svn commit - mysqldoc@docsrva: r5507 - trunk/userguide

[plavin]

Author: plavin
Date: 2007-03-22 20:52:32 +0100 (Thu, 22 Mar 2007)
New Revision: 5507

Log:
Add appendix with first section complete

Added:
   trunk/userguide/excel-mysql.xml
Modified:
   trunk/userguide/userguide.xml


Added: trunk/userguide/excel-mysql.xml
===================================================================
--- trunk/userguide/excel-mysql.xml	                        (rev 0)
+++ trunk/userguide/excel-mysql.xml	2007-03-22 19:52:32 UTC (rev 5507)
Changed blocks: 1, Lines Added: 207, Lines Deleted: 0; 6109 bytes

@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE appendix PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN" 
+"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" 
+[
+    <!ENTITY % fixedchars.entities SYSTEM "../common/fixedchars.ent">
+    %fixedchars.entities;
+]>
+<appendix id="excel-mysql">
+
+  <title>Migrating a Spreadsheet to MySQL</title>
+
+  <section id="excel-mysql-introduction">
+
+    <title>Introduction</title>
+
+    <para>
+      The most common <quote>database</quote> format, especially for
+      small- to medium-sized businesses, is the spreadsheet. The reason
+      for this is fairly obvious &mdash; no special skills are required
+      either for design or for data entry. Not only that, a spreadsheet
+      may well be the best format for presenting and maintaining some
+      kinds of information. If the file is not complicated, it's easy to
+      get a quick overview of the data and sorting on a specific field
+      is usually just a matter of clicking a column heading.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      However, as the volume or complexity of information increases,
+      this format becomes more and more cumbersome. Information becomes
+      more difficult to retrieve and you run into the kinds of problems
+      usually associated with flat-table databases &mdash; data
+      duplication, for example.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      This article deals with migrating a spreadsheet to a MySQL
+      database. The solution presented here is operating system (OS)
+      neutral; it works on Mac, Windows, or any UNIX-like OS.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      Excel is probably the most commonly used spreadsheet format but
+      the procedure described here applies to any spreadsheet. The only
+      requirement is that the spreadsheet data be exported as a text
+      file so that it can be imported into MySQL.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      We are also going to make use of <literal>Query Browser</literal>,
+      one of the open source MySQL GUI Tools. The MySQL GUI Tools
+      provide a suite of desktop applications for the administration and
+      manipulation of MySQL databases. In particular, the Query Browser
+      is a tool for creating and executing queries from within a
+      graphical environment. Creating database objects is made
+      especially easy using the <literal>Table Editor</literal>, a
+      feature of the Query Browser also common to other GUI Tools. By
+      pointing and clicking you can quickly build a table without
+      knowing anything about data definition language (DDL). Not only
+      will the table editor help you work more quickly, but it's
+      a good way to learn MySQL's implementation of SQL.
+      Any alterations made to a table using the graphical interface
+      are shown in SQL
+      statement format, making it easy to learn the appropriate SQL
+      commands. We'll take advantage of this feature to document as we
+      go.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      Using Query Browser is not a requirement but it will certainly
+      make things easier, especially if you are not familiar with
+      MySQL's dialect of SQL or if you are uncomfortable working from
+      the command line. This tool is available for download at
+      <ulink url="http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/gui-tools/5.0.html"/>.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      The example spreadsheet that we'll be importing contains
+      information about the accreditations of members of a professional
+      association. It's not complicate so the process should be fairly
+      easy to follow but at the same time it does highlight the major
+      issues you might encounter and provides general guidelines
+      for importing spreadsheets into MySQL.
+    </para>
+
+    <para>
+      The steps we'll take are as follows:
+      
+      <itemizedlist>
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Export the spreadsheet to a
+            text file
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Import this file wholesale into a temporary table
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Create permanent tables from this temporary table
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Use the <literal>mysqldump</literal>
+            utility to export the tables
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        
+        <listitem>
+          <para>
+            Upload these tables to a production server
+          </para>
+        </listitem>
+        
+      </itemizedlist>
+      
+    </para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="spreadsheet-tex">
+
+    <title>Converting a Spreadsheet to a Text File</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="designing-table">
+
+    <title>Designing a Table</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="create-table-query-browser">
+
+    <title>Creating a Table with Query Browser</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="loading-data">
+
+    <title>Loading the Data into a MySQL Database Table</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="temporary-members-table">
+
+    <title>Creating A Temporary Table of Members</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="temporary-member-accredditations-table">
+
+    <title>Creating a Temporary Member Accreditations Table</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="final-tables">
+
+    <title>The Final Tables</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id ="confirming-data-integrity">
+
+    <title>Confirming Data Integrity</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="production-database">
+
+    <title>The Production Database</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+  <section id="updating-from-spreadsheet">
+
+    <title>Updating a MySQL Database from a Spreadsheet</title>
+
+    <para></para>
+
+  </section>
+
+</appendix>


Modified: trunk/userguide/userguide.xml
===================================================================
--- trunk/userguide/userguide.xml	2007-03-22 19:17:55 UTC (rev 5506)
+++ trunk/userguide/userguide.xml	2007-03-22 19:52:32 UTC (rev 5507)
Changed blocks: 1, Lines Added: 2, Lines Deleted: 0; 472 bytes

@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@
     <title>Appendices</title>
 
     <xi:include href="glossary.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
+    
+    <xi:include href="excel-mysql.xml" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
 
   </part>