CLIDE Demonstration
Interactive Query Formulation Interface
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| Installation Instructions |
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Download file CLIDE.zip by clicking on the link above.
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Unzip CLIDE on your hard drive. This will conclude the installation by creating a CLIDE folder.
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You can uninstall CLIDE simply by deleting the CLIDE.zip file and the CLIDE folder.
Follow the steps outlined below to run CLIDE and reproduce the example presented
in the paper.
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Launch CLIDE
Launch CLIDE by executing CLIDE.exe located in the CLIDE folder. You should be
seeing the window shown below.
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Determine Global Schema
Click on the toolbar icon or go to File -> New Session Settings.
This will bring up the New Session Settings Wizard which asks
for a Global Schema first. Click on the Browse button and
goto tests/clide subdirectory of the CLIDE installation folder.
Choose the paper.xsd file which encodes the global schema
described in the submission. Click on Next to proceed.
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Determine Source Views
The New Session Settings Wizard asks for the Source Views next.
Click on the Browse button and goto the same tests/clide
subdirectory of the CLIDE installation folder. Choose the
paperV.sql file which contains the source view definitions
described in the submission. Click on Finish.
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CLIDE Editor's First Look
The CLIDE Editor shown below opens up. On the left hand side, the
Palette contains the Table List defined in the Global Schema. You
can drag and drop any of them into the main editing area. In the lower
part of the window, the curent query is shown (initially empty), as well
as the feasibility flag. The global schema and the source views are also
displayed.
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Tables and Projections
When dragging and dropping the Computer table from the list into the main
editing area, CLIDE displays the table's figure as shown below. Projection
boxes are shown on the left of each column, and selection boxes on the
right. You can project columns if you simply click on the
corresponding checkboxes.
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Add Selection
Selections are a bit trickier than projections. To add a selection,
double-click on the corresponding selection box. In the case of
cpu column, CLIDE shows the possible options in a drop-down list. Make
your selection and press Enter.
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Delete / Undo / Redo
To remove a selection, click on a selection box and
press Delete. Alternatively, you can click on the Delete button
on the toolbar, as indicated below. Undo/redo functionality is
also provided through the left and right arrows on the toolbar or the
Edit menu.
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Join Suggestions
If you add a NetCards table to the query, CLIDE suggests a join, among
other things. Join suggestions are shown as dashed lines and are
colored. CLIDE's suggestions are based on the set closest feasible
queries which are shown in the lower part of the window.
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Perform Joins
To perform a suggested join, simply click on the dashed line. You also
have the option to perform manual joins. Click on the Joins entry in the
palette and drag and drop one column into another.
Feel free to create your own test cases by providing a different global schema
and/or source views. Keep in mind that the source views have to follow CLIDE's
restricted SQL grammar. Also be aware of CLIDE's
limitations and known bugs listed below.
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Parameters in either the source views or the current query are not
implemented yet.
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Column associations are not implemented yet. Only joins present in the
source views as suggested.
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The * symbol, denoting any other constant, is not colored in drop-down
lists.
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Self-joins in either the source views or the current query produce
incorrect suggections.
CLIDE does not check if the source views are minimal or if they contain one
another.
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If the window is closed while a drop-down list is displayed, CLIDE throws an exception.
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When joining a selected column or selecting a joined column, undo is not working
properly.
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