Re: database development

Haroldo Stenger <hstenger@adinet.com.uy> writes:

> Doug McNaught wrote:

> > Well, I use a tool (Enhydra/DODS) that generates the schema and Java
> > access classes for me, and I have a CreateInitialData class that does
> > whatever population is necessary.  When the dev schema changes, I blow
> > away the whole DB and recreate it, then rerun CreateInitialData.  So
> > it's not too different from your shell script approach.  Clients are
> > told that any data they put in the system during development can go
> > away without notice.
>
> Would you please describe Enhydra tool? A quick look at its website,
> didn't tell me a complete picture.

Basically, you design your schema in a Java GUI app (called DODS, for
Data Object Design Studio).  It generates the SQL to create your
database, and also generates Java classes that implement an "object
layer" over that schema.  You don't (generally) have to write and
submit your own queries; you can "build" them by calls to a generated
API.  Referenced rows in other tables are fetched automatically and
instantiated as object references.

It's pretty tightly tied into the Enhydra web application framework
(which we use for most of what we do), so it may not be super-useful
on its own.  I like it though.

[The Java GUI app is slow and occasionally buggy.  Luckily, it stores
 the schema as XML, so we nowadays just edit the XML by hand and tell
 DODS to generate its output without putting up the GUI.  Much less
 frustrating.]

-Doug
--
Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.
   --T. J. Jackson, 1863