The Administration Guide of JChem provides background information about the administration of structure tables in relational databases using JChemManager. It contains information about table creation, importing and exporting structure files.
JChemManager is a tool for creating and removing structure tables, importing and exporting structure files into structure tables. The program is a two-tier Java application that can be run in operation systems supplied with Java (see Installing and Starting JChemManager for more on the system requirements).

.jchem file located under the .chemaxon (UNIX / Linux) or
chemaxon (Windows) subdirectory in the user's home directory.JChemProperties),
which contains two columns:
prop_name and prop_value. The next table shows
an example for the content of the property table.
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prop_name |
prop_value |
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You can find more information on the property table in the description of
multiuser options.
In order to run JChemManager the following software need to be installed:
Supported database systems:
The database server doesn't have to be installed on the same
machine as JChemManager if the computers are connected in a local
network (Internet connection is also sufficient, but the speed of
such a system might be low).
If needed, create a new database and/or a new user for the database
with appropriate rights.
Prepare the usage of the jcman script
as described in
Preparing the Usage of JChem Batch
Files and Shell Scripts. Run JChemManager by
entering
jcman
Warning:
To avoid the conflict of different
versions of classes,
jchem.jar should not be included in the
system's class path (CLASSPATH). See jcman or
jcman.bat in the bin subdirectory
as examples. Avoid using directory names with spaces
(e.g. use PROGRA~1 instead of Program Files
in Win32)
For example, such problem might occur
when you view a HTML page using a browser, which contains a
Marvin applet and, at the same time, the system's class path
consists of jchem.jar.
Many operations of jcman can also be invoked
without graphic interface. The command line usage makes the administration
easier from a remote machine
telnet or
ssh and invoke jcman.
The list of options (as listed with jcman -h):
Usage of GUI program:
jcman
Usage of command line program:
jcman <command> [options]
Commands:
c <table> create table in database
t list structure tables
t <table> show information on a structure table
t <table> <row> show the specified row
a <table> <file> import (add molecules) from a file into a table
x <table> <format> export table to standard output.
format:
sdf (MDL SDfile)
mol (MDL Molfile)
rdf (MDL RDMolfile)
smi (Daylight smiles)
mrv (Marvin document)
x <table> <file> export a table into a file. (The format will be
determined from the extension:.sdf/.mol/.smi
/.rdf/.mrv)
x <table> <file> <field>[:<field>]
exports specific fields from a table into a file
d <table> drop (remove) a structure table
u updates database structure and regenerates old
tables if necessary (typically after upgrade)
r regenerate all structure tables
r <table> regenerate a structure table
s <table> calculates and prints statistics for table
m <table> miscellaneous operations on the specified table
g <global-option> set options affecting all tables
Options (general):
-h --help this help message
--driver <JDBC driver> the JDBC driver to use
--dburl <url> the database URL to connect
--proptable <table> the name of property table
-l --login <login> login name
-p --password <password> password
-s --saveconf save settings into
"<an actual directory in your file system appears here>"
Options for table creation:
--fplength <n> fingerprint size in bits (default: 512)
--bits <n> bits to be set for patterns (default: 2)
--bonds <n> pattern length (default: 6)
--coldefs <column defs> column definitions. If not empty, then syntax is
", name1 type1, name2 type2, ..."
see doc of CREATE TABLE on how to define columns
--stconfig <file> standardizer configuration. If not given, default
standardization is used.
--relative only treats as absolute stereo if chiral flag set.
--ctcolcfg <cols-exprs> a semicolon separated list of pairs of
column names and Chemical Terms expressions.
Each pair specifies that the values of the given
column should be automatically calculated using
the given Chemical Terms expression.
In each pair, the column name and the
Chemical Terms expression is separated with
an equal sign ('=').
--t:<type> the type of the structure table
--t:molecules Specific structures, like single molecules,
mixtures, salts, polymers
--t:any All types of structures are allowed, but no
structure type-specific searching
--t:reactions single step reactions
--t:markush for the storage of Markush structures (this table type
is not allowed for Ms Access dbms)
--t:query query structures
--tdf:[y/n] specify "y" to consider tautomers during duplicate
filtering (default is "n")
Option for regeneration :
--stconfig <file> standardizer configuration. If not given, there is
no change in the standardizer configuration.
Specify "reset_to_default" to change to default
standardization.
Options for import:
--connect <connections> non-default SDFile and table field connections
(identical field names paired otherwise)
--skip <n> skip the first n molecules in SD file
--lines <n> check only the first n lines for field names
--nodup does not import molecules already in database
--noempty does not import empty molecules
--setchiralflag sets chiral flag for MDL file formats.
--diff does not import ANY molecules, only output
--duplicates write duplicate molecules to output
--nonduplicates write non-duplicate molecules to output
--output redirects output to a file (otherwise stdout)
Options for export:
--where <condition> where clause. Example: --where "cd_id<1000"
Options for miscellaneous table management operations (command 'm'):
--add-ctcolcfg <opt> adds Chemical Terms expressions to existing user-
defined columns. <opt> has the same format as the
argument to the --ctcolcfg parameter of the 'c'
(create table) command. The columns specified
must have no Chemical Terms expression
assigned to them.
--set-ctcolcfg <opt> sets Chemical Terms expressions to existing user-
