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A Visual Approach to Browsing in a Database Environment

The operations of structuring, filtering, panning, and zooming can be used to browse the contents of a database. Avisual approach to browsing in a database environment is one way for users to access database contents easily and conveniently. People relate better to visual representations of the logical database than to other representations. Users perform four basic operations when browsing a database: structuring, choosing a structure of the objects to be examined; filtering, selecting instances of the objects to be examined; panning, examining neighboring object instances; and zooming, determining the level of detail for examining object instances. My approach consists of four very flexible steps corresponding to each of the four basic operations. Each step uses visual representations to present information to the users. By manipulating these visual representations, users can structure, filter, pan, and zoom. Users may revise decisions and choices made during any of the four steps. Most database management systems require users to formulate a complex specification describing the data that they wish to access. In order to do this, they must be familiar with the logical structure of the database; they must know the names of the types of objects to be accessed and how these objects are related. They must also be able to specify which occurrences ofthe objects are to be accessed by describing the criteria accessed occurrences must satisfy. This is difficult for many users because of their unfamiliarity with the syntax used to formulate requests, or because they have only a vague notion of what data they desire to access. Users who have only a vague notion of the data to be accessed need to browse through the database. By browsing through the bookshelves of a library, it may be possible to locate one or more books of interest. By browsing through the pages of these books (perhaps making use of indices and tables of contents) readers may be able to locate the desired information that they could not previously characterize or describe. Database users have a similar need to browse through information in a database. A technique is needed for users of database management systems to locate information without having to specify an exact description of the information or where it is stored in the database. Such a technique is useful when users initially have only a vague idea of what they desire, but feel confident that they will recognize the desired information when they see it.