Copyright: ® gds


Help Contents
Contents

Step 1

Build Your Query

Step 2

Select Display Fields

Step 3

Query and Display Results

The Results

Viewing Results

Exporting Results to a File


Build Your Query

The Connector

The Field

The Equivalence

The Value

The Query Display Box


The Connector

The connector allows you to join multiple query lines into a single query.  The connector on the first line of a query is always blank.  The connector on all the other lines of a query is either "and" or "or".


The Field

The Field is the data item for each country for which to search for a value.  For example, a search for all records where the population is greater than one million would have "population" as it's Field.

Open the dropdown list box labeled "Field" to view all the fields that may be queried.


The Equivalence

The Equivalence is the relationship between the Field and the Value to be investigated.  For example, to search for all records where the population is greater than one (1) million, the Equivalence would be ">".

Open the dropdown list box labeled "Equivalence" to view all  the available relationships (i.e.  "=", ">", "<", ">=","<=", <> ).

If the Field in the query is numeric, the Equivalence will be performed as a numeric compare (i.e.  1 < 100).  If the Field in the query is a character, the equivalence will be performed as an alphabetic compare (i.e.  a < b ).


The Value

The Value is the actual data to be searched for in the specified field.  For example, in a search for all records where the population is greater than one million the Value would be "1000000".

Open the dropdown list box labeled "Value" to view all the values for the chosen field.

To query a field based on its equivalence to another field, type the name of the field (exactly as it appears in the Field Box) into the Value box surrounded by "["and"]".  For example, to search for all sites where the number of usable airports is different from the total number of airports, choose "Airports Total" as the Field,  "<>" as the Equivalence, and type "[Airports Usable]" (leave off the quotes) as the Value.

If the field you are querying is numeric the Value must be numeric or a field name.  All other values will result in an invalid query.


The Query Display Box

The query display box allows for a complete view of the entire query.  The highlighted line in the box is the current query line.   Any non blank line may be selected as the current line by clicking on it with the mouse.  A new line may be added to the query by clicking on any blank line in the query box  The current line the Query Display box may be either deleted or edited.

To delete the current line, press the [image] button.

To edit the current line, simply change the Connector, Field, Equivalence, and/or Value as appropriate.  Any changes will immediately be reflected in the Query Display Box.


Select Display Fields

To select the fields to be displayed upon completion of the query, highlight the field in the box under the caption "Step 2 - Select Display Fields".  To highlight a single field simply click on it with the mouse.  To select multiple fields either click on the first field and drag the mouse down to the last field, or click each field while holding the <CTRL> key.

To unselect a selected field simply click on it with the mouse.


Query and Display Results

Once "Step 1 - Build your Query" and "Step 2 - Select Display Fields" have been completed, the query is ready to be executed. This can be performed by simply pressing the [image] button.


Viewing Results

The results of the query will appear in a window located in the lower right corner.  Contained in the results window will be the total number of records found, and the data in display fields for each record meeting the query criteria.  Additionally, the title bar of the results window will show the executed query.

Once the results have been viewed, they may either be exported to a file, or the window may be closed by pressing the [image] button.


Exporting Results to a File

The results of the query will appear in a window located in the lower right corner. Once the results have been viewed they can be exported to a file, which can be read in by your favorite spreadsheet program or word processor.  The export function will create a text file that contains one (1) line for each record in the query results.  Within each line, the individual fields will be separated by the delimiter of your choice (i.e.  tab, semicolon or comma).

To Export a File, a delimiter  must first be chosen by clicking either tab, comma, or semicolon.  Next press the [image] button.  You will be prompted for a file name.  Simply type in or select the file to be created and press OK.  The system will create the desired file and inform you upon completion.

Once the file has been created it may be opened by a spreadsheet as a text file.  Most spreadsheet programs allow for a specific column delimiter when opening a text file.  Consult the spreadsheet's owner's manual for more information on this feature.