Generic database dictionary access

E

Edward Diener

Version 2.0 of the Python database API was written over 5 years ago, in
1999. While it has been used successfully by many implementations, there is
no generic access into the data dictionary of relational databases except at
the table column level. I am working on some Python which would hopefully
give me a form of generic access to more common data dictionary
functionality such as indices, constraints etc. but no such functionality
currently exists in the official Python distribution. Has there been any
movement in the 5 year time span since the 2.0 API was published to add
richer generic functionality for relational databases as regards data
dictionary access ? I fully realize that each major RDBMS has its own
methods for programatically querying its data dictionary, and I suspect that
there is no common SQL specification for doing so, but I would think that
richer functionality along these lines might be welcome to Python database
programmers other than myself.
 
M

Michael Fuhr

Edward Diener said:
Has there been any movement in the 5 year time span since the 2.0 API
was published to add richer generic functionality for relational
databases as regards data dictionary access ? I fully realize that each
major RDBMS has its own methods for programatically querying its data
dictionary, and I suspect that there is no common SQL specification for
doing so, but I would think that richer functionality along these lines
might be welcome to Python database programmers other than myself.

SQL defines INFORMATION_SCHEMA as a standard way to query metadata,
although not all databases implement it. Google for more info.

Recent versions of PostgreSQL support INFORMATION_SCHEMA -- here's
the doc:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/information-schema.html
 
E

Edward Diener

Michael said:
SQL defines INFORMATION_SCHEMA as a standard way to query metadata,
although not all databases implement it. Google for more info.

Yes, I see it but it seems as if even some of the large databases don't
support it ( unless I am mistaken, Oracle for instance ). Nonetheless it
would be great if the Python database API were able to use it to create
richer data dictionary information than what it provides. In particular
constraints and unque key/foreign key links in tables if this could be
discovered generically through the INFORMATION_SCHEMA standard methods.
 
D

David Fraser

Edward said:
Version 2.0 of the Python database API was written over 5 years ago, in
1999. While it has been used successfully by many implementations, there is
no generic access into the data dictionary of relational databases except at
the table column level. I am working on some Python which would hopefully
give me a form of generic access to more common data dictionary
functionality such as indices, constraints etc. but no such functionality
currently exists in the official Python distribution. Has there been any
movement in the 5 year time span since the 2.0 API was published to add
richer generic functionality for relational databases as regards data
dictionary access ? I fully realize that each major RDBMS has its own
methods for programatically querying its data dictionary, and I suspect that
there is no common SQL specification for doing so, but I would think that
richer functionality along these lines might be welcome to Python database
programmers other than myself.
Hear Hear. This would be a welcome improvement. Note that you could
create it as a library that runs on top of DB-API drivers and knows
various flavours of database, and then work towards standardizing the
interface... I for one would be interested in the library

David
 
E

Edward Diener

David said:
Hear Hear. This would be a welcome improvement. Note that you could
create it as a library that runs on top of DB-API drivers and knows
various flavours of database, and then work towards standardizing the
interface... I for one would be interested in the library

As Mr. Fuhr has pointed out, there is an SQL standard for it in
INFORMATION_SCHEMA. One could attempt to build a base class for it using
this and a set of functions which exposed the data dictionary through it,
and then derive from that class and override its functionality for databases
which don't support it but provide different methods to access the data
dictionary data.

Finding out which databases do support it, and to what extent, would be the
first hurdle. Then deciding what the class functionality desired would be
the next. Of course writing the correct SQL to get what one wants would be
the final challenge.
 

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