The DbShare system allows web access to data published in the form of SQLite3 relational databases. Queries on the data can be performed using SQL.

Databases

A database contains tables and optionally, indexes and views. A database is a single SQLite3 file. The web interface of DbShare allows displaying and querying the data in a database using SQL. The metadata of the database (schema, indexes, etc) can be viewed.

A DbShare site may host many databases. A database is completely isolated from other databases. Its name is unique in each DbShare site.

Database creation

Only users with an account in the DbShare site may create databases in it. A database may be created from scratch, and its tables, indexes and views to be defined via the web interface.

An existing SQLite3 file may be uploaded. The DbShare system will inspect the schema and data in it and and attempt to infer the DbShare-related metadata.

Database ownership

A database is owned by the user account that created it. Only the owner can edit or delete the database and edit its contents. An account has a quota for the total size of the databases owned by it.

Database access: Private or public

A database is private by default, in which case only the owner of it can access it. The database owner may set the database to being public, which means that anyone, including anonymous users, can access and query the data.

Database mode: read/write or read-only

Only the owner may modify a database. A database is read/write by default. The owner may set it to be read-only, thus ensuring that he/she can perform no modifying operations on it.

Database operations

Only the owner of a database may edit, add or delete data in it. A database may be cloned, creating a complete copy of it. A database may be renamed. This should not be done to public database, since its URL will change, potentially invalidating external links to it. Only the owner of a database may delete it.

Download

An entire database can be downloaded in various forms, including the native SQLite3 file. Separate tables, views and query results can be downloaded as CSV or JSON format files.

Tables

A table is a relational table in an SQLite database. All data in a database are stored in tables. The owner of a database may create a table in it, defining its columns, and load data into it in several different way.

A table contains data in row/column form, with each data item being either an integer, a real (float) or a text value. The schema of the table defines the columns. A table can be created, or added to, by uploading a CSV file. Single rows may also be added, edited or delete.

Simple statistics can be computed for the columns of the table. A table may be cloned into a separate copy. The table's data may be accessed from external systems as JSON or downloaded as a CSV file.

Views

A view is a stored query that looks like a table; each access to it actally performs the query on the database. One may create a table from a view, thus creating a snapshot of the state of the table. The view's data may be accessed from external systems as JSON or downloaded as a CSV file.

Queries

A query is simply an ordinary SQL query statement. Any user, including an anonymous user (not logged in) may execute queries on public data. A query may be saved as a view.

Queries are always performed in read-only mode, hence are secure. There is a limit of the CPU time a query may use. A query can involve only one database; currently, it is not possible to perform cross-database queries.

Indexes

Indexes are used to optimize queries involving the table of the index. They can also be defined to disallow non-unique values in a column.

Web and API interfaces

There are two interfaces to the system: The web HTML-based interface for humans, and the JSON-based API for programmatic access via scripts executing on e.g. the user's computer.

Other web sites may refer to the data of a DbShare site, if the database is set as public. The DbShare site can therefore be used a source of the data for other web services that create special visualizations, or use the data in some other way.