Users Need Little Training for Innovative Iconic Query
As long as people need to share data, the quest for the best way to do so will continue. One of the newest methods is embodied in Iconic Query from Intelligenceware Inc.
Designed to work with dBASE or Paradox database files, Iconic Query is an innovative Windows program that requires little knowledge or training on the part of the user.
If you haven’t converted DOS-based dBASE files to a Windows database program yet, Iconic Query may provide an effective and inexpensive way to do the job. Los Angeles-based Intelligenceware ((800)-888-2996), sells the program for $290, but you can get it for half that or less through discount software dealers.
The task of retrieving a particular set of data from a database is done by issuing a query--for instance, asking to see a list of customers with unpaid balances of $1,000 or more that are 30 or more days past due.
As the name implies, Iconic Query uses icons--miniature pictures--and other graphics to ease the construction of a query. Icons depict the subjects of each table in an application of related tables, and lines between the icons indicate how data from one table is related to the others.
It is more than just a gimmick. You can’t really create a query, especially one that spans several tables, unless you can mentally visualize the relationships of the data. Iconic Query’s icons make that task easier.
To get the right answer, you also have to specify the right conditions for selecting records. The program allows you to browse the data in the midst of defining a query to help you.
The program allows anyone to query a database application, even if they have little understanding of the data structure. But before that can happen, someone who is quite familiar with the database and computer programs has to design an Iconic Query application for that particular database.
If the designer builds the application properly, all of the relationships of data in one table to that in others will be built-in, so the user issuing a query doesn’t have to worry about that level of detail. For instance, a customer ID number can be used to link a table listing customers with a table listing sales.
As the Iconic Query user points and clicks on tables and fields to add to the query, an English-like description of the data selection being formulated appears on the screen, making it very easy to keep track of what is happening.
Behind the scenes, Iconic Query is actually creating an SQL-language query of the database. SQL stands for “structured query language,” which, like most computer languages, is difficult to learn. Iconic Query eliminates the need to learn it.
If you have centralized SQL databases using Oracle, Sybase or SQL Server software, special $690 versions of Iconic Query are available from Intelligenceware that will allow users to work with that data.
The program easily creates nicely formatted reports from query results. You can change the placement and typography of the data to meet your own design standards. It will also display your data in graphs, which you can incorporate in the reports.
There are some limitations. Although you can create tables and enter or edit data with Iconic Query, you can’t build handsome data entry forms or set up entry validation rules the way you can with full-featured database application programs. It really is meant for retrieving data, not entering it.
The dBASE emulation used in the program is fast, conforming to dBASE III and IV standards and utilizing indexes. There is no Paradox emulation. The program will work with Paradox files, but first it converts them to dBASE format. That means those tables could not be later used again by Paradox.
Documentation is skimpy, although a database expert, which is what you should be if you are going to set up Iconic Query applications for others, shouldn’t have much trouble with it. Query users can learn what they need to know from the examples in the instruction book, provided the actual applications they work with are well-designed.
The newest version, 1.2, which adds desirable security and data presentation features, has just been shipped. Be sure it’s the one you buy, because company policy is to charge $99 for version upgrades no matter how recently you bought the previous version.
