Re: GNOME-DB TODO

["David T. Bath" <bathd edipost auspost com au>]

Alvaro del Castillo wrote:
> Rodrigo Moya wrote:
> > [I forward the message to the mailing list so that the other people
> > involved are informed]
> > > I notice an important TODO item in 0.0.96:
> > > * allow recordsets to be modified
> ¿What do you think?
Apologies in advance if I rehash anything.  Have just joined.
Background : Programming since 1974, Oracle since 1986.
   Was the Oracle FAQ in the early 1990's.
1. Remember that MS-Access cannot perform an update to a linked table
   unless it knows what the primary key is.
2. I think that it is reasonable not to allow updates unless you know
   what the primary key is.
3. Most relational databases provide an internal rowid, and if you are
   simply sucking on a table, the specific driver could also bring in
the
   rowid, as a supplementary column and use that for updates.
   Alternatively, a config file (GConf?) could cache information about
   primary keys for views that are simple subsets.
4. Given the metadata available in dictionaries for many RDBMs,
   (primaries, comments, foreign keys, constraints, etc), would it
   be worth having a repesentation of this in gnome-db, made generic?
   The driver should know if certain types of metadata are available,
   and get it when required.
   This would be invaluable when we get around to producing default
   forms: default hint for field would come from the database dictionary
   comments.  Fields that are foreign keys could become "hot" allowing
   jump to an autoform on the referenced table, restricted by the
   key on the main form.
   What I am trying to say is that knowing what a primary (or unique)
   key is for a table is a specific instance of the larger problem of
   understanding the metadata about tables that is often available.
   Looking at what can be done with this metadata, having a gnome-db
   object(s) to handle it, and allowing the specific database engine
   drivers to "fill in the metadata" subject to local overrides held
   in GConf structures offers a fantastic opportunity to really take
   the lead.
-- 
David T. Bath bathd@edipost.auspost.com.au
+613 9204 8713 (W) 0418 316 634 (Mbl)