TableMaker: Definition Window

The TableMaker differs from other query tools in that you can use it to display tags and values from within an object. The other tools return only the names of objects that satisfy the query. Any object names that appear will be clickable.

TableMaker uses three windows: the definition window, which allows you to define your table; the data window, which displays the table once it is calculated; and the MultiMap window, which is created by pressing the map button in the data window. This help document covers the definition window only. Separate help is available for the data window and MultiMap.

Once a table is constructed, its definition can be stored in the directory ./wquery as **.def. Although you can edit the def file by hand, we recommend that you edit it via the interface.

Menu items and Buttons in the Definition Window

• Quit: destroys the window.
• Help: displays this help page.
• Print: prepares a Post Script file in $ACEDB/PS which you can print to your local laser printer.
• Save: Saves the present set of definitions into the file Directory/FileName.qry if you have write access to Directory. The ending .def is added automatically.
• Load: Loads the file Directory/FileName.def if it exists.
• Search Whole Class: If you have just changed the definitions, initiates a search of the whole database according to your definitions and display the results. Else redisplays the same data. In particular, modifying the width of a column or its visible/hidden status does not initiate a new search.
• Search Active KeySet: Initiates a search of the objects enumerated in the active KeySet according to your definitions and displays the results. Using KeySets often speeds up information retrieval considerably--see help on KeySets for more details.
• Create definition: Creates space for a new column definition. See below.
• Suppress definition: Removes the active definition. You activate a definition by picking one of its boxes, for example the hidden/visible button. BUG: It may happen that the From/Right_of value is not correctly modified in the columns following the one you suppressed, please verify.

Definition Window Features and Controls

• Number (left of "Title"): column number. Used in the "From/Right_of" field of the other definitions (explained below).
• Title box: Edit after picking it with left mouse button. Fill this in if you want a label to appear above the column in the data window. Press enter to validate.
• Width box: Edit after picking it with the left mouse button. Indicates the width of the column of data when displayed. Press return to fix the value. You may have to adjust this value to display particularly wide columns.
• Visible/Hidden button: Toggle with the left mouse button by picking or directly with the right mouse button and a pull-down menu. Hiding a column's definition means the corresponding data will not show in the data window. This will reduce the number of columns of the data display, but most probably, also the number of lines. For example, if you show a paper in column 1, and its authors in column 2, you will get as many lines as authors. But by hiding author, you keep only one line.
• Optional/Mandatory button: Toggle with the left mouse button by picking or directly with the right mouse button and a pull-down menu. If a column's definition is mandatory, only the lines satisfying it will be kept. This restriction applies even if the corresponding definition is hidden.
• Class field: In column 1, Class is a pull-down menu which can be activated with the left or the right mouse button. It lists all the visible classes, but you should only select a B-class (i.e., one that can be displayed in a text window). When you then press the Search Whole Class button, only the corresponding class will be explored. For subsequent columns, this box is usually filled in for you, except if you want to see the Next_Tag (see below).
• From/Right_of button: Tells the system from where it should recover the data for a particular column. By default, one is extracting the values from the objects listed in column one. But you may want to navigate further (join in relational language). For example: Select class Paper in column 1. In column 2 select: From 1, Author. Then in column 3: From 2: e_mail. This will give the e_mail of the Authors of the Papers of column 1.
• From/Right_of button: Right_of 3 tells the system to look for a field right of the entry listed in column 3, extracted from the same object as column 3. For example. I can expand the above table by a column 4: From 1: Page-Int (first page of paper), then Right_of 4: Int to get the last page (assuming a model "Page Int Int")
• Tag button: Clicking brings up the tag chooser window showing the model of the class for the column you are defining. Double pick an entry there. Your active definition will change to reflect your choice. The text box adjacent to the Tag button will show a query, and the Class box will show the kind of element you chose.

  Note: there are six basic kinds of elements to pick from in the tag chooser. Integers, floats, text, and dates are all values. Links to other objects are classes. Finally, there are tags. Your choice determines what the TableMaker data window will display for the object being defined in the corresponding column:

  If you pick a value, the TableMaker data window will display that value, if field is filled in.

  If you pick a class, the data window will display the name of that object, if field is filled in.

  If you pick a tag, the data window will display that tag, if it is used.

  Ordinarily you accept what the TableMaker fills in for the Tag text entry box and the Class box (unless you are familiar with the details of query syntax). However, if you picked a tag that is immediately to the left of a group of tags, you may want to pull down the Class box menu and select Next_Tag. This will direct the TableMaker to retrieve the adjacent tag or tags (if used) and display them in the table.

• Condition field: is applied to objects for a particular column. For example, the condition A* for Locus objects would pass only loci whose names started with the character A. Inside the condition box, %number will refer to the value of a previous column. So the condition %4 > %3 will ensure that the number listed in column 4 is larger than the one in column 3. %%digit refer to external parameters substituted when reading the definition file. This is useful in non-graphic mode since it allows you to call parameterisable tables.

to Table of Contents

to help for the data window and MultiMap.

last edited: March 95