Object and Object-Relational

Databases: Concepts, Models

Languages, and Standards

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Outline

Overview of Object Database Concepts

Object-Relational Features:
Object Database Extensions to SQL
The ODMG Object Model and the Object
Definition Language ODL
Object Database Conceptual Design
The Object Query Language OQL
Overview of the C++ Language Binding in
the ODMG Standard
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Object and Object-Relational
Databases
Object databases (ODB)
Object data management systems (ODMS)
Meet some of the needs of more complex
applications
Specify:
• Structure of complex objects
• Operations that can be applied to these objects

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Overview of Object Database
Concepts
Introduction to object-oriented concepts
and features
Origins in OO programming languages
Object has two components:
• State (value) and behavior (operations)
Instance variables
• Hold values that define internal state of object
Operation is defined in two parts:
• Signature or interface and implementation

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Overview of Object Database
Concepts (cont’d.)
Inheritance
• Permits specification of new types or classes that
inherit much of their structure and/or operations
from previously defined types or classes
Operator overloading
• Operation’s ability to be applied to different types of
objects
• Operation name may refer to several distinct
implementations

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Object Identity, and Objects versus
Literals
Unique identity
Implemented via a unique, system-generated
object identifier (OID)
Immutable
Most OO database systems allow for the
representation of both objects and literals
(or values)

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Complex Type Structures for Objects
and Literals
Structure of arbitrary complexity
Contain all necessary information that
describes object or literal
Nesting type constructors
Construct complex type from other types
Most basic constructors:
Atom
Struct (or tuple)
Collection
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Complex Type Structures for Objects
and Literals (cont’d.)
Collection types:
Set
Bag
List
Array
Dictionary
Object definition language (ODL)
Used to define object types for a particular
database application
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Encapsulation of Operations and
Persistence of Objects
Encapsulation
Related to abstract data types and information
hiding in programming languages
Define behavior of a type of object based on
operations that can be externally applied
External users only aware of interface of the
operations
Divide structure of object into visible and
hidden attributes

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Encapsulation of Operations
Object constructor
Used to create a new object
Destructor operation
Used to destroy (delete) an object
Modifier operations
Modify the states (values) of various attributes
of an object
Retrieve information about the object
Dot notation used to apply operations to
object
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Persistence of Objects

Transient objects
Exist in executing program
Disappear once program terminates
Persistent objects
Stored in database and persist after program
termination
Naming mechanism
Reachability

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Type Hierarchies and Inheritance

Inheritance
Definition of new types based on other
predefined types
Leads to type (or class) hierarchy
Type: type name and list of visible (public)
functions
Format:
• TYPE_NAME: function, function, ...,
function

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Type Hierarchies and Inheritance
(cont’d.)
Subtype
Useful when creating a new type that is similar
but not identical to an already defined type
Example:
• EMPLOYEE subtype-of PERSON: Salary,
Hire_date, Seniority
• STUDENT subtype-of PERSON: Major, Gpa

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Type Hierarchies and Inheritance
(cont’d.)
Extent
Store collection of persistent objects for each
type or subtype
Extents are subsets of the extent of class
OBJECT
Persistent collection
Stored permanently in the database
Transient collection
Exists temporarily during the execution of a
program
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Other Object-Oriented Concepts

Polymorphism of operations
Also known as operator overloading
Allows same operator name or symbol to be
bound to two or more different implementations
Depending on type of objects to which operator
is applied
Multiple inheritance
Subtype inherits functions (attributes and
methods) of more than one supertype

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Other Object-Oriented Concepts
(cont’d.)
Selective inheritance
Subtype inherits only some of the functions of a
supertype

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Summary of Object Database
Concepts
Object identity
Type constructor
Encapsulation of operations
Programming language compatibility
Type hierarchies and inheritance
Extents
Polymorphism and operator overloading

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Object-Relational Features:
Object Database Extensions to SQL
Type constructors
Specify complex objects
Mechanism for specifying object identity
Encapsulation of operations
Provided through user-defined types (UDTs)
Inheritance mechanisms
Provided using keyword UNDER

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

User-Defined Types and Complex
Structures for Objects
UDT syntax:
CREATE TYPE TYPE_NAME AS
(<component declarations>);
ROW TYPE
Directly create a structured attribute using the
keyword ROW

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 User-Defined Types and Complex
Structures for Objects (cont’d.)

Array type
Reference elements using []
CARDINALITY function
Return the current number of elements in an
array

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Object Identifiers Using Reference
Types
Reference type
Create unique system-generated object
identifiers
Examples:
• REF IS SYSTEM GENERATED
• REF IS <OID_ATTRIBUTE>
<VALUE_GENERATION_METHOD> ;

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Creating Tables Based on the UDTs

INSTANTIABLE
Specify that UDT is instantiable
Causes one or more tables to be created

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Encapsulation of Operations

User-defined type
Specify methods (or operations) in addition to
the attributes
Format:
CREATE TYPE <TYPE-NAME> (
<LIST OF COMPONENT ATTRIBUTES AND THEIR TYPES>
<DECLARATION OF FUNCTIONS (METHODS)>
);

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Encapsulation of Operations (cont’d.)

