Database query for histograms

A system comprising:

• a memory comprising instructions;
• and
• one or more computer processors, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to perform operations comprising:
• providing an application programming interface (API) to access a database, the API including a histogram request to obtain histogram data from the database, the histogram request having one or more histogram options for creating the histogram data, the histogram options comprising a number of bins, a maximum number of bins, a low boundary, and a bin size;
• receiving, from a client device, a first histogram request to obtain data for a first histogram, the first histogram request including at least one of multiple first histogram options comprising the number of bins for the first histogram and the bin size of the bins of the first histogram;
• calculating bins for the first histogram based on the first histogram options, the calculating including creating the number of bins in the first histogram options where each bin has the size included in the first histogram options;
• for each bin from the calculated bins, executing one database search request to obtain a sample of the data associated with the first histogram to obtain approximate data for the first histogram data, each database search request comprising boundaries of the bin, each database search request returning a count of a number of elements for the bin;
• combining results from the database search requests to obtain the histogram data for the first histogram, the histogram data including the boundaries for each calculated bin and the count for each calculated bin;
• and
• returning, to the client device, the histogram data for the first histogram as a table containing boundaries and respective counts for all the calculated bins for generating a displayable histogram.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

• providing an application programming interface (API) to access a database, the API including a histogram request to obtain histogram data from the database, the histogram request having one or more histogram options for creating the histogram data, the histogram options comprising a number of bins, a maximum number of bins, a low boundary, and a bin size;
• receiving, from a client device, a first histogram request to obtain data for a first histogram, the first histogram request including first histogram options comprising the number of bins for the first histogram and the bin size of the bins of the first histogram;
• calculating bins for the first histogram based on the first histogram options, the calculating including creating the number of bins in the first histogram options where each bin has the size included in the first histogram options;
• for each bin from the calculated bins, executing one database search request to obtain a sample of the data associated with the first histogram to obtain approximate data for the first histogram data, each database search request comprising boundaries of the bin, each database search request returning a count of a number of elements for the bin;
• combining results from the database search requests to obtain the histogram data for the first histogram, the histogram data including the boundaries for each calculated bin and the count for each calculated bin;
• and
• returning, to the client device, the histogram data for the first histogram as a table containing boundaries and respective counts for all the calculated bins for generating a displayable histogram.