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Thoughts and discussion about HTSQL
If you've tried one of our demos lately (EDGAR or MusicBrainz), you may have noticed a little icon in the upper right that says "HTSQL Builder." Click on that icon and you'll get a sneak peek at HTSQL Builder, our new UI that helps create HTSQL requests.
Microsoft SharePoint is popular in part because it’s easy for business users to add “web parts” to pages by selecting from a large library of pre-built widgets. It’s easy not only to create dashboards but to include charts and reports on other portal pages, and it’s a great way to keep team members informed about key performance metrics.
“Dashboard” conjures up images of driving the open road (preferably Highway 1 in California) with the sun shining down and the radio playing, content in the knowledge that your vehicle isn’t about to stall dead or drive you off a cliff. Well, that’s what I think of when I think of a dashboard--as they say, your mileage may vary.
Here's a truism for you: databases contain a lot of data. When you cast your net wide and ask for all the columns and rows in a table, you may end up with a lot more than you need. Or, you may want to focus on only a subset of data. If you're writing an application with HTSQL, you may want to accept user input or allow users to interact with the data. For all these cases, HTSQL provides filters.
Business people and software developers speak different languages; that's not a metaphor, it's a fact. Translating business users' needs into something that can be implemented in code is a problem that's been in search of a more perfect solution for decades. Having been in pretty much every role in this process, I've come to the conclusion that it's doomed to failure, and that new tools--like HTSQL--are needed to let everyone speak the same language.
While "executive dashboard" can conjure up images of enterprise-wide BI projects and mind-blowing 3D graphics, a lot of the business world uses the same application it lives and dies by to create its dashboard reports: Microsoft Excel. It makes sense, since the same business users who consume dashboards are often power Excel users, and it's generally easy (or at least possible) to output data from databases into CSV format.
To quote the Steve Miller Band, "Time keeps on slipping...into the future." That can make calculations based on the current date challenging. Common examples include figuring out a person's current age, or how long ago an event occurred.
As an example, let's look at the financials table of the EDGAR database. It contains "received_date," the date that the SEC received the filing from the company:
When it comes to nostalgia, software is not immune. I still consider WordPerfect 5.1 the greatest word processor ever written, because it was simple and everything could be done with keystrokes--a big time-saver for a touch typist like me. Never mind that I'd probably go bonkers if I actually had to use it today; its simplicity and perfect match to my needs makes me remember it with hazy fondness.
As Google users (which is most of us) know, Google Gadgets are mini applications for your Google home page, desktop or any web page. They are created with a combination of XML and (optionally) JavaScript, and can be hosted either by Google or on your own site.
Data architects (well, some of them) like to argue about the right ways to name database tables and columns. Whatever they choose, chances are there are going to be times when those names don't look good at the top of your report.
HTSQL is all about making your database safe for general consumption, so there's a way to fix that. Aliases let you change the column name for a single column or the result of a function. Just use as followed by the name you'd like to use. If the name has a space in it, put double quotes (") around it.
