly these informations I try to show.

By the way - I switched the name already. I just found a pgexplorer at
http://www.pgexplorer.com. I switched to qpsql. Maybe someone out there
has a better name?

I put the source online now. You can download it at
http://www.maekitalo.de/qpsql. The screenshots don't match the published
version. I will make new ones soon.

Tommi Mï¿œkitalo

Le Dimanche 30 Dï¿œcembre 2001 20:39, vous avez ï¿œcrit :

Mirgrating to MySQL or Oracle would be pretty hard. The program tries to
show and modify all I can get out of the systemtables.

Dear Tommy,

There are several database abstraction layers for PHP. I wonder if there
exist some in C++. The advantage of an abstraction layer would be able to
migrate major databases to PostgreSQL which has superior design.

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE

Jean-Michel POURE wrote:

Le Dimanche 30 Dï¿œcembre 2001 20:39, vous avez ï¿œcrit :

Mirgrating to MySQL or Oracle would be pretty hard. The program tries to
show and modify all I can get out of the systemtables.

Dear Tommy,

There are several database abstraction layers for PHP. I wonder if there
exist some in C++. The advantage of an abstraction layer would be able to
migrate major databases to PostgreSQL which has superior design.

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE

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Hi,

there are several abstraction layers. I could use some ODBC-API, but
this wouldn't help. I do something like 'select ... from pg_class where
...' and so on. If the target database has no pg_class or pg_attribute
or pg_whatsoever-systemtable, it wouldn't help, if I could send my query
to the database. I would like to show everything the
PostgreSQL-systemtables will give me. I could try to do some
abstraction, but I doubt other databases could give me exactly the
information PostgreSQL does. I'm sure MySQL and Oracle and other
Databasesystems have much information in their systemtables, but not
exactly the same as Pg.

Ok - maybe it could be extended some day for other databasessystems. It
would maybe be pretty nice to adminster different databases from the
same GUI. Yes that would be a nice idea. But I just try to make
something useful. And get it useful as quick as possible. Maybe it will
be a dirty hack at first, but it will be a base for new ideas.

Tommi

there are several abstraction layers. I could use some ODBC-API, but
this wouldn't help. I do something like 'select ... from pg_class where
...' and so on. If the target database has no pg_class or pg_attribute
or pg_whatsoever-systemtable, it wouldn't help, if I could send my query
to the database. I would like to show everything the
PostgreSQL-systemtables will give me. I could try to do some
abstraction, but I doubt other databases could give me exactly the
information PostgreSQL does. I'm sure MySQL and Oracle and other
Databasesystems have much information in their systemtables, but not
exactly the same as Pg.

For what it's worth, I agree with this statement. The way I see it, what is
great about getting a more advanced PostgreSQL GUI is that it is specifically
designed for postgres. I am sure there are a few graphical tools out there
that already try to be DB-independant... but then you never get the features
that make the database great. In other words, don't go for the lowest common
denominator, because I would like to create things that don't necessarily
work as well in MySQL or whatever other databases are part of the abstraction
layer.

However, it would certainly make sense to use those abstraction layers for
tasks common across many databases. This would just be considered good
programming practice since it doesn't usually take much more work. Moreover,
you can use these standard calls to import and export data from another DB.
I.E. if you were to make a generic import you could use an abstracted layer
to perform a simple select statement to work accross all DBs.

In short, don't let an abstraction layer get in the way of what you really
want to do.

Thanks!

Best regards,
Jeff

Hi,

thank you for your feedback. I feel it would be a good idea to get some
interfaces to other databases. Yes - I think I will do that. It would be
great to transfer data directly from one database to PostgreSQL. Maybe I
need a abstractionlayer for accessing tabledescriptions? What if we can
just create a connection to another dbs and with just a click create a
database, create tables and transfer data into PostgreSQL? Wouldn't that
be great?

What are the special features you would like to see in a
PostgreSQL-specific GUI like this? What makes in your eyes the
uniqueness of PostgreSQL compared to others?

I just uploaded version 0.02 to http://www.maekitalo.de/qpsql. It is not
very functional yet, but you should see the direction where I'm going to.

Tommi

On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Tommi [ISO-8859-15] M�kitalo wrote:

Hi,

thank you for your feedback. I feel it would be a good idea to get some
interfaces to other databases. Yes - I think I will do that. It would be
great to transfer data directly from one database to PostgreSQL. Maybe I
need a abstractionlayer for accessing tabledescriptions? What if we can
just create a connection to another dbs and with just a click create a
database, create tables and transfer data into PostgreSQL? Wouldn't that
be great?