defined columns. <opt> has the same format as the
argument to the --ctcolcfg parameter of the 'c'
(create table) command. The columns specified may
have Chemical Terms expressions already assigned
to them.
--del-ctcolcfg <opt> removes the assignment of Chemical Terms expressions
from existing user-defined columns. <opt> is
a semi-colon-separated list of column names.
Examples:
$ jcman c strdata --coldefs ", name CHAR(200), stock INTEGER"\
--fplength 16 -l joe --driver org.gjt.mm.mysql.Driver\
--dburl jdbc:mysql://localhost/mydb -s
$ jcman c ctcols --coldefs ", logp numeric(18,9), rotbl_bnd_cnt numeric(1,0)"\
--ctcolcfg "logp=logp();rotbl_bnd_cnt=rotatableBondCount()>4"
...
$ jcman a str3d str3d.sdf.gz
$ jcman a str3d str3d.sdf.gz --connect "MOLNAME=NAME;PH=PH_VAL"
$ jcman t
Table name Rows
1 str3d 198556
2 testdata 4260
$ jcman t ncidata
Column name Type name
1 cd_id LONG
2 cd_structure BLOB
...
18 cd_fp16 LONG
$ jcman m strtable --add-ctcolcfg "logp=logp();rotbl_bnd_cnt=rotatableBondCount()>4"
After starting JChemManager the "Connecting to a Database" dialog box appears. The dialog box can also be displayed by selecting the Connect icon on the tool bar of JChemManager.
After filling the form and selecting Ok, the system attempts to connect to a database using the settings entered. JChem uses the JDBC protocol to connect to relational databases. Before trying to connect, make sure that the appropriate JDBC driver is included in the CLASSPATH environmental variable. To establish a JDBC connection the following parameters have to be set:
A Java class name, the entry point of the JDBC
driver has to be specified here. If a JDBC driver is available for the
database, consult the documentation of the driver for the proper name. If
you would like to use an ODBC driver, enter sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver.
See FAQ
for more details on JDBC and ODBC drivers.
You can find the most common driver names here.
A JDBC URL provides a way of identifying a database so that the appropriate driver will recognize it and establishes a connection with it. Please check the documentation of the driver to determine what the JDBC URL that identifies the particular driver will be.
In the case of an ODBC driver, the full syntax is
jdbc:odbc:<data-source-name>[<attributes>]
where each attribute has the following form
;<attribute-name>=<attribute-value>
For other common URL formats please click here.
Enter the name of the property table. The default value
is JChemProperties. Since version 1.6 this can be
changed by the user to support flexible
multiuser capabilities.
Enter a user ID needed to enter the database. If a login name is not needed, then leave the field empty
Enter the password for the login name. If you want the
system to save the password in the .jchem file
for later use, check Remember password.
The above settings are stored in the .jchem file located under "chemaxon" or ".chemaxon" in your home directory. At the first connection, a new table called
JChemProperties (or the name you specify) is generated in the database, which contains parameters of structure tables.
Structure tables may contain several types of data, but the following columns must always be present for JChem:
cd_id
(JDBC type: INTEGER)
Provides a unique identifier of the compound. If no
value is specified for cd_id during the
insertion of new structures, then the value is incremented automatically.
cd_structure (JDBC type: LONGVARBINARY)
Stores the structure in the original input format.
MDL Molfiles and SDfiles are stored in
compressed
Molfile (csmol) form. Used for displaying the structure and,
in some cases, for searching
(only when cd_smiles is not available).
cd_smiles
(JDBC type: VARCHAR(1000))
Stores the
standardized
structure in
ChemAxon Extended SMILES
format. Since this
storage form is very compact, it enables fast structure searching.
(If the SMILES code of a molecule is larger than the maximum length of
the cd_smiles column, then NULL is stored
and the cd_structure field is used during the search.)
cd_formula
(JDBC type: VARCHAR(100))
The molecular formula of the molecule. The atomic symbols are in Hill Order: C is listed first, followed by H, followed by the remaining elements in alphabetical order.
cd_molweight
(JDBC type: DOUBLE or
FLOAT)
The molecular weight.
If an application uses
cd_formula or cd_molweight
often for SQL queries, it is suggested to
create indexes on these columns (using the SQL CREATE INDEX
statement).
cd_fp1, cd_fp2, cd_fp3,
...cd_fpn (JDBC type: INTEGER)
The chemical hashed fingerprint
of a compound is stored in several
INTEGER columns.
For reaction tables the reaction fingerprint of the molecule is stored instead to improve reaction similarity search.
A chemical hashed fingerprint is a bit string that contains structural information on the molecule. It enables fast substructure and similarity searching. Such binary fingerprint is generated when a new molecule is added or a structure is updated. The first phase of substructure search is screening, when the fingerprints of the molecules and the query structure are compared. If
fingerprint(molecule) & fingerprint(query) != fingerprint(query)
then the molecule doesn't contain the query. (In the above formula
"&" is the bitwise AND operator and
"!=" means not equal.)
Since
screening may provide false hits, an atom-by-atom search follows
this phase. The
performance of the search is better if the number of
false hits is lower.
Usually the performance of screening improves by increasing the size
of the fingerprint
(that is the number of cd_fpi columns).
However, especially if the structure table is large, too many fingerprint
columns may even cause slower searching, because of the higher demand of
memory space during the search process. As a consequence, the fingerprints
of only a part of the molecules may be cached in memory by the RDBMS.
Maximum pattern length and the number of bits set for
patterns
also affect the quality of
screening. These settings should depend on the average size of the structures in
a structure table.
See more details in the section Parameters for Generating Chemical Hashed Fingerprints.
Other columns, like compound name or physico-chemical constants, may also be added to the table.
