SQL::Translator README

SQL::Translator is a group of Perl modules that manipulate structure data definitions (mostly database schemas) in interesting ways, such as converting among different dialects of CREATE syntax (e.g., MySQL-to-Oracle), visualizations of schemas (pseudo-ER diagrams GraphViz or GD), automatic code generation (using Class::DBI), converting non-RDBMS files to SQL schemas (xSV text files, Excel spreadsheets), serializing parsed schemas (via Storable, YAML and XML), creating documentation (HTML and POD), and more. We also have the ability to talk directly to a database through DBI to query for the structures of several databases.

Through the separation of the code into parsers and producers with an object model in between, it's possible to combine any parser with any producer, to plug in custom parsers or producers, or to manipulate the parsed data via the built-in object model. Presently only the definition parts of SQL are handled (CREATE, ALTER), not the manipulation of data (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE).

As of version 0.06, parsers exist for the following:

Databases

MySQL Oracle PostgreSQL SQLite Sybase

        DBI-MySQL
        DBI-PostgreSQL
        DBI-SQLite
        DBI-Sybase

Other

xSV : arbitrarily delimited text files Excel : Microsoft Excel spreadsheets XML-SQLFairy : SQLFairy's XML format YAML/Storable: Serialized schema objects

And the following producers exist:

Databases

MySQL Oracle PostgreSQL SQLite Sybase

Code Generators:

ClassDBI : Class::DBI classes

Documentation

Diagram : quasi-ER diagrams using libgd GraphViz : ER diagrams using GraphViz HTML : HTML documentation of schema POD : Plain Old Documenation of schema

Serialization

Storable : using Perl's Storable module YAML : YAML format XML-SQLFairy : structure of the schema described in SQLFairy's XML

Other

TTSchema : to any text format via Template Toolkit

Included in this distribution are a few scripts designed to be user interfaces for the actual SQL::Translator modules. In the "bin" directory, you will find:

• sqlt-diagram: interface to Diagram producer
• sqlt-diff : diff two schemas to generate schema mutation file
• sqlt-graph : interface to GraphViz producer
• sqlt-dumper : create a data dumper script from a schema
• sqlt : command-line interface for text-to-text translations
• sqlt.cgi : CGI interface for all SQLFairy functions

All scripts not ending in ".cgi" are meant to be run from the command line with various switches to control the input and output of the scripts, while the ".cgi" script is a web-form frontend. The script you'll probably find most useful is "sqlt" which is meant to be the main interface for translating from text-to-text. The graphic producers, however, have many extra switches, so there are scripts specific for each of the the GraphViz and ER-diagram producers. All scripts start with "sqlt" so it will be easier to identify them on your system. All the non-CGI scripts will be installed in a system path when you "make install," but you'll have to manually place the CGI script into your web CGI directory to use it.

If you're more interested in using the SQL::Translator modules directly, then you might be more interested to examine some of the test scripts in the "t" directory. The test suite is relatively thorough and should give you an idea of how to parse a file and manipulate the SQL::Translator::Schema objects.

INSTALLATION

$ perl Build.PL
$ ./Build
$ ./Build test
$ su
# ./Build install

MANUAL

To read the manual:

$ perldoc SQL::Translator::Manual

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

BUGS

Please use http://rt.cpan.org/ for reporting bugs.

PRAISE

If you find this module useful, please use "http://cpanratings.perl.org/rate/?distribution=SQL-Translator" to rate it.

SEE ALSO

Check out the SQLFairy homepage at Sourceforge for more information, mailing lists, etc.:

http://sqlfairy.sourceforge.net/

AUTHORS

See the included AUTHORS file.