Adding Question Builder to an English Query Application
Question Builder provides an interface for the end users of English Query applications. It uses the English Query model behind the application to provide easy question building and quick answers from the database. End users can find out what the model contains, what basic relationships are represented in the model, and what English phrases can be used to ask about the relationships.
Question Builder features a three-pane interface that makes the user's job of determining what information is available in the database easier. Question Builder graphically shows users what entities and relationships are present in the model, and provides drag-and-drop interaction and sample questions based on data in the application database. You specify Help for the end user in the English Query Model Editor.
Question Builder provides a listing of the entities, their corresponding attributes, and the relationships in which they participate. For each entity, an end user discovers:
- Its singular and plural forms.
- Any corresponding synonyms.
Using this information, the end user can reference the entity in a question.
For exploring the relations between two or more entities, Question Builder generates a list of relationships. After exploring the contents of the model, users may still need guidance in forming their questions. Question Builder provides two types of example questions:
- General questions.
- Questions about a specific instance of an entity.
Integrating Question Builder into Applications
Question Builder is a single Microsoft® ActiveX® control that can be integrated into many different applications, such as: ASP-based Web sites, Microsoft Visual Basic® applications, Microsoft Visual C++® programs, or any application that can act as an ActiveX script container. To see the Question Builder interface, run one of the sample models in \Program Files\Microsoft English Query\Samples\Models.
To see how to integrate Question Builder into an application, review the ASP applications in \Program Files\Microsoft English Query\Samples\Applications.
Question Builder provides Help for the user. To include the Question Builder Help, the following files must be in the same path as Question Builder. By default, when English Query is installed, they are in \Program Files\Common files\System\EQ80:
Mseqgrqb.ocx
Eqqbhlp.chm
Programmatically Retrieving Model Information
The Question Builder object model is a COM-automation interface used to programmatically retrieve information about an English Query model.
See Also
Automatic Clarification of Questions