SQL Statment Reader Made easy

[Digi]

Hi Guys / Girls

Heres a random Idea I have had, I have started working with SQL and MYSQL recently and today got a statment a user made that was HUGE.

So had a search for a application or something I could past the statment into and just easily see what the databases it was selecting were, etc... without having to read through it... trust me it was a LOOOOOOOOOONG statment.

Had a look around here but didnt see anything like that,

So im going to try make a little app that will read the pasted SQL statment. give 3 listings 1, a basic overview of what is selected. 2 from what tables, 3 what restrictions / limitations are also placed.

so select options from tables where restrictions =-like 'bob' O_o lol not right I know but you get the Idea.

Before I start wanted to know if anyone else thinks this is a good idea, or if you know of something that will do it, pass me the name etc...

also if you like the idea, what else you want to see in it?

remember basic interpritation application nothing major. not yet anyway lol

[jchd]

First have your SQL correctly formatted. There are too many solutions to name them all. An easy one is there. Correct formatting gives a much better view of a long SQL statement.

What do you call "LONG" btw?

Your project is a bit ambitious (or not ambitious enough) because the devil is in the detail (as usual). You probably don't need anything to see which column will be selected (then again, details can make a huge difference). From which tables should be clear as well, at the outer level. Inner subqueries can reveal extremely difficult to "explain". Then the restrictions can be very messy.

All in all, I believe that "basic interpretation" won't buy you anything useful, while "exhaustive interpretation in full detail" won't be any clearer than the SQL itself! Anything in between is likely to bite you when applied to real-world queries (stored procedures, custom functions).