User Interface for Creating Queries

When your user clicks on your application’s [Query Maker] button or menu item, they will be shown the Query List Manager. This dialog displays a list of previously saved queries. Each query is represented by a user supplied title. This form’s query management features include:

• Running queries
• Adding new queries from scratch
• Adding new queries by copying from existing queries
• Editing, renaming and deleting queries
• Sorting the query title list by title or date added
• Filtering the title list by specified criteria
• Searching the query title list by keyword

Select the thumbnail to view the Query List Manager screen (10K)

The Query List Manager is fully multi-user. This allows users on a network to share a set of saved queries. A virtual record locking scheme prevents one user from making changes to a query being edited by another, but will still allow the locked out user to view, and if possible, run the query.

When a user chooses to add a new query, they will be guided through the following multiple step process:

Select the thumbnail to view the Begin Query screen (12K)

STEP 1: Enter a Title
Add a query title for display in the Query List Manager.

STEP 2: Choose a Detail or a Summary Query
Choose whether to make a summary query or a detail query. In a summary query, each record in the table produced by Query Maker summarizes values across a range of records which have been grouped together by specified fields. In a detail query, one selected record results in one output record.

STEP 3: Build a Record Filter
Build the record filter to indicate which records should appear in the results. This is optional. If omitted, all records will be included. The user can also indicate whether or not duplicate records should be included in the results. For SQL server databases, you can set a property to require a record filter.

Select the thumbnail to view the Query Filter screen (8K)

Select the thumbnail to view the Sort screen (10K)

STEP 6: Pick a Report Type
(Requires soon-to-be-available Optional Report Writer)
Select an output type from among the choices of:

             REPORTS    => Column layout: 
                              Fields horizontally arrayed across top
                        => Form layout report: 
                              Fields vertically arrayed down side
                        => Summary/Detail: 
                              Banded report with selected subtotals
             TEXT FILES => Comma delimited text file
                        => Fixed field width text file
             DATABASES  => Paradox table
                        => dBASE table
             WORKSHEETS => Excel (This feature available in August 97)

STEP 7: Review the Query Specification
Review all of the above query sections in a combined dialog and make changes if needed.

Select the thumbnail to view the Query Overview screen (13K)

STEP 8: Browse the Results
Run the query which causes an SQL SELECT statement to be constructed and executed behind the scenes. If records match the user’s filter conditions, the user will be able to browse the results in grid that can be easily searched forwards and backwards.

STEP 9: Format a Report
(Requires Soon-to-be-available Optional Report Writer)
Format a report's layout. While Query Maker can automatically format a report, your user can customize any of the following aspects of the report's page layout:

• Field layout (Column, Form or Banded Summary/Detail)
• Page size (Letter, Legal or A4)
• Page Margins
• Page Orientation (Portrait or Landscape)
• Headers, Subheaders, Footers and Page Numbers
• Fonts and colors of each report element

STEP 10: Output the Report
(Requires Soon-to-be-available Optional Report Writer)
Generate the report. Reports can be previewed before printing and can alternately be sent to a text file.

While the above sequence of steps is suggested to the user, the system is flexible enough to enable the user to jump around and complete many of the steps in the order they prefer.

All of the choices made by your user in completing these steps are saved as part of the query. In fact, even the last query selected by the user will be reselected when the user returns to Query Maker.

Return to the Query Maker for Delphi Main Page
Driven by a Data Dictionary
Database Storage Enables Quick Access to Prior Queries
Easy to Integrate and Call
Disabling the User Interface
Look at Data Dictionary

Prices include full source code and a royalty-free license.