pkg://dbbrowser-0.9.src.tar.gz:17432/dbbrowser.1x  downloads

.\"
.\" $Id: dbbrowser.1x,v 1.7 1997/06/27 14:15:32 Jacek Exp $
.\"
.\" Man page for DBBrowser
.\" Use the following command to generate viewable man page
.\"   tbl dbbrowser.1x | {nt}roff -man
.\"
.\"   ul | more -fsk to view
.\"
.\"
.TH DBBROWSER 1X "June 1997" "" "DBBrowser"
.SH NAME
dbbrowser \- Graphical interface for Postgres95

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dbbrowser 
[
.B options
] [
.B dbname
]

.SH DESCRIPTION
.I DBBrowser 
is a simple graphical user interface for
.BR Postgres95 .
It allows viewing, changing and adding data to tables.
You can also execute any SQL command recognized by
.BR Postgres .
The results are presented in nice windows.
If no
.B dbname
is given
.I DBBrowser
will use environment variable "USER", if it is not set \- then
"LOGNAME" variable is used.

.SH OPTIONS
.I DBBrowser 
accepts only standard 
.B Forms Library
command line options:
.TP 6
.BI \-display " host:display"
specifies the server to connect to.
.TP
.BI \-bw " borderwidth"
specifies the border width to use to built-in objects. 
.TP
.BI \-visual " visualName"
requests a visual by name such as TrueColor etc. By default the
.B Forms Library
always selects the visual that has the most depth.
.TP
.BI \-depth " depth"
requests a specific depth.
.TP
.BI \-debug " level"
generates some info about the state of the
.B XForms. 
where 
.I level
is an integer between 1-5 and controls the amount of
information to output. Depending on the options used
when the
.B Forms Library
was built, a level more than 3 might not be available.
.TP
.B \-sync
runs the application in synchronous mode with debug level set to 4. 
.TP
.B \-private
requests a private color map for the application.
.TP
.B \-shared
requests a shared color map even if the application needs more
colors than available. For those colors that cannot be allocated
in the shared color map, substitutions are made so the closest
matching color is used.
.TP
.B \-stdcmap
requests a standard color map.
.TP
.BI \-name " newname"
specifies the application name under which resources are to be
obtained, rather than the default executable file name. 

.SH USAGE
In the main window you can chose table to browse, and the way tuples will
be sorted. By default one of available tables is selected
and tuples are not sorted.
You can chose one or more fields to sort by, using
.I Order by
choices.
By default data will be sorted in ascending order. You can change
this by choosing operator used to sort fields (
.I Using
choices).
When you press
.I Browse
button a query will be sent to backend and fields of first tuple
will appear in lower part of window.
You can use sliders and arrow buttons to browse trough tuples
and their contents. You can also change them. Changes are immediately
sent to database.
Notice that last tuple is always empty and it does not exist
in database. If you enter some data to any of field of this tuple
it will be added to table.
You can use
.I Copy
button to copy data from selected tuple and
.I Delete
button to remove tuple from data base.

To find any particular tuple or tuples in table you can use
.I Search
button. After pressing it you have to enter values into fields.
If the first character of entered value is ~ ! @ # % ^ & ? |
$ : + \- * / < > or = the value is treated as search expression. For example:
If you enter "= 'New York'" into field called "city",
.I DBBrowser
will ask for all tuples, where attribute "city" is equal "New York".
It can be made easier by only entering "New York" into the field.
If the first character of searched value is one of above, you can precede
it with backslash.
To check if the field is empty enter "\\isnull".
To send the query press the
.I Search
button once more or the
.I Display
button.

.I Query...
button opens window for executing custom SQL queries.

.I Display...
button opens window with query results in nice table form.

.SH PORTABILITY
.I DBBrowser
is written in
.B C++
using
.B libg++
and
.B XForms.
It probably will not compile under compiler other than
.B GCC,
but next version should be ANSI-fied.
It was meant to work with
.B Postgres95
but it may easily (I think) be adapted for any other database system using SQL.

.SH BUGS 
.I TAB
or
.I Enter
in bottom input field does not scroll fields up,
but moves to the first visible field.

Frequent transmissions between
.I DBBrowser
and
.B Postgres95
server.

Nothing-telling error messages while sending custom queries.

Notice about aborted transaction after closing query window.

And probably many more, because this program was not tested well.
So if you find any bug please send me a report.

.SH AUTHOR
Jacek Konieczny

.B email:
jajcus@free.polbox.pl (may change)

.B smail:
Jacek Konieczny
.br
	ul. Kownackiej 2
.br
	44-109 Gliwice
.br
	Poland

.SH SEE ALSO
introduction(libpq), xforms(5)