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450 lines
14 KiB
450 lines
14 KiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<chapter id="details.database">
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<chapterinfo>
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<authorgroup>
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<author>
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<firstname>Tony</firstname>
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<surname>Bloomfield</surname>
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<affiliation>
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<address><email></email></address>
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</affiliation>
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</author>
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</authorgroup>
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<date>2009-08-05</date>
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<releaseinfo>1.0</releaseinfo>
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</chapterinfo>
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<title>Database</title>
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<sect1 id="details.database.usage">
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<title>Caution when using the database</title>
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<caution>
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<para>
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At the time of writing, the software described in this chapter is still in
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an experimental stage, and loss of data is possible. Please ensure that you
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have an alternative backup copy of your data before committing to database
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usage.
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</para>
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</caution>
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<sect2>
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para>
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As of release 1.0, &kappname; allows you to hold your data in a relational
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database. One of the advantages of using this industry-standard format is that
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it may allow you to view your data using one of the graphic front ends such as
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OpenOffice.org<trademark class="copyright"/>, perhaps in some format that
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&kappname; currently doesn't provide. Also, a little knowledge of SQL
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(Structured Query Language, the language used world-wide to access relational
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databases) should enable you more easily to export data to an external
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program, for example, a budgeting application.</para> <para/>
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</sect2>
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<sect2><title>Preparation</title>
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<para>
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To access the database, &kappname; uses the SQL module supplied by &TQt;
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Software as part of their &TQt; programming system. This module supports a
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number of different database systems through a collection of drivers. Among
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the more popular open-source systems for which drivers are available are
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MySQL<trademark class="registered"/>, SQLite, and PostgreSQL. The module also
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supports the 'heavier', more industrial, systems such as Oracle<trademark
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class="registered"/> and IBM DB2<trademark class="registered"/>.
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</para>
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<para>
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With the exception of SQLite, these systems use a client/server model, where
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the 'client' software sits on 'your' machine, while the server lives on the
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same machine as the database itself, which may be elsewhere on a network. Of
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course, in the normal scenario for a personal finance application such as
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&kappname;, 'your' machine acts as both client and server. Your first task
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therefore, having decided which database system you wish to use, is to install
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the client, and most probably server, software.
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</para>
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<para>
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In addition to the database software itself, you must also install the
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corresponding &TQt; driver module. Most distributions will include driver
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modules for the more popular databases.
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</para>
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<note>
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<para>
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SQLite does not operate on a client/server model; each database is held in a
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regular file, local or remote, accessed using the normal methods supplied by
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the underlying operating system. In this case, therefore, there is only one
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software package to install. Also, some of the following information,
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particularly that related to administration, may not apply to SQLite.
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</para>
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</note>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>Administration</title>
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<para>
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Looking after databases is a little more complex than dealing with regular
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files. Each system has different methods for performing those necessary
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administrative tasks such as creating databases, assigning permissions to
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various users, producing backups, &etc;. Describing these tasks is outside the
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scope of this manual, but all of the supported products provide comprehensive
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reference documentation, and a quick search of the web will point you at many
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tutorials on the subject.
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</para>
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<sect3>
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<title>Creating the database</title>
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<para>
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Code has been included to create an initial database to hold your data if one
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doesn't exist. However, it is strongly recommended that you pre-create a
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database, because most of the products provide a number of options which may
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be relevant. One that may be of particular importance to some would be the
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designation of the character set (e.g., UTF-8) to be used for text
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fields.
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</para>
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<para>
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At this time, you will also need to specify permissions for various users to
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perform different operations on the database. In most systems, the user who
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creates the database will be automatically assigned all permissions, but this
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is an area in which the documentation should be consulted.</para>
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<para>
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For your first use of the database, and occasionally at other times when the
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database layout changes, you will need permission (also called privileges) to
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create and alter tables and views (see next paragraph). There may be different
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names for the permission/privilege in different systems, but something like
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CREATE and ALTER should be commonplace. For normal running, you will need to
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be able to read and write records; these are normally defined in SQL as
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SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE permissions.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Creating Tables</title>
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<para>
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On your first use, &kappname; will attempt to create the necessary table
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structures. In order to achieve the maximum compatibility between various
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database types, only a subset of common data types are used. There may
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nevertheless be situations where a particular type is not supported, and in
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this case, provision has been made to generate the SQL code necessary to
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create tables. This code can then be modified as required and used to create
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the tables outside of &kappname;. Should you find yourself in this situation,
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help can usually be obtained from &devlist;.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="details.database.selectdatabase">
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<title>Initialisation</title>
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<para>
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Using &kappname;, open or import an existing data file, or create a new
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one. Then select <guimenuitem>Save as Database</guimenuitem> from the
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<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu. This will present the following dialog:
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</para>
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<screenshot>
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<mediaobject>
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<imageobject>
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<imagedata fileref="select_database.png" format="PNG" />
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</imageobject>
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</mediaobject>
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</screenshot>
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<sect3>
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<title>Database Type</title>
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<para>
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This box lists all &TQt; SQL drivers installed on your system. Select the
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driver for your database type. If the one you want is not in the list, you
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need to install the appropriate driver.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Database name</title>
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<para>
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The default database name is KMyMoney, but you may choose some other name if
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you like. SQLite has one database per file; selecting this driver will open
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the standard 'Open File' dialog from which a file may be selected or
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created. For some database types, &kappname; may not be able to create the
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database, so it must be pre-created using the appropriate administrative
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procedure. However, &kappname; will create all table structures where
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necessary.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3><title>Host name</title>
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<para>
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For the average user, the default name of <quote>localhost</quote>, being the
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machine you are currently using, is correct. For networked databases, enter
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the connected host name.
