Kaleidoscope: A Model-Based Grammar-Driven Menu Interface for Databases

摘要

The thesis presents the approach of Kaleidoscope, a cooperative query interfacefor relieving the user's burden of learning and recalling. Kaleidoscope provides the user with an English-like query language (EnQL) for interaction with database systems. The central thesis of the work is that a data model plays a crucial role in the Kaleidoscope's style of interfaces, as a query language conveys the underlying conceptualization of data to the user. The design of grammar, lexicon, and query translator follows a formally defined data model. The absence of an explicit model leads to the ad hoc design of these components, harming the system's transportability. In the mode-based approach, grammar design focuses on unambiguously realizing references to model concepts. As a result, all user queries are meaningful with respect to the underlying data model. The model also provides a basis of defining two other domain-independent modules: a query translator and a set of procedures for automatically generating lexicon entries from the schema.