[Zope] SQLForms/Reporter, Znolk, SQL Blender, ZDataQueryKit, P SQL Input Wizard

[Derek Basch]

Well, with a bit more poking and Bens help I have
found the following Z SQL Forms/Reporter tools:

(SQLForms/Reporter, Znolk, SQL Blender, ZDataQueryKit,
P SQL Input Wizard)

Holy product overlap Batman! I guess it is a good
thing that enough people are interested to build
products but it makes for a long selection process. I
thought in the interest of helping those who come
after me I would give my thoughts on each.

SQLForms/Reporter:
Seems to be the most option heavy of the choices but
requires a fair bit of setup and has decent
documentation. The author is releasing v3.1 soon.
Includes a SQL Form builder and a SQL Report builder.
Form builder allows the following DB interaction
methods, add, edit, and list.

Znolk:
Seems to have the broadest DB type support(Interbase,
MySQL, etc...). However, I didn't research it very
much because it is copylefted :(. 

SQL Blender:
Seems to be the most automated of the options. Easily
builds preformatted ZSQL methods based upon table
browser data from your database adapter. As the
frontpage for SQL Blender says "fast, easy,
forgiving". The generated DB interaction functions
include, insert, select, and update. Note, as of zope
Zope 2.5.1, requires manually applying a patch to
sqlgroup.py to add <sql-comma> functionality.

ZDataQueryKit:
Seems to have found the midground between ease of use
and features. Focuses on generating SQL based reports
rather than generting forms for database interaction.
The reporting tool is great and allows for custom CSS
in the generated reports. Also includes several tools
for visually designing SQL Queries and combining data
from different database adapters.

P SQL Input Wizard:
Seems to have been largely deprecated in favor of the
more feature rich options.

Whew, that was fun. Anyways, I hope this helps someone
out in the future and I wish I had someplace
'official' to place this but the mailing list will
have to do. If anyone out there wishes to dispute my
humble opinions, please do! Speaking of humble
opinions, I think someone (lord knows im not
qualified) needs to push for combining a few of these
products into a single product. Perhaps called, Z SQL
Formporter :). Ughhh...that a horrible name.
Regards,
Derek Basch

--- Ben Avery <ben@thesite.org> wrote:
> this could even turn into a three way match:
>
http://www.zope.org/Members/adustman/Products/SQLBlender
> 
> which is like znolk, but adds a couple of nice
> things into sqlgroup to 
> let you do things like
> 
> update aardvark
> <dtml-sqlgroup set noparens>
> <dtml-sqltest name type="string" op="eq">
> <dtml-comma>
> <dtml-sqltest length type="int" op="eq" optional>
> <dtml-comma>
> <dtml-sqltest age type="int" op="eq" optional>
> </dtml-sqlgroup>
> where aard_id = <dtml-sqlvar id type="int">
> 
> to build flexible update statements to match
> whatever parameters you 
> pass in.
> 
> 
> 
> Derek Basch wrote:
> > Hello All,
> > I am trying to decide between the SQL Forms Wizard
> > product and the Znolk SQL Wizard product. Both
> seem to
> > do about the same thing.
> > 
> > http://www.zope.org/Members/Ioan/SQLForms/
> > http://www.zope.org/Members/zwork/Znolk_SQL_Wizard
> > 
> > SQL Forms Wizard:
> > "Automatically generate list,add,edit methods"
> > 
> > Znolk SQL Wizard:
> > "forms for browsing,inserting,updating,deleting
> data"
> > 
> > Anyways, can anyone give recommendations either
> way?
> > Thanks,
> > Derek Basch  
> > 
> > 
> > 
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