That would be a very slick feature, but it is also something you can do
with a 30-second Perl script.

What are the special features you would like to see in a
PostgreSQL-specific GUI like this? What makes in your eyes the
uniqueness of PostgreSQL compared to others?

I'd like:
* Highlighted output from EXPLAIN
* A nice display of all constraint triggers
* Easy modification of tables (which usually means drop/recreate,
repopulate, re-establish constraints, reindex, and vacuum analyze)

I just uploaded version 0.02 to http://www.maekitalo.de/qpsql. It is not
very functional yet, but you should see the direction where I'm going to.

-jwb

need a abstractionlayer for accessing tabledescriptions? What if we can
just create a connection to another dbs and with just a click create a
database, create tables and transfer data into PostgreSQL? Wouldn't that
be great?

That would be a very slick feature, but it is also something you can do
with a 30-second Perl script.

Well, true. You can actually do any task enabled by this software instead by
a 30-second perl script. 30 seconds is fine to complete one task. However,
the process (at least for some people) of creating and modifying a database
structure often involves many steps, and sometimes involves changes of mind.
Graphical clients often can expedite this process by enabling quick results
that help to plan a correct solution. Writing a perl script usually means you
have it already planned out mentally or on paper. A perl interpreter does not
assist in planning in any way.

What are the special features you would like to see in a
PostgreSQL-specific GUI like this? What makes in your eyes the
uniqueness of PostgreSQL compared to others?

I'd like:
* Highlighted output from EXPLAIN
* A nice display of all constraint triggers
* Easy modification of tables (which usually means drop/recreate,
repopulate, re-establish constraints, reindex, and vacuum analyze)

Agreed.

Regards,
Jeff

On Wednesday 02 January 2002 11:19 am, you wrote:

Hi,

thank you for your feedback. I feel it would be a good idea to get some
interfaces to other databases. Yes - I think I will do that. It would be
great to transfer data directly from one database to PostgreSQL. Maybe I
need a abstractionlayer for accessing tabledescriptions? What if we can
just create a connection to another dbs and with just a click create a
database, create tables and transfer data into PostgreSQL? Wouldn't that
be great?

Yes, that would be great. All I meant was that it would be nice to use all of
the features of postgresql (see below) and abstract what we could for the
sake of other databases' interoperability. As development continues, of
course, we could try to add better support for other databases.

What are the special features you would like to see in a
PostgreSQL-specific GUI like this? What makes in your eyes the
uniqueness of PostgreSQL compared to others?

Here is what I had in mind (this list will probably expand as time goes on):
1) a good way to add new functions using a variety of languages
2) a way to view/modify languages and the respective levels of trust
3) managers for views, types, triggers, sequences, rules, and operators
4) Get useful info from the stats table and "EXPLAIN" statement

I am sure some of those features are available in other databases (perhaps
with different implementation), but I am not quite familiar enough with other
DBs to be sure.

I just uploaded version 0.02 to http://www.maekitalo.de/qpsql. It is not
very functional yet, but you should see the direction where I'm going to.

I am hoping that I can help you get some things accomplished (I have some
experience with c/c++). I would definately like a tool like this.

As a side note, I think this discussion is moving out of the scope of
pgsql-general (although that was a good place to mention it initially).
Perhaps you could set up your website to support some form of communication
(mailing list or forum or whatever). Of course you have to use gbsite
(http://gborg.postgresql.org) :) Maybe I could help with that too.

Regards,
Jeff

Le Mercredi 2 Janvier 2002 20:19, vous avez ï¿œcrit :

Maybe I need a abstractionlayer for accessing tabledescriptions?

Gnomedb provides an abstraction layer, but I don't know much
about it.

Best regards,
Jean-Michel POURE

Hi,

it looks like we will get a new home. But I still need a name for our
child. I don't want to register before I have a good name!

It is called qpsql now, but I feel that psql is primaryly a querytool,
but my GUI will be a querytool too but a admintool in first place. So
the name qpsql isn't exactly what I want.

What do you think about "pgkonqueror" or "pgscape" or "pgzilla"? Any
other suggestions? I'm not a native english speaker, so I have
difficulties to create a good english name. I think there are few people
who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

Tommi

Tommi Mï¿œkitalo wrote:

Hi,

it looks like we will get a new home. But I still need a name for our
child. I don't want to register before I have a good name!

