Querying for model-driven spreadsheets

1. Querying forModel-DrivenQuerying forModel-Driven
SpreadsheetsSpreadsheets
Rui Pereira
Prof. João Saraiva(Supervisor)
Prof. Orlando Belo (Co-Supervisor)
University of MinhoUniversity of Minho
Department of InformaticsDepartment of Informatics

2. Problem: Querying
Spreadsheets2

3. Problem: Querying
Spreadsheets3
 Spreadsheets are generally used to store
information
 Much like database systems
 Have no way to query what data they contain
 Attempts have been made to replicate traditional
querying systems for spreadsheets
 MS-Query
 Google QUERY Function

4. Problem: Querying
Spreadsheets4
 Highly restrict user’s spreadsheet data
 Requires data to be in a tabular format
 Requires header to be present (in first row)
 Column letters ≠ Column labels
 Counter intuitive queries
 Data evolution not supported

5. Example
5

6. Example: Running Data
6
 Model-Driven spreadsheet representing:
orders, clients, and products

7. Example: Running Data
7
 Spreadsheet data instance

8. Example: Running Query
8
 Query: How much have we profited from
each client?

9. Solution: Google QUERY
Function9

10. Solution: Google QUERY
Function10
Denormalization

11. Solution: Google QUERY
Function11
 Google
Query:

12. Solution: Google QUERY
Function12
Denormalization

13. Solution: Google QUERY
Function13
 Google
Query:

14. Solution: Envisioned Approach
14

15. Solution: Envisioned Approach
15
 Proposed
Query:
SELECT Client.*,
sum(TotalPrice)
FROM Client JOIN Order
GROUP BY Client.*
LABEL sum(TotalPrice)
‘Profits’

16. Solution: Envisioned Approach
16
 Query: How much have we profited from
each client?

17. Solution: Envisioned Approach
17
 Model
Inference

18. Solution: Envisioned Approach
18
 Model
Inference
 Spreadsheet data instance

19. QuerySheet: Architecture
19

20. QuerySheet: Architecture
20
SELECT Pilots.*, Sum(Hours)
WHERE Destination = ‘LIS’
GROUP BY Pilots.*
LABEL Sum(Hours) ‘Total Hours’
=query(A1:F53;
“SELECT B, SUM(F)
WHERE D = ‘LIS’
GROUP BY B
LABEL SUM(F) ‘Total Hours’”
conforms to
conforms to
denormalization
model inference
execution
translation

21. Preliminary Study
21

22. Preliminary Study
22
Minute
s
 QuerySheet was found to be approx. ~70%
faster than Google’s QUERY Function

23. Preliminary Study
23
 After each question, students were asked to
choose which system they preferred in regards to
being:
 Intuitive
 Faster to write
 Easier to write
 Understandable
 Almost all prefered QuerySheet on every aspect

24. Contributions
24

25. Contributions
25
 Querying Model-Driven Spreadsheets, Jácome Cunha, João Fernandes, Jorge Mendes,
Rui Pereira, and João Saraiva. In proceedings of the IEEE Sym po sium o n Visua l
Lang uag e s and Hum an-Ce ntric Co m puting (VL/HCC 20 1 3), San Jose, CA, USA. IEEE
Computer Society, September 2013.
 QuerySheet: A Bidirectional Query Environment forModel-Driven Spreadsheets, Orlando
Belo, Jácome Cunha, João Fernandes, Jorge Mendes, Rui Pereira, and João Saraiva. In
proceedings of the IEEE Sym po sium o n Visua lLang uag e s and Hum an-Ce ntric
Co m puting (VL/HCC 20 1 3), San Jose, CA, USA. IEEE Computer Society, September
2013.
 Spreadsheet Querying, Rui Pereira. In proceedings of the 5th
International School on
Domain Specific Languages (DSL’2013), Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2013. (to appear)
 Graphical Querying of Model-Driven Spreadsheet, Jácome Cunha, João Paulo
Fernandes, Rui Pereira, and João Saraiva. In proceedings of the 16th
International
Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI2014), Heraklion, Crete, Greece, June
2014. (submitted extended abstract)
 QuerySheet Software Prototype. (Available at ssaapp.di.uminho.pt)

26. Conclusion
26

27. Conclusion
27
 Spreadsheet querying is more:
 Humanized
 Understandable
 Robust
 Productive
 More functionality
 Automatically deal with pro ble m s caused by
querying denormalized data

28. Future Work
28

29. Future Work
29
 Incremental Denormalization
 Graphical Querying Interface
 Query/Model/Instance Bidirectionality
 Evaluation

30. 30

31. Querying forModel-DrivenQuerying forModel-Driven
SpreadsheetsSpreadsheets
Rui Pereira
Prof. João Saraiva(Supervisor)
Prof. Orlando Belo (Co-Supervisor)
University of MinhoUniversity of Minho
Department of InformaticsDepartment of Informatics