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PGACCESS 0.96 9 March 1999

PGACCESS 0.98 29 August 1999

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I dedicate this program to my little daughters Ana-Maria and Emilia and to my

wife for their understanding. I hope they will forgive me for spending so many

time far from them.

1.Why PgAccess ?

1. How to INSTALL ?

First of all because PostgreSQL lacks a graphical interface where you

can manage your tables, edit them, define queries, sequences and

functions.

You will need a Tcl/Tk package, at least Tcl 7.6 and Tk 4.2, recommended

Tcl/Tk 8.x

For Unix users, unpack the pgaccess-xxx.tar.gz archieve in you preferred

directory (usually /usr/local).

Check where your "wish" program is and modify (if needed) the file

/usr/local/pgaccess/pgaccess and set variables PGACCESS_HOME and

PATH_TO_WISH to the appropriate directories.

2.How to INSTALL ?

Include the /usr/local/pgaccess directory into your PATH or make a

symbolic link to it wherever you want (in PATH directories).

Example:

You will need Tcl/Tk package, I am using now Tcl 7.6 and Tk 4.2.

PgAccess is running fine also on Tcl/Tk 8.0

$ ln -s /usr/local/pgaccess/pgaccess /usr/bin/pgaccess

Also, you will need the PostgreSQL to Tcl interface library, lined as a

Tcl/Tk 'load'-able module. It is called libpgtcl and the source is

located in the PostgreSQL directory /src/interfaces/libpgtcl.

Specifically, you will need a libpgtcl library that is 'load'-able from

Tcl/Tk. This is technically different from an ordinary PostgreSQL

loadable object file, because libpgtcl is a collection of object files.

You will find also some documentation and FAQ in the doc directory.

Under Linux, this is called libpgtcl.so. You will find a pre-compiled

copy of it for Linux i386 systems at : http://www.flex.ro/pgaccess.

Just copy libpgtcl.so into your system library directory /usr/lib or

/lib and go for it.

Under Windows, copy libpgtcl.dll and libpq.dll into C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

Make sure you have Tcl/Tk at least version 8.0.0 for Microsoft Windows 95 & NT.

PgAccess has been checked with Tcl/Tk 8.0.4 version on Windows95 and Windows98

platforms.

Tcl/Tk 8.0.4 for Windows95 & NT can be downloaded from

ftp://ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/tcl8_0/tcl804.exe

It is 1833712 bytes long.

3.How to run it?

2. Usage

You run it with the command:

wish -fpgaccess.tcl [database]

pgaccess [database]

[database] is optional.

Another way of loading the PostgreSQL library is running it with pgwish.

It's a wish compiled with libpgtcl library so it could understand the

commands for working with PostgreSQL. For this, remove the line "load

libpgtcl.so" from the source. If your operating system has a different

library name or location, change the 'load libpgtcl.so' line in the

pgaccess.tcl file.

4.What does it now ?

- Opens any database on a specified host at the specified port, username and password

- Perform vacuum command.

- Saves preferences in ~/.pgaccessrc file

Tables

- opening multiple tables for viewing, max n records (configurable)

- column resizing by dragging the vertical grid lines

- text will wrap in cells now

- dynamic row height when editing

- table layout saved for every table

- import/export to external files (SDF,CSV)

- filter capabilities ,enter filter like price>3.14

- sort order capabilities ,enter manually the sort field(s)

- editing in place, double click the text you want to change

- record deleting , point the record, press Del key

- adding new records ,save new row with right-button-click on table for the moment

- table generator assistant

- table renaming and deleting (dropping)

- table information retrieving : owner, field information, indexes

Queries

- define, edit and store "user defined queries"

- save view layout

- can store queries as views

- execution of queries with optional user input parameters ( select * from invoices where year=[parameter "Year of selection"] )

- viewing of select type queries result

- running action queries (insert, update, delete)

- visual query builder with drag & drop support, table aliasing

Sequences

- define

- inspect

- delete

Views

- defining them saving queries as views

- view them , with filtering and sorting capabilities

- design views

- delete them

Functions

- define , inspect , delete

Reports

- simple reports from a table (beta stage)

- change font,size and style of fields and labels

- load and save reports from the database

- table previews, sample postscript print

Forms

- open user defined forms

- form design module available

- query widget allowing access to a record set

Scripts

- define, modify and call user defined scripts

5.What it should do in the future ?

- sequence and function renaming

- more powerful report generator and viewer

- help on line

6. How you should report the errors?

3. Bug reporting

First of all : operating system, PostgreSQL version,Tcl/Tk version.

A more detailed story of what have you done when errorhadoccurred.

A more detailed story of what have you done when error occurred.

Tcl/Tk stops usually with a error message and there is a button there

"Stack Trace" and if you press it, you will see a detailed information

about theplace where it stuck. Please send it to me.

about theprocedure containing the error. Please send it to me.

Some information about table structure, no. of fields, records would

be also good.