Dbmodelize.md #1

### what is this ?

this python cmd line utility was originally written to serve a much
larger application. I decided to re-write much of it and strip it out of
its original home so that it would stand and run on its own, with bare
bones functionality.\

### what is it for ?

Its purpose, in this particular context, is to create suitable DB models
(table and field definitions) from published p4 schemas (in their XML
format). Once "modelized", the models can be executed against a number
of DB systems. For the purpose of this exercise (for the time being
anyways), we will focus on 3, namely PostgresSQL, MySQL and SQLite. So,
to continue, the defined models can (and should) be used to define a
database's tables and fields that mirror the actual P4 DB where an
optional cmd line arg can be employed to instruct dbmodelize.py to
populate our databases with P4 metadata (simply provide one or many
journal paths - compressed or not).

This utility will create an SQL DB against any released version of the
P4 DB previously and currently available (from version 2006 & higher).
Included is a cmd line option that will read the latest and most current
published schema and add that data to the set of supported version
(obviously, internet access is required to reach perforce.com).\

### what are the requirements ?

Users require nothing else than this packaged fileset, which also
includes the dbapi's for both PostgresSQL & MySQL (SQLite API comes for
free with python). One caveat, if targeting postgres or mysql, it is
required that you provide a valid user name with the required privileges
to access and write to the DB. As well, for those DB systems, the target
DB must exist and be in an 'undefined' state before the initial run of
dbmodelize. In the case of SQLite, all will be created where none
exists. I will provide a 'usage.txt' file at the root of the project to
detail the how-to's., available options and configurables. You can also
type '>>> python dbmodelize.py -h' for further info.\

### TODOS

1\) enable table inclusion/exclusion filters for populating the DB\
2) link dbmodelize to 'p4Query' for search and query functionally
(another small yet useful part of that larger application I mentioned
above). This is forth coming.\

### Note

if someone tells me that they would find those 2 TODO items useful, I
will add them without delay. As well, I am open to extending this
utility should someone require additional features, as long as it makes
sense to do so and so long as the requested functionality not already be
planned to be posted and made available in an upcoming component.
Anyways, let me know.\
 As mentioned, the focus of this utility is mainly restricted to the
functionality described above. Although there is much more to the DB
interface than exposed here in this utility, I wanted to limit the scope
and provide instead a modularized implementation, with easy integration
between components. There is much more functionality to be made
available (as separate and stand-alone components) as I continue to
isolate and post other pieces of the bigger framework. Stay tuned for
more fun!\
 Oh, if someone wants to join in and do some edits, etc. then let me
know.