To create a structure table select the Create icon. The Create a Table dialog box appears.
Parameters to be specified:
The name of the table to be created in the database that was specified at the Connecting to a Database dialog box.
Specify the number of INTEGER columns that will contain
the chemical hashed fingerprints of
the molecules. Higher number provides better screening performance for
substructure searching, but too many columns may significantly increase
the size of the structure cache.
The number of bits to be set for each pattern in the structure. In the case of 16 fingerprint columns, 1 or 2 bits for a pattern are the best choice. Too high or too low value causes too many or too few 1 bits, respectively. The performance of the screening is optimal when the average number of 1 bits is about 50%.
The number of edges in a pattern.
You may specify a custom standardization XML for the structure table. You have to regenerate the table, if you want to change the standardization.
If checked, all query and target structures are treated as absolute stereo. This setting can be changed later without regenerating the table.
You can specify here a fix set of structures in a file that will be used as structural keys. The fingerprint will be extended with the appropriate number of integer columns to provide 1 bit for each structure. If the imported structure contains the key as a substructure the bit will set to 1, otherwise to 0. A new fingerprint column will be added for every 32 keys. Important features of structural keys:
If checked tautomers are considered for duplicate filtering during import. Enabling this feature increases import time.
You can select from the following table types according to the desired scope of use:
Compatibility notes: Tables created before JChem version 3.2 will be treated as "Any structures" to maintain previous behaviour. The default type for new tables is "Molecules".
* The GenerateMD application can help determine the parameters providing the best performance. Statistics about fingerprint darkness of existing tables can also be obtained via running jcman s <table_name>. If you haven't made any previous testing, use the defaults that are optimized for typical compounds of pharmaceutical interest. The default values differ according to table type.
After pressing Ok in the Create a Table dialog box, the SQL statement for creating the structure table is displayed in the Create Table Statement dialog box.
If you would like to add more columns, then modify the SQL statement (though this can also be done later in most RDBMS-s).
If you would like to have Chemical-Terms-based columns (additional columns, the values of which are automatically calculated based on Chemical Terms expressions), you can specify them at the bottom of the dialog along with their respective Chemical Terms expressions. (The columns appearing in the bottom of the dialog as Chemical-Terms-based columns, must be also specified in the CREATE TABLE statement above. If you add columns later using your RDMBS and decide to make them Chemical-Terms-based columns, you can configure the Chemical Terms expressions for the new columns using the command line version of JChem Manager.)
NOTE:
There is a default limit on the length of the field cd_smiles
for most RDBMS-s. If the majority of your molecules' SMILES representation
is longer than this limit (in case of HUGE molecules), the search process can
become slower. In this case you may try to increase the limit.
After selecting Ok, the SQL statement is executed.
For each structure table, the fingerprint properties are stored in the JChemProperties table. If the
RDBMS supports schemata, username is also attached to the table name in the name column of the property table, like in the
following example:
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prop_name |
prop_value |
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Import formats in JChemManager:
Specify the database table and the input file. The data fields in the file can be imported into the columns of the table.
To support connecting the corresponding field names and column names, the program will detect field names in the file. If the file is too big, checking may be time consuming. Use the Check whole file for field names in selected file check box and the Number of lines to check input box to decide whether you want the whole file or just a given number of lines to be searched for field names.
If an error occurs during import, the error message and the corresponding stack trace information is written to the standard error. Check the Halt if an error occurs box if you would like the system to stop if a molecule can not be imported.
When Allow duplicate structures is unchecked, JChemManager will not import a structure if the database contains another structure with the same topology.
If Allow empty structures is unchecked, JChemManager will not import empty structures (structures where the atom count is zero).
If Set chiral flag for MDF formats is checked, JChemManager will set the chiral flag (absolute stereo flag) for the imported structures.
In case of SMILES*, Molfiles, RDfiles and Marvin Documents importing starts after selecting the Ok button.
For SDfiles and JTF, the "Connecting Fields" window appears, where you can connect the corresponding field names and column names.
* Some SMILES may contain additional data separated by whitespace from the structure string. The additional data columns are separated by tabulators ("\t"). In this case, the "Connecting Fields" dialog will also appear, the fields will be named as "field_0", "field_1" etc.
Clicking on a cell in the
Field in file column of the window, a list box appears with the alternative
field names. In the case of the cd_id
column, Auto-incrementing can also be selected, which means
that the value is increased by one after each new record. This works even if the
RDBMS does not support auto-incrementing, because in this case JChemManager
will take care of incrementing the value. (Some RDBMS-s that have the
auto-incrementing feature for columns
do not allow the explicit setting of cd_id.)
Importing starts after selecting the Ok button. A progress window displays the progress of the import.
Export formats in JChemManager:

