Rui Pereira, Jácome Cunha, João Paulo Fernandes,Jorge Mendes and João Saraiva

Embedding Model-Driven Spreadsheet Queries in Spreadsheet Systems

VL/HCC 2014Melbourne, Australia

Problem: Querying Spreadsheets

1

› “poor man’s database”› No way to query what data they contain

Spreadsheets are generally used to store information

Attempts to replicate traditional querying systems

› Highly restrict user’s spreadsheet data› Denormalization › Headers present› Column letters ≠ Column labels› Data evolution not supported

2

Budget Spreadsheet

Question – What was the total per year, in decreasing order, from 2010 onwards?

3

Google QUERY Function

Question – What was the total per year, in decreasing order, from 2010 onwards?

=query(A1:E53;”SELECT A, sum(E) WHERE A >= 2010 GROUP BY A ORDER BY sum(E) DESC”)

4

QuerySheet

Question – What was the total per year, in decreasing order, from 2010 onwards?

SELECT Year, sum(Total)WHERE Year >= 2010GROUP BY YearOrder BY sum(Total) DESC

5

Previous Empirical Study

› Easier to construct queries› Intuitive and Understandable queries› Productive/Faster

Our goal with Model-Driven Querying:

› Semantic errors› Syntax errors› Low SQL knowledge Construction still difficult

Recurring problem among participants:

6

Embedded Spreadsheet SQL› Guide end-users in constructing queries› Reduce the number of errors› Continue taking advantage of positive aspects of

QuerySheet› SQL knowledge not needed

7

ES-SQL - Environment

Question – What was the total per year, in decreasing order, from 2010 onwards?

8

ES-SQL - Synchronization

ClassSheet

Spreadsheet

conforms to

8

ES-SQL - Synchronization

ClassSheet

Spreadsheet

ClassSheet’

Spreadsheet’

Qm + Q Qm’ + Q’

9

ES-SQL - Synchronization

10

Conclusions and Future Work

› Approach built on model-driven querying language› Visual query construction› Elimination of construction errors› Fully embedded model-driven querying system› Synchronization between model, instance, and query

Embedded Spreadsheet SQL

We still need to:

› Add missing expressions to the Embedded Query› Validation through empirical study

Rui Pereira, Jácome Cunha, João Paulo Fernandes,Jorge Mendes and João Saraiva

Embedding Model-Driven Spreadsheet Queries in Spreadsheet Systems

VL/HCC 2014Melbourne, Australia