updated turnkey regression testing schema. added comments RE what role
[dbsrgits/SQL-Translator.git] / README
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c047df29 1 SQL::Translator README
2
a9dcf25b 3SQL::Translator is a group of Perl modules that manipulate structure
4data definitions (mostly database schemas) in interesting ways, such
5as converting among different dialects of CREATE syntax (e.g.,
6MySQL-to-Oracle), visualizations of schemas (pseudo-ER diagrams
7GraphViz or GD), automatic code generation (using Class::DBI),
8converting non-RDBMS files to SQL schemas (xSV text files, Excel
9spreadsheets), serializing parsed schemas (via Storable, YAML and
10XML), creating documentation (HTML and POD), and more. New to version
110.03 is the ability to talk directly to a database through DBI to
12query for the structures of several databases.
13
14Through the separation of the code into parsers and producers with an
15object model in between, it's possible to combine any parser with any
16producer, to plug in custom parsers or producers, or to manipulate the
17parsed data via the built-in object model. Presently only the
18definition parts of SQL are handled (CREATE, ALTER), not the
19manipulation of data (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE).
c047df29 20
6f20f0e3 21As of version 0.05, parsers exist for the following:
c047df29 22
68186ea5 23 Databases:
24 MySQL
25 Oracle
26 PostgreSQL
a9dcf25b 27 SQLite
6f20f0e3 28 Sybase
a9dcf25b 29
30 DBI-MySQL
31 DBI-PostgreSQL
32 DBI-SQLite
33 DBI-Sybase
68186ea5 34
35 Other:
a9dcf25b 36 xSV : arbitrarily delimited text files
37 Excel : Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
38 XML-SQLFairy : SQLFairy's XML format
6a86d615 39 YAML/Storable: Serialized schema objects
c047df29 40
41And the following producers exist:
42
68186ea5 43 Databases:
44 MySQL
45 Oracle
46 PostgreSQL
47 SQLite
48 Sybase
68186ea5 49
50 Code Generators:
a9dcf25b 51 ClassDBI : Class::DBI classes
68186ea5 52
53 Documentation:
a9dcf25b 54 Diagram : quasi-ER diagrams using libgd
55 GraphViz : ER diagrams using GraphViz
56 HTML : HTML documentation of schema
57 POD : Plain Old Documenation of schema
58
59 Serialization:
60 Storable : using Perl's Storable module
61 YAML : YAML format
62 XML-SQLFairy : structure of the schema described in SQLFairy's XML
68186ea5 63
64 Other:
a9dcf25b 65 TTSchema : to any text format via Template Toolkit
c047df29 66
c047df29 67Included in this distribution are a few scripts designed to be user
68interfaces for the actual SQL::Translator modules. In the "bin"
69directory, you will find:
70
6f20f0e3 71* sqlt-diagram: interface to Diagram producer
72* sqlt-diff : diff two schemas to generate schema mutation file
73* sqlt-graph : interface to GraphViz producer
74* sqlt-dumper : create a data dumper script from a schema
75* sqlt : command-line interface for text-to-text translations
76* sqlt.cgi : CGI interface for all SQLFairy functions
67bb95f1 77
78All scripts not ending in ".cgi" are meant to be run from the command
79line with various switches to control the input and output of the
80scripts, while the ".cgi" script is a web-form frontend. The script
81you'll probably find most useful is "sqlt" which is meant to be the
82main interface for translating from text-to-text. The graphic
83producers, however, have many extra switches, so there are scripts
84specific for each of the the GraphViz and ER-diagram producers. All
85scripts start with "sqlt" so it will be easier to identify them on
86your system. All the non-CGI scripts will be installed in a system
87path when you "make install," but you'll have to manually place the
88CGI script into your web CGI directory to use it.
c047df29 89
90If you're more interested in using the SQL::Translator modules
91directly, then you might be more interested to examine some of the
68186ea5 92test scripts in the "t" directory. The test suite is relatively
93thorough and should give you an idea of how to parse a file and
94manipulate the SQL::Translator::Schema objects.
46d3d648 95
6e220350 96INSTALLATION
97
98The regular method:
99
100 $ perl Makefile.PL
101 $ make
102 $ make test
8d062bee 103 $ su
6e220350 104 # make install
105
46d3d648 106COPYRIGHT
46d3d648 107
c047df29 108This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
109under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
110Free Software Foundation; version 2.
46d3d648 111
c047df29 112This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
113WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
114MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
115Public License for more details.
46d3d648 116
c047df29 117You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
118with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
11959 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
2e1b1775 120
c047df29 121BUGS
46d3d648 122
c047df29 123Please use http://rt.cpan.org/ for reporting bugs.
e784dbe4 124
4cdd7bf1 125PRAISE
126
127If you find this module useful, please use
128"http://cpanratings.perl.org/rate/?distribution=SQL-Translator" to rate it.
129
e784dbe4 130SEE ALSO
131
132Check out the SQLFairy homepage at Sourceforge for more information,
133mailing lists, etc.:
134
135 http://sqlfairy.sourceforge.net/
a9dcf25b 136
137AUTHORS
138
139See the include AUTHORS file.