Annotations - SuperSERVER

The annotation functionality built in to SuperSERVER lets you provide additional information that will be displayed when particular fields and values appear in a table.

Space-Time Research recommends no more than 100,000 annotations on any particular table.

An annotation contains two parts:

• Annotation symbol - used to associate the annotation with a table item.
• Annotation description - the text of the annotation itself.

SuperSERVER stores annotations in a relational database system called the static annotation repository. By default this uses a public domain relational database implementation, SQLite (available from www.sqlite.org).

It is also possible to add annotations using Data Control plugins. See Data Control for more information.

Prerequisites

To configure the static annotations, you need the SQL command line utility sqlite.exe. A version of this utility is provided with SuperSERVER, in C:\Program Files\STR\SuperSERVER SA. You can also download it from www.sqlite.org.

SuperSERVER requires SQLite version 3.3 or above. You can check the version you have installed using the following command from a command prompt:

C:\>sqlite -version
3.7.4
C:\>

Create the Annotation Repository

The annotation repository must be stored in a file named <database_filename>.sxv4.sqlite.db and stored in the same directory as the database file. For example:

A number of files are provided to assist with creating the annotation repository, in the C:\ProgramData\STR\SuperSERVER SA\etc\annotation directory:

• schema.sql contains SQL statements for creating an empty annotation repository. 
• RetailBanking.sql and financial.sql contain examples of the SQL required to set up the annotation repository. You can use these as a basis for writing the SQL you need for your own databases.
• RetailBanking.sxv4.sqlite.db and Financial.sxv4.sqlite.db are examples of pre built annotation repositories for the sample databases.

Use the samples to create the SQL for your own database. You can then use SQLite to create the static annotation repository file. For example, to create a repository for the sample retail banking database using the supplied SQL:

1. Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory containing the SXV4 database. For example:

   CODE

   C:\>cd /d "C:\ProgramData\STR\SuperSERVER SA\databases"

2. Use the command sqlite <database_name>.sxv4.sqlite.db to start SQLite and create the repository file:

   CODE

   C:\ProgramData\STR\SuperSERVER SA\databases>sqlite RetailBanking.sxv4.sqlite.db
   
   SQLite version 3.7.4
   Enter ".help" for instructions
   Enter SQL statements terminated with a ";"
   
   sqlite>

3. Load the supplied schema:

   CODE

   sqlite> .read ../etc/annotation/schema.sql

4. Load your SQL file. For example:

   CODE

   sqlite> .read ../etc/annotation/RetailBanking.sql

5. Close SQLite:

   CODE

   sqlite> .exit
   
   C:\ProgramData\STR\SuperSERVER SA\databases>