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</para>
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<note>
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<para>
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NOTE: For SQLite databases, the Host name, User name, and Password fields
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are not relevant. The SQLite file must have the appropriate read/write
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permissions set by the underlying file system to enable the appropriate
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access for the currently logged-in user.
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</para>
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</note>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>User name and password</title>
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<para>
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Check the permissions set up on your database, or contact the database
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administrator, for the correct values to use here. The user name must be
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capable of selecting, inserting, updating, and deleting records. If the user
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name is the same as your login name, a password is not normally required.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Generate SQL</title>
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<para>
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This button will generate the CREATE TABLE commands and save them to a text
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file, which may be edited if the in-built commands do not work for your
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database system (see previous paragraph).
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</para>
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</sect3>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>Accessing your data</title>
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<sect3>
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<title>Table design</title>
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<para>
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To access your data in &kappname;, use the <guimenuitem>Open
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Database</guimenuitem> entry in the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu. This will
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open a dialog similar to the above.
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</para>
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<para>
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To access your data in other formats, you will need to know a little about how
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it is held in relational databases. By far the easiest way to get a feel for
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this is to open the database in a front-end such as OpenOffice.org. This
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provides a list of the various tables which make up the database, and
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enables you to see the layout of each of them.
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</para>
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<para>
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To extract data, e.g., into a spreadsheet or external file, it is almost
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invariably necessary to select linked data from more than one table. This is
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done by 'joining' the tables, using a field which is common to each. You can
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find a lot more information about how this is done from the online database
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tutorials mentioned above. The following table lists the fields used to define
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these inter-table relationships.
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</para>
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<informaltable>
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<tgroup cols="3">
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<colspec colname="c1" colwidth="4.5cm"/>
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<colspec colname="c2" colwidth="6.2cm"/>
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<colspec colname="c3" colwidth="6.3cm"/>
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<thead>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Relationship</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Match</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>With</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Institutions and Accounts</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmInstitutions.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmAccounts.institutionId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Accounts Parent/Child</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmAccounts.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmAccounts.parentId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Transactions and Splits (see Note 1)</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmTransactions.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSplits.transactionId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Accounts and Splits</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmAccounts.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSplits.accountId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Payees and Splits</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmPayees.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSplits.payeeId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Schedules and Transactions</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSchedules.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmTransactions.id</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Transactions and Currencies</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmTransactions.currencyId</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmCurrencies.ISOCode</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Accounts and Securities (see Note 2)</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmAccounts.currencyId</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSecurities.id</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Securities and Prices</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmSecurities.id</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmPrices.fromId or kmmPrices.toId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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<row>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>Currency Rates</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmCurrencies.ISOCode</para>
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</entry>
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<entry valign="top">
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<para>kmmPrices.fromId or kmmPrices.toId</para>
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</entry>
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</row>
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</tbody>
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</tgroup>
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</informaltable>
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<para>
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Notes:
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</para>
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<para>
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1 – txType = “N” for normal transactions,
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“S” for scheduled transactions
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</para>
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<para>
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2 – if kmmAccounts.isStockAccount = “Y”
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Field formats</title>
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<para>
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Several of the data fields are held in an internal format which may not be
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immediately useful to external programs. In these cases, the information has
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been duplicated in both internal and external formats.
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</para>
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<para>
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Monetary amounts and share values are shown both in numerator/denominator
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format, and, with a field name suffixed with 'Formatted', in the form as shown
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on your screens.
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</para>
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<para>
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Similarly, some fields, such as account type appear both as a numeric code,
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and in a field suffixed 'String' in the form and language of the application.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Updating your data</title>
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<para>
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Having data in an industry standard format does give you the ability to modify
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it outside the &kappname; application. DO NOT DO IT unless you really know
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what you are doing, and always be certain to make a backup copy of your data
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first. If you get it wrong, &kappname; may not be able to access your data,
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and you could even end up losing it altogether. You have been warned!
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</para>
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</sect3>
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<sect3>
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<title>Stored queries</title>
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|
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<para>
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Most database systems allow you to store commonly used queries and procedures,
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and in some cases, these may be held as tables or other objects within your
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database itself. As you will have guessed from the above, all the tables used
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by &kappname; begin with the lowercase letters 'kmm'. This standard will be
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maintained, and only tables beginning with these letters will be
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updated. Thus, provided you avoid these in the naming of your queries etc.,
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you should not experience any problems.
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</para>
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</sect3>
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</sect2>
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<sect2>
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<title>Encryption</title>
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<para>
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Encryption of data in your database is not currently supported.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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</chapter>
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