Constructor function TYPE_T( )

Returns a new object of that type
Format
DECLARE EXTERNAL <FUNCTION_NAME>
<SIGNATURE>
LANGUAGE <LANGUAGE_NAME>;

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specifying Inheritance and
Overloading of Functions
Inheritance rules:
All attributes inherited
Order of supertypes in UNDER clause
determines inheritance hierarchy
Instance of a subtype can be used in every
context in which a supertype instance used
Subtype can redefine any function defined in
supertype

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specifying Inheritance and
Overloading of Functions (cont’d.)
When a function is called, best match selected
based on types of all arguments
For dynamic linking, runtime types of
parameters is considered

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Specifying Relationships via
Reference
Component attribute of one tuple may be a
reference to a tuple of another table
Specified using keyword REF
Keyword SCOPE
Specify name of table whose tuples referenced
Dot notation
Build path expressions
–>
Used for dereferencing
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 The ODMG Object Model and the
Object Definition Language ODL
ODMG object model
Data model for object definition language
(ODL) and object query language (OQL)
Objects and Literals
Basic building blocks of the object model
Object has five aspects:
Identifier, name, lifetime, structure, and
creation
Literal
Value that does not have an object identifier
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
The ODMG Object Model and the ODL
(cont’d.)
Behavior refers to operations
State refers to properties
Interface
Specifies only behavior of an object type
Typically noninstantiable
Class
Specifies both state (attributes) and behavior
(operations) of an object type
Instantiable
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Inheritance in the Object Model of
ODMG
Behavior inheritance
Also known as IS-A or interface inheritance
Specified by the colon (:) notation
EXTENDS inheritance
Specified by keyword extends
Inherit both state and behavior strictly among
classes
Multiple inheritance via extends not permitted

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Built-in Interfaces and Classes in the
Object Model
Collection objects
Inherit the basic Collection interface
I = O.create_iterator()
Creates an iterator object for the collection
Collection objects further specialized into:
set, list, bag, array, and dictionary

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Built-in Interfaces and Classes in the
Object Model (cont’d.)

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Atomic (User-Defined) Objects

Specified using keyword class in ODL

Attribute
Property; describes some aspect of an object
Relationship
Two objects in the database are related
Keyword inverse
• Single conceptual relationship in inverse directions
Operation signature:
Operation name, argument types, return value
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Extents, Keys, and Factory Objects

Extent
Contains all persistent objects of class
Key
One or more properties whose values are
unique for each object in extent
Factory object
Used to generate or create individual objects
via its operations

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

The Object Definition Language ODL

Support semantic constructs of ODMG

object model
Independent of any particular programming
language

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Object Database Conceptual Design

Differences between conceptual design of

ODB and RDB, handling of:
Relationships
Inheritance
Philosophical difference between relational
model and object model of data
In terms of behavioral specification

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Mapping an EER Schema to an ODB
Schema
Create ODL class for each EER entity type
Add relationship properties for each binary
relationship
Include appropriate operations for each
class
ODL class that corresponds to a subclass
in the EER schema
Inherits type and methods of its superclass in
ODL schema
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Mapping an EER Schema to an ODB
Schema (cont’d.)
Weak entity types
Mapped same as regular entity types
Categories (union types)
Difficult to map to ODL
An n-ary relationship with degree n > 2
Map into a separate class, with appropriate
references to each participating class

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

The Object Query Language OQL

Query language proposed for ODMG object

model
Simple OQL queries, database entry points,
and iterator variables
Syntax: select ... from ... where ... structure
Entry point: named persistent object
Iterator variable: define whenever a collection
is referenced in an OQL query

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

Query Results and Path Expressions

Result of a query
Any type that can be expressed in ODMG
object model
OQL orthogonal with respect to specifying
path expressions
Attributes, relationships, and operation names
(methods) can be used interchangeably within
the path expressions

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Other Features of OQL

Named query
Specify identifier of named query
OQL query will return collection as its result
If user requires that a query only return a single
element use element operator
Aggregate operators
Membership and quantification over a
collection

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Other Features of OQL (cont’d.)

Special operations for ordered collections

Group by clause in OQL
Similar to the corresponding clause in SQL
Provides explicit reference to the collection of
objects within each group or partition
Having clause
Used to filter partitioned sets

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Overview of the C++ Language
Binding in the ODMG Standard
Specifies how ODL constructs are mapped
to C++ constructs
Uses prefix d_ for class declarations that
deal with database concepts
Template classes
Specified in library binding
Overloads operation new so that it can be used
to create either persistent or transient objects

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe

 Summary

Overview of concepts utilized in object

databases
Object identity and identifiers; encapsulation of
operations; inheritance; complex structure of
objects through nesting of type constructors;
and how objects are made persistent
Description of the ODMG object model and
object query language (OQL)
Overview of the C++ language binding

Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe