Goto Chapter: Top 1 2 3 4 5 6 A Bib Ind
[Top of Book] [Contents] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

A Some Tools for Database Handling
A.1 GAP Objects for Database Handling
A.1-1 Database Id Enumerators
A.1-2 Database Attributes
A.1-3 How to Deal with Database Id Enumerators and Database Attributes
A.1-4 DatabaseIdEnumerator
A.1-5 DatabaseAttributeAdd
A.1-6 DatabaseAttributeValueDefault
A.1-7 DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate
A.1-8 DatabaseAttributeCompute
A.1-9 DatabaseAttributeSetData
A.2 Using Database Attributes for Browse Tables
A.2-1 Browse Relevant Components of Database Attributes
A.2-2 BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator
A.3 Example: Database Id Enumerators and Database Attributes
A.4 Example: An Overview of the GAP Library of Transitive Groups
A.4-1 BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo
A.4-2 TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups
A.4-3 TransitiveGroupsData
A.4-4 Additional Database Attributes for Transitive Groups

### A Some Tools for Database Handling

Two aims of the tools described in this appendix are

- speeding up selection functions such as `AllCharacterTableNames` (CTblLib: AllCharacterTableNames) for certain data libraries of GAP (with not too many entries), in the sense that users can extend the list of attributes that are treated in a special way

- and a programmatic extension for rendering overviews of information about the contents of databases, using `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2).

The GAP objects introduced for that are database id enumerators (see A.1-1) and database attributes (see A.1-2).

Contrary to the individual interfaces to the GAP manuals (see Section 6.6), the GAP bibliography (see Section 6.7), and the overviews of GAP packages, GAP methods, and Conway polynomials available in GAP (see Section 6.10), the approach that will be described here assumes a special way to access database entries. Thus it depends on the structure of a given database whether the tools described here are useful, or whether an individual interface fits better. Perhaps the examples shown in Sections A.3 and A.4 give an impression what is possible.

#### A.1 GAP Objects for Database Handling

##### A.1-1 Database Id Enumerators

A database id enumerator is a record r with at least the following components.

`identifiers`

  a list of "identifiers" of the database entries, which provides a bijection with these entries,

`entry`

  a function that takes r and an entry in the `identifiers` list, and returns the corresponding database entry,

`attributes`

  the record whose components are the database attribute records (see Section A.1-2) for r; this components is automatically initialized when r is created with `DatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.1-4); database attributes can be entered with `DatabaseAttributeAdd` (A.1-5).

If the `identifiers` list may change over the time (because the database is extended or corrected) then the following components are supported. They are used by `DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate` (A.1-7).

`version`

  a GAP object that describes the version of the `identifiers` component, this can be for example a string describing the time of the last change (this time need not coincide with the time of the last update); the default value (useful only for the case that the `identifiers` component is never changed) is an empty string,

`update`

  a function that takes r as its argument, replaces its `identifiers` and `version` values by up-to-date versions if necessary (for example by downloading the data), and returns `true` or `false`, depending on whether the update process was successful or not; the default value is `ReturnTrue` (Reference: ReturnTrue),

The following component is optional.

`isSorted`

  `true` means that the `identifiers` list is sorted w.r.t. GAP's ordering `\<`; the default is `false`.

The idea behind database id enumerator objects is that such an object defines the set of data covered by database attributes (see Section A.1-2), it provides the mapping between identifiers and the actual entries of the database, and it defines when precomputed data of database attributes are outdated.

##### A.1-2 Database Attributes

A database attribute is a record a whose components belong to the aspects of defining the attribute, accessing the attribute's data, computing (and recomputing) data, storing data on files, and checking data. (Additional parameters used for creating browse table columns from database attributes are described in Section A.2-1.)

The following components are defining, except `description` they are mandatory.

`idenumerator`

  the database id enumerator to which the attribute a is related,

`identifier`

  a string that identifies a among all database attributes for the underlying database id enumerator (this is used by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2) and when the data of a are entered with `DatabaseAttributeSetData` (A.1-9), for example when precomputed values are read from a file),

`description`

  a string that describes the attribute in human readable form (currently just for convenience, the default is an empty string).

The following components are used for accessing data. Except `type`, they are optional, but enough information must be provided in order to make the database attribute meaningful. If an individual `attributeValue` function is available then this function decides what is needed; for the default function `DatabaseAttributeValueDefault` (A.1-6), at least one of the components `name`, `data`, `datafile` must be bound (see `DatabaseAttributeValueDefault` (A.1-6) for the behaviour in this case).

`type`

  one of the strings `"values"` or `"pairs"`; the format of the component `data` is different for these cases,

`name`

  if bound, a string that is the name of a GAP function such that the database attribute encodes the values of this function for the database entries; besides the computation of attribute values on demand (see `DatabaseAttributeValueDefault` (A.1-6)), this component can be used by selection functions such as `OneCharacterTableName` (CTblLib: OneCharacterTableName) or `AllCharacterTableNames` (CTblLib: AllCharacterTableNames), which take GAP functions and prescribed return values as their arguments –of course these functions must then be prepared to deal with database attributes.

`data`

  if bound, the data for this attribute; if the component `type` has the value `"values"` then the value is a list, where the entry at position i, if bound, belongs to the i-th entry of the `identifiers` list of `idenumerator`; if `type` is `"pairs"` then the value is a record with the components `automatic` and `nonautomatic`, and the values of these components are lists such that each entry is a list of length two whose first entry occurs in the `identifiers` list of a`.idenumerator` and whose second entry encodes the corresponding attribute value,

`datafile`

  if bound, the absolute name of a file that contains the data for this attribute,

`attributeValue`

  a function that takes a and an `identifiers` entry of its `idenumerator` value, and returns the attribute value for this identifier; typically this is not a table cell data object that can be shown in a browse table, cf. the `viewValue` component; the default is `DatabaseAttributeValueDefault` (A.1-6) (Note that using individual `attributeValue` functions, one can deal with database attributes independent of actually stored data, for example without precomputed values, such that the values are computed on demand and afterwards are cached.),

`dataDefault`

  a GAP object that is regarded as the attribute value for those database entries for which `data`, `datafile`, and `name` do not provide values; the default value is an empty string `""`,

`eval`

  if this component is bound, the value is assumed to be a function that takes a and a value from its `data` component, and returns the actual attribute value; this can be useful if one does not want to create all attribute values in advance, because this would be space or time consuming; another possible aspect of the `eval` component is that it may be used to strip off comments that are perhaps contained in `data` entries,

`isSorted`

  if this component is bound to `true` and if `type` is `"pairs"` then it is assumed that the two lists in the `data` record of a are sorted w.r.t. GAP's ordering `\<`; the default is `false`,

The following optional components are needed for computing (or recomputing) data with `DatabaseAttributeCompute` (A.1-8). This is useful mainly for databases which can change over the time.

`version`

  the GAP object that is the `version` component of the `idenumerator` component at the time when the stored data were entered; this value is used by `DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate` (A.1-7) for deciding whether the attribute values are outdated; if a`.datafile` is bound then it is assumed that the `version` component is set when this file is read, for example in the function `DatabaseAttributeSetData` (A.1-9),

`update`

  a function that takes a as its argument, adjusts its data components to the current values of a`.dbidenum` if necessary, sets the `version` component to that of a`.dbidenum`, and returns `true` or `false`, depending on whether the update process was successful or not; the default value is `ReturnTrue` (Reference: ReturnTrue),

`neededAttributes`

  a list of attribute `identifier` strings such that the values of these attributes are needed in the computations for the current one, and therefore these should be updated/recomputed in advance; it is assumed that the `neededAttributes` components of all database attributes of a`.idenumerator` define a partial ordering; the default is an empty list,

`prepareAttributeComputation`

  a function with argument a that must be called before the computations for the current attribute are started; the default value is `ReturnTrue` (Reference: ReturnTrue),

`cleanupAfterAttibuteComputation`

  a function with argument a that must be called after the computations for the current attribute are finished; the default value is `ReturnTrue` (Reference: ReturnTrue), and

`create`

  a function that takes a database attribute and an entry in the `identifiers` list of its database id enumerator, and returns either the entry that shall be stored in the `data` component, as the value for the given identifier (if this value shall be stored in the `data` component of a) or the `dataDefault` component of a (if this value shall not be stored); in order to get the actual attribute value, the `eval` function of a, if bound, must be called with the return value. This function may assume that the `prepareAttributeComputation` function has been called in advance, and that the `cleanupAfterAttibuteComputation` function will be called later. The `create` function is not intended to compute an individual attribute value on demand, use a `name` component for that. (A stored `name` function is used to provide a default for the `create` function; without `name` component, there is no default for `create`.)

The following optional component is needed for storing data on files.

`string`

  if bound, a function that takes the pair consisting of an identifier and the return value of the `create` function for this identifier, and returns a string that shall represent this value when the data are printed to a file; the default function returns the `String` (Reference: String) value of the second argument.

The following optional component is needed for checking stored data.

`check`

  a function that takes a string that occurs in the `identifiers` list of the `idenumerator` record, and returns `true` if the attribute value stored for this string is reasonable, and something different from `true` if an error was detected. (One could argue that these tests can be performed also when the values are computed, but consistency checks may involve several entries; besides that, checking may be cheaper than recomputing.)

