Re: Visual Query Builder (Was: It's Official: CodeGear EnjoyingDouble-Digit Profit Rate)

Kevin Frevert wrote:

My experiences at PDC and recently at the SQL PASS Expo, the vast
majority of DBAs type the SQL they want to use. Point-and-clicking
for data is what users do, not developers.

There are lots of people who still say this about RAD, too. Anders and
I just encountered one at the MySQL show who was skeptical to the point
of hostility about Delphi for PHP's visual designer because he couldn't
imagine how a drag and drop interface could be better than what he had
for build web sites with Zend.

Anders is always unflappable, and calmly invited him to watch a
demonstration. 8 minutes later, he walked away from the booth, one of
the most excited people of all to give the trial a test run.

Given that (plus other factors) it is my opinion including a VQB for
developers is a 'pretty' (non useful) selling feature.

Then I'd say it is an inferior implementation.

Drag and drop support for a query engine can be an incredibly useful
tool for building queries. I've spoken with Steve Shaughnessy about it
at multiple lunches in my unofficial lingering role as "Enterprise
Product Manager" for Delphi -- my original job at CodeGear. Steve and I
often bounce ideas off each other to see what sticks.

Instead of dismissing a "visual designer" and "drag and drop" as an
inferior solution, I invite you to think of ways it could give you a
far superior solution to what you currently have. I would also include
code completion for SQL in there for good measure.

There are several very cool things I can think of with a good metadata
engine that would radically adjust people's thinking about how SQL
commands get written.

--
John Kaster http://blogs.codegear.com/johnk
CodeGear Developer Network: http://dn.codegear.com
Features and bugs: http://qc.codegear.com
Got source? http://cc.codegear.com
If it's not here, it's not happening: http://ec.codegear.com
.

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