When creating a graphical user interface for simpleDB it initially occurred to me that a standard grid view didn't lend itself as an ideal method of displaying the items and their attributes coming from SimpleDB. Since a given item can have several attributes with the same name but different values and a domain can have different kinds of items contained in it, in effect schema-less, a standard grid display with rows and columns just didn't seem like the most intuitive way to view the data.

I initially went with a modified grid view that would accomodate the characteritics of the data format in SimpleDB but I was determined to do something different with the user interface that would be unexpected and hopefully yeild a view of the data that was easier to use than a grid view.

I came up with the idea to use a (sort of) tree view as a user interface for SimpleDB. While the tree view of the data might at first seem an unusual way to view the data from a database I think after using it for a few minutes many people will find it more useful than a grid view in many instances.

 

To the right is an image of the tree view user interface. It shows some book items stored in SimpleDB. The tree view has been organized by the 'author' attribute. Each author item appears as a node in the tree and upon clicking each author node the tree expands to show the items that have author attributes matching the parent node, in the case of the picture to the right, all of the book items having an author attribute vaule of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

 

 

By changing the primary field for the view of the data the tree changes to organize the data according to that specific attribute. In the example shown here the primary field will be changed to the 'title' attribute.

As you can see in the image to the right the tree view reorganizes itself according to the attribute selected. The data in the user interface is now organized according to the 'title' attribute.

When executing a query against SimpleDB Bolso will look for all of the unique attribute names in the items returned and make them available in the Primary Field combo box so that the items can be organized in the tree view according to the attribute. If some of the items returned don't have a pariticular attribute they are organized together in a tree node labeled 'N/A'. All of the item attributes can be edited the same as the grid view in Bolso. Items and attributes can also be removed in this view by clicking the white button and selecting the appropriate command from the menu. This tree view user interface for SimpleDB offeres an easier way to navigate the items returned by queres in many instances. I think this unique approach to navigating and exploring the items in SimpleDB is something that really sets Bolso apart from the other SimpleDB explorer utilities available and I hope others find it useful. I find that I use the tree view user interface most often when using Bolso in my SimpleDB development.