##### A.1-3 How to Deal with Database Id Enumerators and Database Attributes

The idea is to start with a database id enumerator (see A.1-1), constructed with `DatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.1-4), and to define database attributes for it (see A.1-2), using `DatabaseAttributeAdd` (A.1-5). The attribute values can be precomputed and stored on files, or they are computed when the attribute gets defined, or they are computed on demand.

The function `DatabaseAttributeCompute` (A.1-8) can be used to "refresh" the attribute values, that is, all values or selected values can be recomputed; this can be necessary for example when the underlying database id enumerator gets extended.

In data files, the function `DatabaseAttributeSetData` (A.1-9) can be used to fill the `data` component of the attribute.

##### A.1-4 DatabaseIdEnumerator

`‣ DatabaseIdEnumerator`( arec ) | ( function )

Returns: a shallow copy of the record arec, extended by default values.

For a record arec, `DatabaseIdEnumerator` checks whether the mandatory components of a database id enumerator (see Section A.1-1) are present, initializes the `attributes` component, sets the defaults for unbound optional components (see A.2-1), and returns the resulting record.

A special database attribute (see Section A.1-2) with `identifier` value `"self"` is constructed automatically for the returned record by `DatabaseIdEnumerator`; its `attributeValue` function simply returns its second argument (the identifier). The optional components of this attribute are derived from components of the database id enumerator, so these components (see A.2-1) are supported for arec. A typical use of the `"self"` attribute is to provide the first column in browse tables constructed by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2).

##### A.1-5 DatabaseAttributeAdd

`‣ DatabaseAttributeAdd`( dbidenum, arec ) | ( function )

For a database id enumerator dbidenum and a record arec, `DatabaseAttributeAdd` checks whether the mandatory components of a database attribute, except `idenumerator`, are present in arec (see Section A.1-2), sets the `idenumerator` component, and sets the defaults for unbound optional components (see A.2-1).

##### A.1-6 DatabaseAttributeValueDefault

`‣ DatabaseAttributeValueDefault`( attr, id ) | ( function )

Returns: the value of the database attribute attr at id.

For a database attribute attr and an entry id of the `identifiers` list of the underlying database id enumerator, `DatabaseAttributeValueDefault` takes the `data` entry for id, applies the `eval` function of attr to it if available and returns the result.

So the question is how to get the `data` entry.

First, if the `data` component of attr is not bound then the file given by the `datafile` component of attr, if available, is read, and otherwise `DatabaseAttributeCompute` (A.1-8) is called; afterwards it is assumed that the `data` component is bound.

The further steps depend on the `type` value of attr.

If the `type` value of attr is `"pairs"` then the `data` entry for id is either contained in the `automatic` or in the `nonautomatic` list of attr`.data`, or it is given by the `dataDefault` value of attr. (So a perhaps available `name` function is not used to compute the value for a missing `data` entry.)

If the `type` value of attr is `"values"` then the `data` entry for id is computed as follows. Let n be the position of id in the `identifiers` component of the database id enumerator. If the n-th entry of the `data` component of attr is bound then take it; otherwise if the `name` component is bound then apply it to id and take the return value; otherwise take the `dataDefault` value.

If one wants to introduce a database attribute where this functionality is not suitable then another –more specific– function must be entered as the component `attributeValue` of such an attribute.

##### A.1-7 DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate

`‣ DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate`( dbidenum ) | ( function )

Returns: `true` or `false`.

For a database id enumerator dbidenum (see Section A.1-1), `DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate` first calls the `update` function of dbidenum. Afterwards, the `update` components of those of its `attributes` records are called for which the `version` component differs from that of dbidenum.

The order in which the database attributes are updates is determined by the `neededAttributes` component.

The return value is `true` if all these functions return `true`, and `false` otherwise.

When `DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate` has returned `true`, the data described by dbidenum and its database attributes are consistent and up to date.

##### A.1-8 DatabaseAttributeCompute

`‣ DatabaseAttributeCompute`( dbidenum, attridentifier[, what] ) | ( function )

Returns: `true` or `false`.

This function returns `false` if dbidenum is not a database id enumerator, or if it does not have a database attribute with `identifier` value attridentifier, or if this attribute does not have a `create` function.

Otherwise the `prepareAttributeComputation` function is called, the `data` entries for the database attribute are (re)computed, the `cleanupAfterAttibuteComputation` function is called, and `true` is returned.

The optional argument what determines which values are computed. Admissible values are

`"all"`

  all `identifiers` entries of dbidenum,

`"automatic"` (the default)

  the same as `"all"` if the `type` value of the database attribute is `"values"`, otherwise only the values for the `"automatic"` component are computed,

`"new"`

  stored values are not recomputed.

##### A.1-9 DatabaseAttributeSetData

`‣ DatabaseAttributeSetData`( dbidenum, attridentifier, version, data ) | ( function )

Let dbidenum be a database id enumerator (see Section A.1-1), attridentifier be a string that is the `identifier` value of a database attribute of dbidenum, data be the `data` list or record for the database attribute (depending on its `type` value), and version be the corresponding `version` value.

