Diff for "GettingStartedWithBabase"

Sign up

Go to one of the Babase [:BabaseWikiAdminGroup:administrators] and ask for access. They will ask [:KarlPinc:Karl] or [:HunterMatthews:Hunter] to make you a username, so pick out the username you'd like. Typically Karl will create the Babase account that grants access to the database itself. Although it is not necessary it is often useful to have a Unix account on [:Papio:papio]. Hunter is the only one that can do this.

While your at it, it's important to sign up on the [:BabaseMailingLists:Babase mailing lists] and a good idea to [:TheBabaseWiki:get yourself a login] on this wiki as well.

Yes, there are a lot of logins to keep track of. Each person has a login to the database, and possibly a Unix login on Papio, a login on this wiki, and an email address and password used to sign up for the mailing lists. All of these are different logins, with, possibly but not necessarily, different usernames and different passwords.

Tell Your Browser Papio Is Not Evil

When you attempt to use Babase you will often find that "The computer advises me to cancel everything and not to proceed with Babase."

Ignore the warnings. The browser is warning you that Babase has not paid to have it's identity verified. Tell your browser to ignore the problem, forever.

(To clarify, web browsers use certificates to, ostensibly, secure your web access. These are issued, for a annual fee, by organizations known as certificate authorities. They are supposed to assure you that you are interacting with who you think you are interacting with. In actual fact "[http://www.crypto.com/blog/spycerts/ Certificate authorities protect you from anyone from whom they are unwilling to take money.]" The people who verify identities on the web seem to verify no more than whether or not they've received payment. The little lock icon your browser shows indicates that someone who has claimed an identity has paid. The purchaser may or may not have legitimate title to the purchased name, the identity may or may not have been stolen, the website on the far end may or may not take your money without sending you product, mis-use your credit card number, etc., etc.)

Babase re-generates it's identity once each year, sometime around April, and at that time everybody has to tell their browser to permanently accept the new identity so that such warnings are not displayed.

(Those worried that evildoers are attempting to steal their Babase password can ask their browser to display the details of the identity credentials (page info, Ctrl-i in firefox) and verify that the SHA fingerprint is:

74:78:f6:aa:31:4a:50:75:fb:5a:7d:ed:4c:a9:07:6b:37:f0:6c:73 )

Tour Babase 2.0

Download and follow the document attachment:Getting_Started.pdf It will guide you through the basics of navigating the PPA interface and show you how to browse Babase tables and views.

Write Queries

Queries, written in the SQL query langage, are used to obtain data from the database. It is highly recommended that users begin by reading [:SQL_Language:Babase's SQL tuitorial]. The [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/tutorial-sql.html tuitorial] on the SQL language found in the [http://www.postgresql.org PostgreSQL] [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/index.html documentation] may also be helpful. As you read, try out some queries in the Babase [https://papio.biology.duke.edu/phpPgAdmin/ phpPgAdmin web interface] by clicking on the "SQL" link in the upper right hand corner after logging in and choosing the babase database, babase schema. To find your way around the various Babase databases read the Babase [http://papio.biology.duke.edu/babase_system_html technical documentation]'s sections on the [http://papio.biology.duke.edu/babase_system_html/ch02s01.html Babase databases] and [http://papio.biology.duke.edu/babase_system_html/ch02s02.html schemas].

Download Babase data for further analysis

Downloading the results of a query can be done by clicking the Download option at the bottom of the page where your query return appears. The results can also be saved in a table. Each Babase user has his own area of the database, called a schema, where they can create their own tables. To save the results of a query into a table, "newtable", in your schema, add "INTO yourlogin.newtable" to your SQL query, as documented in the [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/sql-selectinto.html SELECT INTO] documentation. The phpPgAdmin web interface can then transfer the contents of your new table to your desktop. Go into your schema, the one named with your database login, and click on the "newtable" table you just created. Click on the "Export" link at the upper right. Choose "Data Only" and a format of either "CSV" or "Tabbed" if you wish to use the data in Excel later.

Learn more

The sections of the PostgreSQL documentation of initial interest are:

• section I [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/tutorial.html Tuitorial]

  • subsection I.2 [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/tutorial-sql.html The SQL Language]

• section II [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/sql.html The SQL Language]

• section VI [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/reference.html Reference]

  • subsectin VI.I [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/sql-commands.html SQL Commands]

More resources can be found on the BabaseHelp page.