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Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 01:49:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Cotner <mcotner@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [PEAR-DEV] DB_MetaReport - Metadata reporting libraries for PEAR
To: Alexey Borzov <borz_off@cs.msu.su>
In-Reply-To: <413FF38B.2090801@cs.msu.su>
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Alexey,
This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking
for.  

However, I have to say that I wasn't aware of the
Structures_DataGrid package.  Mostly because I didn't
think to look under structures for a database
reporting tool.  

The general term metadata was to, in the packages
current form, describe any formatting of the data as
it is presented.  Future enhancements would include
using the DB_Meta class to specify more "traditional"
field/table description metadata as well in hopes of
extending the library to assist with database
documentation.  A new class would be created for this
task.  I've used/seen several commercial applications
which facilitate reporting using metadata and was
basing my term usage on theirs.  

It seems my package description needs some work for
sure.

I just took a good look at Structure_DataGrid and I
better understand why the name doesn't include DB. 
Also there is no use of stateful metadata to describe
the output.  This is similar only in that it outputs
HTML with sorting/paging options.

DB_MetaReport uses metadata to format output from a
SQL query.  In its current form in HTML only, but XML
and CSV output will be available shortly.  Emphasis
has been placed on ease of use and templating is what
I would consider advanced use, but plan to add that as
well.

We have been using a more specific form of these
libraries for two years now in a heavy use production
environment as a front end to our data warehouse and
have found them to be very valuable.  Producing new
reports is a breeze for even our less technical
programmers.  Once you establish a library of metadata
for your columns and how they are to be presented, you
simply feed the engine a SQL statement and out comes a
report, complete with all necessary formatting, links,
color thresholding, etc.

I have placed some examples of usage and output in the
following locations.  I hope this better portrays how
the libraries function, and more importantly their
ease of use.

http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example2.php
http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example3.php
http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example4.php
http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example5.php
http://www.opensourcecable.org/DB_MetaReport/example1.php

Thank you for the feedback.

'njoy,
Mark

--- Alexey Borzov <borz_off@cs.msu.su> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Mark Cotner wrote:
> > I was hoping to get some early feedback for a
> draft
> > library I just posted to PEAR.
> 
> The name is *extremely* misleading. The package has
> very little to do with 
> either metadata (i.e. description of data stored in
> database) or reports.
> 
> Looking at the examples, your package is similar to
> already available 
> Structures_DataGrid [1], but supports output only to
> HTML. Can you give an 
> overview of your package's advantages over
> Structure_DataGrid?
> 
> [1] http://pear.php.net/package/Structures_DataGrid
> 
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