QueryViz: Helping Users Understand SQL Queries and Their Patterns

The authors present QueryViz, a novel visualization tool for SQL queries that reduces the time needed to read and understand existing queries. It targets two principal audiences: users who often issue the same or similar queries and who need to quickly browse through a repository of existing queries; and novices that try to familiarize themselves with the logic behind alternative patterns of SQL queries. QueryViz uses as input only two strings: the database schema and the SQL query. It can thus serve as light-weight add-on to existing database systems and is also available via an online interface.