Midrange Stuff, OS/400 Edition

Symtrax last week officially launched its new StarQuery tool, a new product that allows users to build Microsoft Excel reports using data extracted directly from a variety of databases. The company says StarQuery, which Symtrax considers a major upgrade of its XL400 query tool for OS/400 servers, benefits users through its ease-of-use, by not requiring programming and database knowledge, and by supporting databases running on multiple operating systems.

Symtrax developed StarQuery to satisfy the needs of both the users, who want easy access to database management systems to build reports, and the database administrators, who don't want to be constantly bothered by user requests to build them queries.

With those two groups of users in mind, Symtrax delivers two components in StarQuery: StarQuery MapDesigner and StarQuery for Excel. Database administrators use MapDesigner to create a map view of a database. Users can access these map views in StarQuery for Excel, which allows queries to be built in Excel directly from the maps.

Even the database administrators do not need programming expertise or a comprehensive understanding of the database structure in order to use MapDesigner. Symtrax developed StarQuery to be "dummy proof" for database administrators and users alike. MapDesigner gives a graphical representation of the database and features a built-in wizard that takes users through each step of the querying process. MapDesigner lets database administrators select tables (by dragging and dropping fields), perform joins with a single click, add dimensions and calculations, and perform other actions.

No SQL or Visual Basic knowledge is required to use MapDesigner, says Jose Pereda, director of technical support at Symtrax. XL400, the query tool Symtrax developed 10 years ago, and which StarQuery replaces, required SQL knowledge to use.

Once the database map file has been developed with MapDesigner, the map file is sent to the user, who can further customize the query using StarQuery for Excel. Users no longer need assistance from database administrators once they have access to the map file, which limits the data that the user can access.

"This can be a major benefit to the IT department; once the map file has been created the end-users don’t need help from the administrators to create their own queries," Pereda says. "This will immediately free up the IT department, because they won’t be doing such repetitive tasks as creating queries."

StarQuery for Excel integrates directly with Excel and lets users use Excel's formatting and query functions to further refine and filter the original query performed by the database administrator. The users can save their Excel query for later use, and update it with a single click to get the latest database changes.

StarQuery uses passwords to protect the database, the map files, and the user queries. And because the user isn't accessing the database, just the map file view of the database, security and data integrity are increased. The map file also allows administrators to control what information users have access to, and allows them to restrict access to confidential information.

StarQuery supports DB2/400, DB2 UDB, Oracle, SQL Server, Access, and other databases running on OS/400, Linux, and Windows operating systems. To optimize connectivity to these various platforms, Symtrax says StarQuery uses customized configuration files for each data type, so that the high-level language isn't altered, regardless of the data source being accessed. The company provides a specialized OLE DB driver for iSeries database access.

StarQuery is available now. Symtrax is offering discounts for users of XL 400 who upgrade to StarQuery, but the company does not publish list prices for new customers. For more information, go to www.starquery.com.