= clevic

http://clevic.rubyforge.org

== DESCRIPTION:

Database framework and Model/View GUI for data capture and
editing of tables in a pre-existing relational DBMS. Works with Qt
and Java Swing.

Using Sequel means Clevic supports Postgresql, Mysql and so on. It's been tested with Postgres and sqlite.

Using Qt and Swing means it runs on Linux, Windows and OSX. Qt is thoroughly tested
in Linux, slightly tested in Windows and OSX. Swing is tested in Linux and OSX.

== FEATURES:

=== User Interface

* edit data in a table
* in-place combo boxes for choosing values from related tables (foreign keys)
* distinct combo boxes to list previous values for a field
* display read-only fields from related tables
* Filter by current field.
* search by field contents.
* cut and paste in CSV format

=== Shortcuts:

* Ctrl-' for ditto (copy value from previous record)
* Ctrl-; for insert current date
* Ctrl-] for copy previous record, one field right
* Ctrl-[ for copy previous record, one field left
* Ctrl-f to find a record
* Ctrl-l to filter by current selection
* cursor keys for movement

=== Model definition:

Models and their UI representation must be defined in Ruby. A descendant of Sequel::Model
that includes the Clevic::Record module will provide a minimally functional UI.

Beyond that, the framework provides a DSL for defining more complex and useful behaviour
(see Clevic::ModelBuilder).

In the models/ subdirectory, start with minimal_models.rb.
account_models.rb and times_models.rb provide definitions for more real-world examples.
Associated SQL schemas are in the sql subdirectory.

For implementation and more extensive comments, see Clevic::ModelBuilder.

=== Framework

* use blocks to format values for particular fields.
* sensible caching to handle large data sets without unnecessary memory and cpu usage
* extensions to various Qt classes to make db programming easier.
* uses Sequel for data access.
* leverages SQL whenever possible to handle large datasets, sorting, filtering
  etc. So it's probably not suitable for talking to a remote db across a slow link.

== PROBLEMS:

See TODO file.

== SYNOPSIS:

	clevic [ --qt | --swing ] model_definition_file.rb
	
== REQUIREMENTS:

=== Gems
* Sequel
* fastercsv
* qtext
* hashery
* gather

=== Libraries
* qtruby4 >= 2.0.3
* bsearch (http://0xcc.net/ruby-bsearch)
* db driver (ie pg)
* rdbms (ie postgres)

== INSTALL:

	sudo gem install

== THANKS:

* Michelle Riley for help debugging the windows gem

== LICENSE:

(The GPL-2 License)

Copyright (C) 2008-2011 John Anderson

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

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 Library 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.