Specify the database table and the output file.
File format is determined from the extension:
| Format | Extension | Examples |
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| MDL SDfile | extension starts with "sdf" | .sdf, .sdfile |
| MDL Molfile | extension starts with "mol" | .mol, .molfile |
| MDL RDfile | extension starts with "rdf" | .rd, .rdf |
| MDL Rxnfile | extension starts with "rxn" | .rxn, .rxnfile |
| SMILES | extension starts with "smi" | .smi, .smiles |
| Marvin Document | extension is "mrv" | .mrv |
| JTF | extension starts with "jtf" | .jtf, .jtfile |
After pressing the Ok button, the next dialog appears.

On the left panel, you can specify which fields to export in the case of formats
that support additional data.
By default, cd_id and the additional fields are selected (fields not
beginning with "cd_"). You can add more fields by pressing the Add button.
To remove one ore more fields, select them and press the Remove button.
You can restore the default setting by pressing Reset. The Sort
button arranges fields according to the original order in the database rows.
The last dialog follows, where you can specify

Exporting starts after selecting the Ok button. A progress window displays the progress of the export.
When the Delete icon is selected, the "Delete" dialog box appears.

In this dialog you can
JChemProperties table.
Change the table name in the combo box on the top to view / edit settings for other tables.
Changing some settings (e.g. standardization, tautomer duplicate filtering) requires the regeneration of the table. This will be performed after pressing the "Ok" button. The regeneration can take considerable amount of time depending on the size of the structure tables and other factors.
NOTE: you can make changes for multiple tables, your changes will be stored when selecting other tables. The actual changes in the database and the regeneration (if needed) will take place for all tables after pressing the "OK" button.

If "Assume absolute stereo flag" is set for a table, all query and target
structures are treated as absolute stereo ("chiral flag" in MDL files).
Changing this setting does not require regeneration.
One can also specify if tautomers are considered during duplicate filtered
import. Enabling this feature may slow down import significantly.
Changing this setting requires regeneration.
When the Options icon is
selected, the "Options" dialog box appears.
The options set here are stored in the
property
table.
You can set advanced options in the second tab.

cd_structure field in the
database. This has the following benefits:
When a new version of JChem is released usually the calculated data in the structure tables have to be refreshed to be consistent with the new version. Normally this is offered by JChem Manager when connecting, but in some cases one may want to initiate regeneration by hand.
To regenerate fix columns, select the File -> Regenerate menu option, the "Regenerate" dialog will appear:

You can select one table, or regenerate all tables.
You can also regenerate the tables from command-line.