`DatabaseAttributeSetData` sets the `data` and `version` components of the attribute. This function can be used for example in data files.

#### A.2 Using Database Attributes for Browse Tables

##### A.2-1 Browse Relevant Components of Database Attributes

The following optional components of database id enumerators and database attributes are used by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2).

`viewLabel`

  if bound, a table cell data object (see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTableCellData` (4.2-1)) that gives a short description of the attribute, which is used as the column label in browse tables created with `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2); the default for database attributes is the `name` component, if bound, and otherwise the `identifier` component; the default for database id enumerators is the string `"name"`,

`viewValue`

  if bound, a function that takes the output of the `attributeValue` function and returns a table cell data object (see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTableCellData` (4.2-1)) that is used as the entry of the corresponding column in browse tables created with `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2); the default is `String` (Reference: String),

`viewSort`

  if bound, a comparison function that takes two database attribute values and returns `true` if the first value is regarded as smaller than the second when the column corresponding to the attribute in the browse table constructed by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2) gets sorted, and `false` otherwise; the default is GAP's `\<` operation,

`sortParameters`

  if bound, a list in the same format as the last argument of `BrowseData.SetSortParameters`, which is used for the column corresponding to the attribute in the browse table constructed by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2); the default is an empty list,

`widthCol`

  if bound, the width of the column in the browse table constructed by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2); if a column width is prescribed this way then the function stored in the `attributeValue` component must return either a list of attribute lines that fit into the column or a plain string (which then gets formatted as required); there is no default for this component, meaning that the column width is computed as the maximum of the widths of the column label and of all entries in the column if no value is bound,

`align`

  if bound, the alignment of the values in the column of the browse table constructed by `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2); admissible values are substrings of `"bclt"`, see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTableCellData` (4.2-1); the default is right and vertically centered, but note that if the `viewValues` function returns a record (see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTableCellData` (4.2-1)) then the alignment prescribed by this record is preferred,

`categoryValue`

  if bound, a function that is similar to the `viewValue` component but may return a different value; for example if the column in the browse table belongs to a property and the `viewValue` function returns something like `"+"` or `"-"`, it may be useful that the category rows show a textual description of the property values; the default value is the `viewValue` component; if the value is a record then its `rows` component is taken for forming category rows, if the value is an attribute line (see `NCurses.IsAttributeLine` (2.2-3)) then there is exactly this category row, and otherwise the value is regarded as a list of attribute lines, which is either concatenated to one category row or turned into individual category rows, depending on the `sortParameters` value.

##### A.2-2 BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator

`‣ BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator`( dbidenum, labelids, columnids[, header[, footer[, choice]]] ) | ( function )

Returns: a record that can be used as the input of `NCurses.BrowseGeneric` (4.3-1).

For a database id enumerator dbidenum (see Section A.1-1) and two lists labelids and columnids of `identifier` values of database attributes stored in dbidenum, `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` returns a browse table (see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTable` (4.2-3)) whose columns are given by the values of the specified database attributes. The columns listed in labelids are used to provide row label columns of the browse table, the columns listed in columnids yield main table columns. columnids must be nonempty.

If the optional arguments header and footer are given then they must be lists or functions or records that are admissible for the `header` and `footer` components of the `work` record of the browse table, see `BrowseData.IsBrowseTable` (4.2-3).

The optional argument choice, if given, must be a subset of dbidenum`.identifiers`. The rows of the returned browse table are then restricted to this subset.

The returned browse table does not support "Click" events or return values.

#### A.3 Example: Database Id Enumerators and Database Attributes

As an example for the functions introduced in this appendix, we introduce the database of small integers. For that, we fix a positive integer n and consider the integers from 1 to n as the entries of our database. Using these integers as their own identifiers, we construct the database id enumerator.

    gap> n:= 100;;
    gap> smallintenum1:= DatabaseIdEnumerator( rec(
    >      identifiers:= [ 1 .. n ],
    >      entry:= function( dbidenum, id ) return id; end,
    >    ) );;

Examples of attributes for this database are the properties whether or not an integer is a prime or a prime power. There are global GAP functions `IsPrimeInt` (Reference: IsPrimeInt) and `IsPrimePowerInt` (Reference: IsPrimePowerInt) for computing these properties, so we can define these database attributes via a `name` component; we choose `"values"` as the `type` value, so the values (`true` or `false`) are stored in a list of length n for each of the two database attributes.

    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum1, rec(
    >      identifier:= "primes",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "IsPrimeInt",
    >    ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum1, rec(
    >      identifier:= "prime powers",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "IsPrimePowerInt",
    >    ) );

Similarly, we consider the prime factors as a database attribute.

    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum1, rec(
    >      identifier:= "factors",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "Factors",
    >    ) );

Another example of an attribute of integers is the residue modulo 11. We do not want to introduce a global GAP function for computing the value, so we use the `create` component in order to define the attribute; again, the values (integers from 0 to 10) are stored in a list of length n.

    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum1, rec(
    >      identifier:= "residue mod 11",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      create:= function( attr, id ) return id mod 11; end,
    >    ) );

Some integers are values of `Factorial` (Reference: Factorial), and we want to record this information and show it in a browse table. For most integers, nothing is stored and shown for this attribute, so we choose the `type` value `"pairs"` and precompute the information for the `data` component. (The default for the `dataDefault` component is an empty string, which is fine; so we need not prescribe this component.)

    gap> factorialdata:= function( n )
    >      local result, i, f;
    >      result:= [];  i:= 1;  f:= 1;;
    >      while f <= n do
    >        Add( result, [ f, i ] );  i:= i + 1;  f:= f * i;
    >      od;
    >      return result;
    >    end;;
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum1, rec(
    >      identifier:= "inverse factorial",
    >      type:= "pairs",
    >      data:= rec( automatic:= factorialdata( n ), nonautomatic:= [] ),
    >      isSorted:= true,
    >    ) );

We use this setup for creating a browse table. The integers are shown as the first column, using the `"self"` attribute. This attribute can be used as a column of row labels (useful if we want to keep the column visible when one scrolls the table to the right) or as a column in the main table (useful if we want to search for the values); here we choose the former possibility.

    gap> t1:= BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator( smallintenum1,
    >           [ "self" ],
    >           [ "primes", "prime powers", "factors", "residue mod 11",
    >             "inverse factorial" ] );;

The following session shows some of the features of the browse table.

    gap> nop:= [ 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14 ];;  # ``do nothing''
    gap> sample_session:= Concatenation(
    >         # categorize by the first column, expand categories, wait, reset
    >         nop, "scsc", nop, "X", nop, "!",
    >         # sort the residue column, wait, reset
    >         "scrrrso", nop, "!",
    >         # categorize by the inverse factorial column
    >         "rscsrdx", nop, "!",
    >         # and quit the application
    >         "qQ" );;
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( sample_session );
    gap> NCurses.BrowseGeneric( t1 );
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );
    gap> Unbind( t1.dynamic.replay );

(Note that the last statement above is necessary to run the session more than once.) The result is not too bad but we can improve the table, using the optional components of database attributes, as follows.

- The strings `"true"` and `"false"` shown for the Boolean valued database attributes can be replaced by the perhaps more suggestive strings `"+"` and `"-"` (or perhaps an empty string instead of `"-"`).

- The alignment of values inside their columns can be customized.

- When the browse table is categorized by a column then the values in this column do usually not provide suitable category rows; we can prescribe individual category values.

- The column labels can be customized.

- Where the lexicographic order is not appropriate for sorting table entries, we can prescribe an individual comparison function.

- Sort parameters can be customized.

- We can prescribe the width of a column, and thus distribute the attribute values for this column to several rows when the values are too long.

- Finally, in the call of `BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator` (A.2-2), we can add a header to the browse table.

We create a new database id enumerator and the corresponding browse table, in order to be able to compare the behaviour of the two objects. However, we assume that the variables `n` and `factorialdata` are already available.

    gap> smallintenum2:= DatabaseIdEnumerator( rec(
    >      identifiers:= [ 1 .. n ],
    >      entry:= function( dbidenum, id ) return id; end,
    >      viewLabel:= "",
    >    ) );;
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "primes",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "IsPrimeInt",
    >      viewLabel:= "prime?",
    >      viewValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ true, false ], [ "+", "-" ] ),
    >      sortParameters:= [ "add counter on categorizing", "yes" ],
    >      align:= "c",
    >      categoryValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ true, false ], [ "prime", "nonprime" ] ),
    >    ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "prime powers",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "IsPrimePowerInt",
    >      viewLabel:= "prime power?",
    >      viewValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ true, false ], [ "+", "-" ] ),
    >      sortParameters:= [ "add counter on categorizing", "yes" ],
    >      align:= "c",
    >      categoryValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ true, false ], [ "prime power", "not prime power" ] ),
    >    ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "factors",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      name:= "Factors",
    >      viewLabel:= "factors",
    >      viewValue:= value -> JoinStringsWithSeparator( List( value, String ),
    >                                                     " * "),
    >      widthCol:= 10,
    >    ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "residue mod 11",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      create:= function( attr, id ) return id mod 11; end,
    >      viewSort:= BrowseData.SortAsIntegers,
    >      categoryValue:= res -> Concatenation( String( res ), " mod 11" ),
    >    ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "inverse factorial",
    >      type:= "pairs",
    >      data:= rec( automatic:= factorialdata( n ), nonautomatic:= [] ),
    >      isSorted:= true,
    >      categoryValue:= function( k )
    >        if k = "" then
    >          return "(no factorial)";
    >        else
    >          return Concatenation( String( k ), "!" );
    >        fi;
    >      end,
    >    ) );
    gap> t2:= BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator( smallintenum2,
    >           [ "self" ],
    >           [ "primes", "prime powers", "factors", "residue mod 11",
    >             "inverse factorial" ],
    >           t -> BrowseData.HeaderWithRowCounter( t, "Small integers", n ) );;

We run the same session as with the browse table for `smallintenum1`.

    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( sample_session );
    gap> NCurses.BrowseGeneric( t2 );
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );
    gap> Unbind( t2.dynamic.replay );

Another possibility to change the look of the table is to combine the columns for the two Boolean valued database attributes in one column, by showing the string `"+"` for prime powers, as before, and showing this string in boldface red if the number in question is a prime. We implement this idea in the following database attribute. However, note that this can be a bad idea because text attributes may be not supported in the user's terminal (see Section 2.1-7), or the user may have difficulties to see or to distinguish colors; also, it must be documented which information is encoded in the table, and the column label might be not sufficient for explaining what the text attributes mean. Alternatively, we could show for example combined symbols such as `++`, `+-`, `--` for primes, prime powers, and non-prime-powers, respectively. (We see that besides these issues, the required GAP code is more involved than what is needed for the examples above.)

    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum2, rec(
    >      identifier:= "primes & prime powers",
    >      type:= "values",
    >      create:= function( attr, id )
    >        if   IsPrimeInt( id ) then
    >          return 2;
    >        elif IsPrimePowerInt( id ) then
    >          return 1;
    >        else
    >          return 0;
    >        fi;
    >      end,
    >      viewLabel:= [ NCurses.attrs.BOLD + NCurses.ColorAttr( "red", -1 ),
    >                    "prime", NCurses.attrs.NORMAL, " power?" ],
    >      viewValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ 0, 1, 2 ], [ "-", "+",
    >                         [ NCurses.attrs.BOLD + NCurses.ColorAttr( "red", -1 ),
    >                           true, "+",
    >                           NCurses.ColorAttr( "red", -1 ), false ] ] ),
    >      sortParameters:= [ "add counter on categorizing", "yes" ],
    >      align:= "c",
    >      categoryValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >          [ 0, 1, 2 ],
    >          [ "not prime power", "prime power, not prime", "prime" ] ),
    >    ) );
    gap> t3:= BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator( smallintenum2,
    >           [ "self" ],
    >           [ "primes & prime powers", "residue mod 11",
    >             "inverse factorial" ],
    >           t -> BrowseData.HeaderWithRowCounter( t, "Small integers", n ) );;
    gap> sample_session2:= Concatenation(
    >         # categorize by the first column, expand categories, wait, reset
    >         nop, "scsc", nop, "X", nop, "!", "Q" );;
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( sample_session2 );
    gap> NCurses.BrowseGeneric( t3 );
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );
    gap> Unbind( t3.dynamic.replay );

Now we want to consider the database as extendible, that is, we want to be able to increase n after constructing the database attributes. For that, we use n as the `version` value of the database id enumerator, and provide `version` and `update` components for all attributes.

Again, we start the construction from scratch.

    gap> smallintenum3:= DatabaseIdEnumerator( rec(
    >     identifiers:= [ 1 .. n ],
    >     entry:= function( dbidenum, id ) return id; end,
    >     viewLabel:= "",
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= function( dbidenum )
    >         dbidenum.identifiers:= [ 1 .. n ];
    >         dbidenum.version:= n;
    >         return true;
    >       end,
    >     ) );;
    gap> updateByUnbindData:= function( attr )
    >      Unbind( attr.data );
    >      return true;
    >    end;;
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum3, rec(
    >     identifier:= "primes",
    >     type:= "values",
    >     name:= "IsPrimeInt",
    >     viewLabel:= "prime?",
    >     viewValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >         [ true, false ], [ "+", "-" ] ),
    >     sortParameters:= [ "add counter on categorizing", "yes" ],
    >     align:= "c",
    >     categoryValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >         [ true, false ], [ "prime", "nonprime" ] ),
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= updateByUnbindData,
    >     ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum3, rec(
    >     identifier:= "prime powers",
    >     type:= "values",
    >     name:= "IsPrimePowerInt",
    >     viewLabel:= "prime power?",
    >     viewValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >         [ true, false ], [ "+", "-" ] ),
    >     sortParameters:= [ "add counter on categorizing", "yes" ],
    >     align:= "c",
    >     categoryValue:= value -> BrowseData.ReplacedEntry( value,
    >         [ true, false ], [ "prime power", "not prime power" ] ),
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= updateByUnbindData,
    >     ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum3, rec(
    >     identifier:= "factors",
    >     type:= "values",
    >     name:= "Factors",
    >     viewLabel:= "factors",
    >     viewValue:= value -> JoinStringsWithSeparator( List( value, String ),
    >                                                    " * "),
    >     widthCol:= 10,
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= updateByUnbindData,
    >     ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum3, rec(
    >     identifier:= "residue mod 11",
    >     type:= "values",
    >     create:= function( attr, id ) return id mod 11; end,
    >     viewSort:= BrowseData.SortAsIntegers,
    >     categoryValue:= res -> Concatenation( String( res ), " mod 11" ),
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= updateByUnbindData,
    >     ) );
    gap> DatabaseAttributeAdd( smallintenum3, rec(
    >     identifier:= "inverse factorial",
    >     type:= "pairs",
    >     data:= rec( automatic:= factorialdata( n ), nonautomatic:= [] ),
    >     isSorted:= true,
    >     categoryValue:= function( k )
    >       if k = "" then
    >         return "(no factorial)";
    >       else
    >         return Concatenation( String( k ), "!" );
    >       fi;
    >     end,
    >     version:= n,
    >     update:= function( attr )
    >         attr.data.automatic:= factorialdata( n );
    >         return true;
    >       end,
    >     ) );

