1. A hardware computer storage device with computer executable instructions for accessing a database, comprising executable instructions to: present a user at a client computer with a set of business objects, wherein the business objects include familiar terms corresponding to information about the structure of the database; receive a plurality of selected business objects; generate a SQL query from the selected business objects, wherein the SQL query includes a SELECT clause and a FROM clause, wherein the selected business objects are associated with a selected context that includes a list of joins between tables that gives meaning to the selected business objects, wherein the selected context is chosen from several contexts applicable to the SQL query; receive a condition used to restrict the scope of values returned from the database; translate the condition into a WHERE clause in the SQL query; transmit the SQL query to the database; and receive a tabular result set.