I need an interface design advice

wxPython Users
1

Hi,

I need to build an interface for a task. Let me summarize how it must
function. I have some collections which have several database tables
inside them. The most important part is, I want to be able to open the
content from a file in which it is stored and add or delete
collections at later times. It seems complicated, I know. But to
clarify it, I will talk about my first idea. I can use a label book.
Every label (collection name) chooses a notebook. Notebook contains
tabs that correspond to database tables inside collection. And every
tab contains a grid for table data. That is what has first come to my
mind. But I dont know how to store all this structure in a file and
how to rebuild it for later editing purposes. I need your precious
ideas and suggestions for this task.

Thanks a lot.

2

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I find it helpful to sketch (yes, pen and paper) my interface ideas
before trying to mock them up in code.

···

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 9:45 AM, Shansal <sansal.birbas@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I need to build an interface for a task. Let me summarize how it must
function. I have some collections which have several database tables
inside them. The most important part is, I want to be able to open the
content from a file in which it is stored and add or delete
collections at later times. It seems complicated, I know. But to
clarify it, I will talk about my first idea. I can use a label book.
Every label (collection name) chooses a notebook. Notebook contains
tabs that correspond to database tables inside collection. And every
tab contains a grid for table data. That is what has first come to my
mind. But I dont know how to store all this structure in a file and
how to rebuild it for later editing purposes. I need your precious
ideas and suggestions for this task.

3

Hi,

I need to build an interface for a task. Let me summarize how it must

function. I have some collections

I guess part of what would help to have very clear is what exactly is a “collection” in this case? I think the way a user conceives of a concept/entity in your program helps determine what GUI approach you ought to take. Since you say that collections contain database tables, isn’t another way to think about a collection simply a database?

which have several database tables

inside them. The most important part is, I want to be able to open the

content from a file in which it is stored and add or delete

collections at later times. It seems complicated, I know.

It sounds like a database browser, like the SQLite Database Browser.

clarify it, I will talk about my first idea. I can use a label book.

Every label (collection name) chooses a notebook. Notebook contains

tabs that correspond to database tables inside collection. And every

tab contains a grid for table data. That is what has first come to my

mind. But I dont know how to store all this structure in a file and

how to rebuild it for later editing purposes. I need your precious

ideas and suggestions for this task.

I would write this out in words/pseudo-code, and then I think it will become more apparent to you. For example, something like:

  1. I need databases, so I need a way to create them in my .py file, probably once a user does some GUI action. Requires understanding my database management system.

  2. I need to store a list of the databases on the disk somehow. How? In another “master” database? In a text file?

  3. I need a label book, and I will populate it with # of labels = # of databases (“collections”) in the list from point 2.

  4. For each of these, I need a standard notebook as the “page” of the labelbook.

  5. As I create each notebook, I might as well populate it, too, with the tables from that database.

  6. Etc…

Does that help?

Che

···

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 9:45 AM, Shansal sansal.birbas@gmail.com wrote:

4

I did some research and I found out I need to build a relational
database system for this task. It will contain a table whose rows hold
data for every collection. Then each row of this table will refer to
some other tables. So in GUI, I need a container for collection table
and another container for linked tables. I think this time it is
simple.

5

I think It is best I use three listboxes. The first one will show
collection names, the second one will show table names and the third
one will show table data.

6

Actually, it doesn't sound complicated.
It's a matter of perspective.
To me, you are describing a hierarchy:
collections
    databases
        tables

a simple "navigation" (could be a tree like control) on one side and
"editor" on the other might solve this perceived complexity.
you could use a folder structure with metadata in files like:
storage
   collection_name1
       .metadata_file
       database1
       database2
   collection_name2
...
than have some kind of dictionary where you load the data for quick
access (search).

···

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 4:45 PM, Shansal <sansal.birbas@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi,

I need to build an interface for a task. Let me summarize how it must
function. I have some collections which have several database tables
inside them. The most important part is, I want to be able to open the
content from a file in which it is stored and add or delete
collections at later times. It seems complicated, I know. But to
clarify it, I will talk about my first idea. I can use a label book.
Every label (collection name) chooses a notebook. Notebook contains
tabs that correspond to database tables inside collection. And every
tab contains a grid for table data. That is what has first come to my
mind. But I dont know how to store all this structure in a file and
how to rebuild it for later editing purposes. I need your precious
ideas and suggestions for this task.

Thanks a lot.

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