Design and user testing of a multi-paradigm query interface to an object-oriented database

This paper reports on experience obtained during the design, implementation and use of a multi-paradigm query interface to an object-oriented database. The specific system which has been developed allows equivalent data retrieval tasks to be expressed using textual, form-based and graph-based notations, and supports automatic translation of queries between these three paradigms. The motivation behind the development of such an interface is presented, as is the software architecture which supports the multi-paradigm functionality. Feedback from initial user trials with a dual-paradigm version of the system indicates that users can use it to perform complex query tasks without difficulty, that given the choice users overwhelmingly prefer the graph- based to the text-based interaction style, and that graphical visualisation of textual queries appears to aid users in query construction.