Now we can change the set of database entries by assigning a new value to the variable `n`, and then calling `DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate` (A.1-7).

    gap> n:= 200;;
    gap> DatabaseIdEnumeratorUpdate( smallintenum3 );
    true
    gap> t4:= BrowseTableFromDatabaseIdEnumerator( smallintenum3,
    >   [ "self" ], [ "primes", "prime powers", "factors", "residue mod 11",
    >     "inverse factorial" ],
    >   t -> BrowseData.HeaderWithRowCounter( t, "Small integers", n ) );;
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( sample_session );
    gap> NCurses.BrowseGeneric( t4 );
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );
    gap> Unbind( t4.dynamic.replay );

#### A.4 Example: An Overview of the GAP Library of Transitive Groups

The example shown in this section deals with GAP's Library of Transitive Permutation Groups, see Reference: Transitive Permutation Groups. Section A.4-1 introduces a browse table application for viewing information about the contents of this library, which is based on database attributes. Section A.4-2 introduces functions based on database attributes that can be used to select groups from the library. Finally, Section A.4-3 describes how these two functionalities are implemented.

##### A.4-1 BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo

`‣ BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo`( [arec] ) | ( function )

Returns: the list of "clicked" groups.

This function shows the contents of the GAP Library of Transitive Permutation Groups in a browse table.

The table rows correspond to the groups. If no argument is given then the columns of the table contain information about the degree of the permutation representation, group order, names for the group, primitivity, transitivity, and sign. Otherwise, the argument arec must be a record; the component `choice` of arec can be used to prescribe columns, the value of this component must then be a list of strings that are `identifier` values of database attributes (see A.1-2) for the `IdEnumerator` component of `TransitiveGroupsData` (A.4-3), see Section A.4-4 for examples.

The return value is the list of transitive groups whose table rows have been "clicked" in visual mode.

The full functionality of the function `NCurses.BrowseGeneric` (4.3-1) is available.

    gap> c:= [ NCurses.keys.ENTER ];;
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( Concatenation(
    >        "scrrrr/5", c,     # search for transitivity 5,
    >        "nn", c,           # go to the third occurrence, click on it,
    >        "Q" ) );;          # and quit the browse table
    gap> BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo();
    [ M(12) ]
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );

##### A.4-2 TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups

`‣ TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups`( fun, res[, ...] ) | ( function )

`‣ TransitiveGroupsData.OneTransitiveGroup`( fun, res[, ...] ) | ( function )

Returns: the list of groups from the GAP Library of Transitive Permutation Groups with the given properties, or one such group, or `fail`.

These functions are analogues of `AllTransitiveGroups` (Reference: AllTransitiveGroups) and `OneTransitiveGroup` (Reference: OneTransitiveGroup). The only difference is that they are based on the database attributes that are defined in `TransitiveGroupsData` (A.4-3).

Besides those GAP attributes such as `Size` (Reference: Size) and `IsPrimitive` (Reference: IsPrimitive) for which special support is provided in `AllTransitiveGroups` (Reference: AllTransitiveGroups) and `OneTransitiveGroup` (Reference: OneTransitiveGroup), database attributes are defined for some other GAP properties, see A.4-4. One could speed up `TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups` for given conditions by adding further precomputed database attributes.

