xwafeora(1)

NAME

xwafeora - an x-based oracle front end with updates

SYNOPSIS

xwafeora [-a application name] [-b database id] [-c colormode] [-h ] [-O folder table] [-o folder name]

DESCRIPTION

xwafeora is an x-based Oracle front end which connects to an Oracle database via SQL-Net and allows to retrieve, update and delete entries from the database. xwafeora is a wafe application (see manual page wafeapp) written in oraperl. Note that you need to have Oracle and oraperl installed on your system in order to use this application.

OPTIONS

In addition to the standard toolkit options such as -display, -name, -geometry, -iconic, -xrm etc. (see manual page X) xwafeora accepts the following options:

-a application name
    start xwafeora with a special setup. The distribution contains the setup for the application names Paper, Ablage and Ordner. The default application is "Paper".

[-b  database id]
    connect to the given database which is given in the form "userid/passwd@T:hostname:oracleId".

-c colormode
    start xwafeora using the given color-mode (for details see manual page wafeapp); color modes are for example mono, blueish or wheat-ish.

-h  show a short usage message.

-O folder Table
    if the application uses a folder (see below) use the given table.

-o folder name
    if the application uses a folder start with the given default value for the folder.

-v  start in verbose mode and show database interaction.

LAYOUT and INTERACTION

xwafeora is an Oracle front-end allowing updates on database scheme which can be discriminated in EER terminology as a single entity type
 with with distinct predicate defined subtypes (the discriminant attribute is the value in the folder field). xwafeora allows multi valued attributes. The distribution contains the definitions and the SQL-plus scripts to create the tables for the sample applications "filing management" (in German "Ablage") and "paper base". If xwafeora is started without the -a option, the paper application is started. The top line of the application is the info line. Below you will find a clock, the title of the application and the current user. If a picture of the current user can be found, it will be displayed as well (see FACES section in the manual page for xwafemail). Under this header is the data entry section. The search in the database is always performed according to the value in the folder field (labeled "Ordner") and the current field, which is highlighted. It is possible to jump forward from input field to input field by using the tab key (or the shift tab key for the reverse direction), or to jump directly to a field by clicking in this field with the left mouse button (Btn1). To start a search in the database something may be entered in the current field (or not) and Ctrl-s or the <search> button is pressed. If a few characters are typed in, the search will be performed for entries starting with the given string. If the string starts wit a "%" character, the given string will be searched also within the field contents. It might be a good strategy to start xwafeora with the -v option and to study the SQL-queries generated. If there exist several solutions for the given query, the keys page-up or page-down (or clicking on the upward or downward pointing arrow on the right bottom of the application) may be used to show the next or previous entry. The owner of each entry is displayed toward the left bottom of the application. If available, a picture of the owner will be displayed. If the left mouse button is pressed on the label "Ordner", a pull down menu is displayed with possible contents of this field. the last entry ("*") means that the search should be performed over all folders. If a string is typed into a string and either Ctrl-tab or the button <vervollstaendigen> is pressed xwafeora searches for possible completions of this field. if only one completion is possible, the field is completed. If several completions are possible, a menu pops up (containing maximal 20 entries), from which possible completions might be selected. The button <Ordner> from the button row calls as a subprocess an xwafeora application to administer the folders. If this subprocess is terminated (by pressing the <exit> icon on the left bottom) the folder pull down menu is updated. For each folder the group id of authorized users is kept in the database, who might add entries to the database. To add a new entry the required fields have to be filled out and the button <NeuAnlagen> has to be pressed. Now it is checked if the required fields are typed in, the contents of the multi valued fields "Autoren", "Keywords" and "Herausgeber" are split by using the information of the application parameter block (see below). The contents of the fields "Autoren" and "Herausgeber" are normalized (i.e. the abbreviation of the first name and the second name are reordered if necessary), a new id is created (Dokumentnummer) and the required modification in the database are performed. Every user who might change or delete the entries he owns. The application allows also to define the guru property for selected users, who will be authorized to add, change and delete without restrictions. If the button Ctrl-p is pressed, the current entry will be shown in a po pup shell in the form of a bibitem.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETER BLOCK
Each application is controlled by a highly configurable application parameter block, where the fields of the application, the database and name names etc are defined. It is possible to specify the type of the fields, the length, if the fields are multi valued, required, multi line fields, if the should be incremented automatically etc. The actual layout, the widget tree and the SQL-queries are computed from this parameter block. Within the given scope (one entity type with subtypes) it is very easy to generate additional applications.

KEY BINDINGS

Key bindings the data entry section:

<Btn1>
    goto field

<Key>Prior
    previous entry

<Key>Next
    next entry

<Key>Tab
    next field

Shift<Key>Tab
    previous field

Ctrl<Key>Tab
    complete

<Key>Select
    clear to end of paragraph

<Key>Home
    begin of field

<Key>p
    show entry in bibitem format

<Key>s
    search

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

WAFELIB
    location of the wafe library (typically /usr/lib/X11/wafe)

PERL VARIABLES

Wafe (Perl-) Variables from $WAFELIB/system.waferc or $HOME/.waferc:

$wafeoraDB{$app}
    default database for application $app to connect with

$buttonFont
    typically used as font for buttons

$textFont
    fixed spaced text font

$buttonAtts
    attributes used for buttons

$backGround
    back ground color

$highLight
    attributes for emphasized text portions (typically colors)

$roColors
    attributes for non emphasized text (typically colors)

$infoColors
    attributes of the info line (typically colors)

$menueAtts
    attributes of pull down menues (typically colors)

%textResources
    default resources for text widgets

@textActions
    default actions for text widgets

FILES

    $WAFELIB/system.waferc
    $HOME/.waferc

SEE ALSO

wafe(n), wafeapp(n), X(1), xwafemail(n), xwafenews(n), xwafeftp(n), xwafeora(n), xwafetel(n), xdirtree(n), xdirtree(n), xprojektor(n), xbm(n), xwafemc(n), xruptimes(n), xnetstats(n), xiostats(n), xvmstats(n), xwafeping(n), xwafecf(n)

COPYRIGHT

 Copyright (C) 1992 by Gustaf Neumann, Stefan Nusser
         Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien,
         Abteilung fuer Wirtschaftsinformatik
         Augasse 2-6,
         A-1090 Vienna, Austria
         neumann@wu-wien.ac.at, nusser@wu-wien.ac.at
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all supporting documentation. This software is provided "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.

AUTHORS

Gustaf Neumann, Stefan Nusser