Converting Paradoxs QBE Set Queries Into Access 2000 SQL

Abstract

One of the most important promises of the move to an SQL-based accounting software package has been that it frees the accountant from the necessity of resorting to a programmer when retrieving information from the organization's database in response to unanticipated managerial needs. That promise is founded, in part, on the availability of a very high-level, visual relational query language interface known as Query By Example (QBE). Unfortunately, the implementation of QBE in Microsoft Access 2000 fails to support users in formulating complex queries involving set comparison that tend to arise in on-line analytical processing (OLAP) situations. And, while Paradoxs implementation of QBE makes the formulation of such queries quite intuitive, its built-in SQL translation feature fails to provide a clue on how to convert such queries into SQL. This paper presents a systematic approach based on formulating complex set queries in Paradoxs richer QBE notation and translating them into SQL queries that can be handled by Access 2000.