Providing dynamic sorting and searching capabilities using SQL*Forms.

摘要

One goal of developers of software systems is to build an interface that provides the capability of retrieving and displaying data in a variety of ways, depending on the current needs of the user. This paper describes two techniques used for a prototype system under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) that provide easy interactive capability between the user and the database using ORACLE's SQL*Forms. The first technique demonstrates how to build an ORACLE application that allows users to decide whether they would like a subset of data retrieved to a multirecord display form and, if so, to define the boundaries for the subset. The second technique allows users to choose how these displayed data will be sorted. Neither of these techniques requires the user to understood SQL or the underlying database structure of table and column names. 3 figs.