Office-by-example: An integrated office system and database manager

Office-by-Example (OBE) is an integrated office information system that has been under development at IBM Research. OBE, an extension of Query-by-Example, supports various office features such as database tables, word processing, electronic mail, graphics, images, and so forth. These seemingly heterogeneous features are integrated through a language feature called example elements. Applica-tions involving example elements are processed by the database manager, an integrated part of the OBE system. In this paper we describe the facilities and architecture of the OBE system and discuss the techniques for integrating heterogeneous objects. Categories and Subject Descriptors: D.3.4 [Programming Languages]: Processors-parsing; D.4.1 [Operating Systems]: Process Management-concurrency; E.2 [Data Storage Representations]: H.1.2 [Models and Principles]: User/Machine Systems--human factors; H.2.0 [Database Man