After defining a database attribute, it is automatically used in calls to `TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups`. In order to make the values appear in the table shown by `BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo` (A.4-1), one has to enter an argument record that contains the name of the database attributes in its `choice` list.

    gap> TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups(
    >      NrMovedPoints, [ 5 .. 28 ],
    >      IsSimpleGroup, true, IsAbelian, true );
    [ C(5) = 5, C(7) = 7, C(11)=11, C(13)=13, C(17)=17, C(19)=19, C(23) ]

##### A.4-3 TransitiveGroupsData

`‣ TransitiveGroupsData` | ( global variable )

This is a record that contains the data needed by `BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo` (A.4-1), `TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups` (A.4-2), and `TransitiveGroupsData.OneTransitiveGroup` (A.4-2). The component `IdEnumerator` contains a database id enumerator (see A.1-1) for the GAP Library of Transitive Permutation Groups.

Note that although `NrTransitiveGroups` (Reference: NrTransitiveGroups) returns `1` when it is called with the argument `1`, `TransitiveGroup` (Reference: TransitiveGroup) runs into an error when it is called with first argument equal to `1`, and the degree `1` is explicitly excluded from results of `AllTransitiveGroups` (Reference: AllTransitiveGroups) and `OneTransitiveGroup` (Reference: OneTransitiveGroup). For the sake of consistency with this inconsistency in the GAP Library of Transitive Permutation Groups, we exclude the degree `1` from `TransitiveGroupsData`. (Those who want to include this degree can change the value of `TransitiveGroupsData.MinimalDegree` from its default value `2` to `1` in the file `app/transbrowse.g` of the package.)

##### A.4-4 Additional Database Attributes for Transitive Groups

Database attributes for the following GAP properties are defined in `TransitiveGroupsData` (A.4-3): `IsAbelian` (Reference: IsAbelian), `IsPerfectGroup` (Reference: IsPerfectGroup), `IsSimpleGroup` (Reference: IsSimpleGroup), and `IsSolvableGroup` (Reference: IsSolvableGroup). The values of these database attributes are precomputed and stored in the file `app/transdbattr.g` of the package.

So the above GAP properties have special support as conditions in `TransitiveGroupsData.AllTransitiveGroups` (A.4-2) and `TransitiveGroupsData.OneTransitiveGroup` (A.4-2), contrary to `AllTransitiveGroups` (Reference: AllTransitiveGroups) and `OneTransitiveGroup` (Reference: OneTransitiveGroup). In practice, the difference is that the former functions need not construct and check those transitive groups that do not have the properties in question.

These database attributes can also be used as columns in the Browse table shown by `BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo` (A.4-1), for example as follows.

    gap> n:= [ 14, 14, 14 ];;  # ``do nothing'' input (means timeout)
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( Concatenation(
    >        "scrrrsc", n, n,        # categorize by solvability info
    >        "!", n,                 # reset
    >        "scrrrrsc", n, n,       # categorize by abelianity info
    >        "Q" ) );;               # quit the browse table
    gap> BrowseTransitiveGroupsInfo( rec( choice:= [ "degree", "size",
    >      "names", "IsSolvableGroup", "IsAbelian", "IsPerfectGroup",
    >      "IsSimpleGroup" ] ) );;
    gap> BrowseData.SetReplay( false );

The data in the file `app/transdbattr.g` are lists of Booleans, which are encoded as strings via `HexStringBlistEncode`, and these strings are decoded with `BlistStringDecode`. Note that for most of the groups in the library are not abelian, not perfect, not simple, but solvable; Therefore in fact the inverse values of the solvability info are actually stored –this yields a shorter string.

    gap> TransitiveGroupsData.MinimalDegree;
    2
    gap> attrs:= TransitiveGroupsData.IdEnumerator.attributes;;
    gap> oldlen:= SizeScreen();;  SizeScreen( [ 60 ] );;
    gap> HexStringBlistEncode( attrs.IsAbelian.data );
    "D88400040Es0503s0480s040406s252010s0720s0C3EsF30803s7A040\
    5s8B20s1302s0740E0sFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFsFFs40C\
    0s1910s0B1AsFFs2B18sE74040sFFsFF"
    gap> SizeScreen( oldlen );;

Removing the `datafile` component from the four database attributes would yield the situation that attribute values are computed at runtime. Computing the values for all groups in the library –for example by categorizing the Browse table by one of the columns that correspond to these database attributes– will require several seconds. Note that if we assume that the information about solvability is already known, the test for `IsPerfectGroup` (Reference: IsPerfectGroup) is needed only for the few nonsolvable groups in the library but each such test is expensive; on the other hand, each test for `IsAbelian` (Reference: IsAbelian) is cheap but such tests are needed for the many solvable groups in the library, in particular these groups must be constructed for the tests.

[Top of Book] [Contents] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]
Goto Chapter: Top 1 2 3 4 5 6 A Bib Ind

generated by GAPDoc2HTML