Identifying joins of tables of a database

1. A method for identifying table joins, comprising:

obtaining respective casting similarities between pairs of columns of a first table and a second table, wherein a pair of columns of the pairs of columns comprises a first column of the first table and a second column of the second table, and wherein a casting similarity for the pair of columns is obtained by steps comprising:

assigning the casting similarity to the pair of columns based on an identified extent to which first data values of the first column are changeable to a data type of the second column, wherein the casting similarity is selected from a set comprising a ‘very low’ casting similarity, and wherein the ‘very low’ casting similarity is assigned to a given pair of columns in a case that one column of the given pair of columns has a BOOLEAN type and the other column of the given pair of columns has a FLOAT type;

discarding, to obtain first join candidates, ones of the pairs of columns having the respective casting similarities not satisfying a casting similarity threshold;

obtaining respective string similarities for the first join candidates;

discarding ones of the first join candidates not satisfying a string similarity condition to obtain second join candidates;

obtaining final join candidates using the respective casting similarities and the respective string similarities of the second join candidates, wherein each of the final join candidates includes a column of the first table and a column of the second table;

presenting the final join candidate on a device of a user;

receiving, from the device of the user, a selected join candidate of the final join candidates;

querying a database based on a data query that includes a join of the first table and the second table to obtain tabular data, wherein the join is based on the selected join candidate; and

outputting the tabular data.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining respective data similarities for the second join candidates, wherein a data similarity of a second join candidate of the second join candidates is obtained using respective data values of table columns of the second join candidate.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the final join candidates are further obtained using the respective data similarities.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the selected join candidate in a worksheet object that is used to obtain the tabular data according to criteria of the worksheet object.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

generating the data query according to the worksheet object such that the data query includes join criteria according to the selected join candidate.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying, in a query execution history, additional join candidates; and

adding the additional join candidates to the final join candidates.

7. A device for identifying table joins, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

obtain respective casting similarities between pairs of columns of a first table and a second table, wherein a pair of the pairs of columns comprises a first column of the first table and a second column of the second table, and wherein a casting similarity obtained for the pair of columns is based on an extent to which first data values of the first column are changeable to a data type of the second column;

discard, to obtain first join candidates, ones of the pairs of columns not satisfying a casting similarity condition;

obtain, based on respective edit distances, respective string similarities for the first join candidates, wherein an edit distance between a first column name of a column of the first table and a second column name of a column of the second table indicates a number of operations required to transform the first column name into the second column name;

discard ones of the first join candidates not satisfying a string similarity condition to obtain second join candidates;

obtain final join candidates using the respective casting similarities and the respective string similarities of the second join candidates;

present the final join candidate on a device of a user;

receive, from the device of the user, a selected join candidate of the final join candidates; and

query a database based on a data query that includes a join of the first table and the second table to obtain tabular data, wherein the join is based on the selected join candidate.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

obtain respective data similarities for the second join candidates, wherein a data similarity of a second join candidate of the second join candidates is obtained using respective data values of table columns of the second join candidate.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the final join candidates are further obtained using the respective data similarities.

10. The device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

store the selected join candidate in a worksheet object that is used to obtain the tabular data according to criteria of the worksheet object.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

generate the data query according to the worksheet object such that the data query includes join criteria according to the selected join candidate.

12. The device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

identify, in a query execution history, additional join candidates; and

add the additional join candidates to the final join candidates.

13. The device of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:

output the tabular data.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations for identifying table joins, the operations comprising:

obtaining respective casting similarities between pairs of columns of a first table and a second table, wherein a pair of columns of the pairs of columns comprises a first column of the first table and a second column of the second table, and wherein a casting similarity for the pair of columns is obtained by steps comprising:

assigning the casting similarity to the pair of columns based on an identified extent to which first data values of the first column are changeable to a data type of the second column, wherein the casting similarity is selected from a set comprising a very low casting similarity, and wherein the very low casting similarity is assigned to a given pair of columns in a case that one column of the given pair of columns has a BOOLEAN type and the other column of the given pair of columns has a FLOAT type;

discarding, to obtain first join candidates, ones of the pairs of columns having the respective casting similarities not satisfying a casting similarity threshold;

obtaining respective string similarities for the first join candidates;

discarding ones of the first join candidates not satisfying a string similarity condition to obtain second join candidates;

obtaining final join candidates using the respective casting similarities and the respective string similarities of the second join candidates, wherein each of the final join candidates includes a column of the first table and a column of the second table;

presenting the final join candidate on a device of a user;

receiving, from the device of the user, a selected join candidate of the final join candidates;

querying a database based on a data query that includes a join of the first table and the second table to obtain tabular data, wherein the join is based on the selected join candidate; and

outputting the tabular data.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining respective data similarities for the second join candidates, wherein a data similarity of a second join candidate of the second join candidates is obtained using respective data values of table columns of the second join candidate.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the final join candidates are further obtained using the respective data similarities.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

storing the selected join candidate in a worksheet object that is used to obtain the tabular data according to criteria of the worksheet object.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:

generating the data query according to the worksheet object such that the data query includes join criteria according to the selected join candidate.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying, in a query execution history, additional join candidates; and

adding the additional join candidates to the final join candidates.