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Aabel Database Metaphor

An Aabel database metaphor is a data management container for holding any combination of Aabel worksheets and folders containing worksheets. You can create and maintain database metaphors using standard Mac OS functions such as import file, drag and drop, and click and select.

You can create and maintain database metaphors using standard Mac OS functions such as import file, drag and drop, and click and select. A saved database metaphor document does not store a static block of data, but stores references to the source worksheets. Hence, when you change and save the worksheet data, all database documents that have a reference to a modified worksheet (whether currently open or closed) will be updated.

The Current Use of Database Metaphor

The current features of database metaphor are suitable for the following tasks:

  • A more powerful alternative to templates. When a pipeline/chart pane is linked to a database, the user can freely change the database members/ link state, in order to change the data visible to the chart pane

      • Example: You are generating a new data set every week and plot each week's data using a standard setup. You can use a database as the member of the Visualization Pipeline for a viewer and create the intended chart for the first data set, and save the viewer. After that, dropping each newly created worksheet onto the database and unchecking the database worksheet links for the previously generated datasets will be sufficient to display the existing plot with the newly generated data. The worksheets with unchecked links will be hidden from the chart pane, and can be made visible again by checking their links. Moreover, you can at any time scan through the data generated from week to week by checking/unchecking the appropriate worksheet links.

  • Easy exclusion/ inclusions of groups of objects in exploratory charts such as matrix scatter, and easy moving of the objects from one dataset to another, by moving worksheets between database folders (i.e., changing the database structure)
  • Allowing multi-dimensional data filtering of datasets sourced from multiple worksheets

The Limitations of Database Metaphor

The main limitations of the database metaphor are outlined below.

  • The database metaphor may not be suitable for managing worksheets that have more than 1000 variables. When files are moved around in the database hierarchy, the database indices being built on the fly, resulting in a large speed penalty when large numbers of variables are present in the worksheets.
  • Mapping the database current marker export state to a categorical variable in all worksheets in the database is not currently possible.

How to Identify Data Sourced From a Database Metaphor

You can represent data from Aabel database metaphors based on three categories of markers:

  • Global database markers (shared by all folders and worksheets)
  • Folder-specific markers
  • Worksheet-specific markers