It is called qpsql now, but I feel that psql is primaryly a querytool,
but my GUI will be a querytool too but a admintool in first place. So
the name qpsql isn't exactly what I want.

What do you think about "pgkonqueror" or "pgscape" or "pgzilla"? Any
other suggestions? I'm not a native english speaker, so I have
difficulties to create a good english name. I think there are few people
who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

Jochem

On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Jochem van Dieten wrote:

Tommi M�kitalo wrote:

Hi,

it looks like we will get a new home. But I still need a name for our
child. I don't want to register before I have a good name!

It is called qpsql now, but I feel that psql is primaryly a querytool,
but my GUI will be a querytool too but a admintool in first place. So
the name qpsql isn't exactly what I want.

What do you think about "pgkonqueror" or "pgscape" or "pgzilla"? Any
other suggestions? I'm not a native english speaker, so I have
difficulties to create a good english name. I think there are few people
who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

I like PgHallitusohjelma much better. Or simply pgthing, pgfoo, or
pgwhatsit.

-jwb

who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

We wouldn't want that, would we? ;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

What about PostMan (for PostgreSQL Manager)?

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Kaki Data tshirts, merchandize Fax: 3816 2501
Howitzvej 75 �ben 14.00-18.00 Web: www.suse.dk
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PostMan makes me think of a mail carrier, which might make it a good name for an
email-related application, but not for a database-related app.

Kaare Rasmussen <kar%kakidata.dk@interlock.lexmark.com> on 01/04/2002 12:06:53
PM

To: pgsql-general%postgresql.org@interlock.lexmark.com
cc: (bcc: Wesley Sheldahl/Lex/Lexmark)
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL GUI

who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

We wouldn't want that, would we? ;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

What about PostMan (for PostgreSQL Manager)?

--
Kaare Rasmussen --Linux, spil,-- Tlf: 3816 2582
Kaki Data tshirts, merchandize Fax: 3816 2501
Howitzvej 75 �ben 14.00-18.00 Web: www.suse.dk
2000 Frederiksberg L�rdag 11.00-17.00 Email: kar@kakidata.dk

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What about pgexplorer?

-----Original Message-----
From: wsheldah@lexmark.com [mailto:wsheldah@lexmark.com]
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 10:31 AM
To: Kaare Rasmussen
Cc: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL GUI

PostMan makes me think of a mail carrier, which might make it a good name
for an
email-related application, but not for a database-related app.

Kaare Rasmussen <kar%kakidata.dk@interlock.lexmark.com> on 01/04/2002
12:06:53
PM

To: pgsql-general%postgresql.org@interlock.lexmark.com
cc: (bcc: Wesley Sheldahl/Lex/Lexmark)
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL GUI

who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

We wouldn't want that, would we? ;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

What about PostMan (for PostgreSQL Manager)?

--
Kaare Rasmussen --Linux, spil,-- Tlf: 3816 2582
Kaki Data tshirts, merchandize Fax: 3816 2501
Howitzvej 75 �ben 14.00-18.00 Web: www.suse.dk
2000 Frederiksberg L�rdag 11.00-17.00 Email: kar@kakidata.dk

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How about PostGRAD? It would let you (D)evelop (A)pplications
(R)apidly. Ok, its a stretch, I know.

_________________________________________________________________
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On Fri, 4 Jan 2002, Kaare Rasmussen wrote:

who would be lucky, if I choose a finnish (PgHallitusohjelma?) or german
(PgAdministrationswerkzeug) name. So be warned;-)

We wouldn't want that, would we? ;-)

PgadmiX, just like Pgadmin but for *nix.

What about PostMan (for PostgreSQL Manager)?

Sounds too much like an email program. But, no, I don't have any
suggestions either :(

Vince.
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What about PostMan (for PostgreSQL Manager)?

Sounds too much like an email program. But, no, I don't have any

It was said with a little humor. But we already have the postmaster, so...

--
Kaare Rasmussen --Linux, spil,-- Tlf: 3816 2582
Kaki Data tshirts, merchandize Fax: 3816 2501
Howitzvej 75 �ben 14.00-18.00 Web: www.suse.dk
2000 Frederiksberg L�rdag 11.00-17.00 Email: kar@kakidata.dk