CS 3101 Database Systems Handout: Lab 2

Lab Content:
- Relational model and relational mapping
(Mapping for Students’ Case Study)
- Introduction to SQL
o What is SQL
o SQL data types, nulls

Relational model and relational mapping

(Mapping for Students’ Case Study)

• Relation is a table with columns & rows. Holds information about entities.
• Attribute is a named column of a relation.
• Tuple is a row of a relation.
• Degree of a relation is the number of attributes it contains.
• Cardinality of a relation is the number of tuples it contains.

ER ➔ Relational Model
Entity Type
• Represent each entity type with a relation.
• Entity type attributes become the relation attributes.
STUDENT (StudentNo, Lname, Fname, Initial, DOB, GPA, Dept)
DEPARTMENT (DeptNo, Department Name, Location)

Weak Entity Type

A weak entity type relation must include its key and its strong entity type PK as a FK. The
combination of the two keys form the PK of the weak entity.
EMPLOYEE (EmpNo, Lname, Fname, DOB)
DEPENDENT (DepNo, EmpNo, FName)

Eng.Asmaa ElSaid |Eng. Amal Ibrahim| DBS – Lab (2) 1

1:1 Relationship
• Identify an entity type (S) (preferably total participator).
• Include the PK of the other entity (T) as a FK in S.
• Add attributes that describes the relationship to S.
EMPLOYEE(EmpNo, Lname, Fname, DOB)
BRANCH(BrnNo, Name, EmpNo, StartDate, EndDate)

1:M Relationship
• Identify a participating entity type (S) on the m-side.
• Include the PK of the other entity type (T) as a FK in S.
• Add attributes that describes the relationship to S.
EMPLOYEE(EmpNo, Lname, Fname, DOB, BrnNo)
BRANCH(BrnNo, Name)

M:N Relationship
• Create a relation R to represent the relationship.
• Include the PK of participating entity types (T & S) as FK in R. The combination of the
two FK will form the PK of R.
• Add attributes that describes the relationship to R.
EMPLOYEE(EmpNo, Lname, Fname, DOB)
PROJECT(ProjNo, Name)
Work-on(EmpNo,ProjNo, hours)

n-ary Relationship
• Create a relation R to represent the relationship.
• Include the PK of the participating entities as FK in R. The combination of all FK form
the PK of R.
• Add attributes that describes the relationship to R.
BUSINESS(BizNo) LAWYER(LawNo) SUPPLIER(SupNo)
contract(BizNo, SupNo, LawNo, StartDate, EndDate)

Composite Attribute
Include its simple components in the relation.
EMPLOYEE(EmpNo, Fname, initial, Lname, DOB)

MultiValue Attribute
• Suppose A is a relation that contains the multivalued attribute.
• Create a relation R to represent the attribute.
• Include the PK of A as FK in R.
• The PK of R is the combination of the PK of A (FK) & the multivalued attribute.
EMPLOYEE(EmpNo, DOB)
TELEPHONE(EmpNo, tel_no)

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The Relational Schema for the Company case study:

Introduction to SQL
What is SQL
• SQL (pronounced "ess-que-el") stands for Structured Query Language.
• SQL is used to communicate with a database.
• According to ANSI (American National Standards Institute), it is the standard language for
relational database management systems.
• SQL statements are used to perform tasks such as update data on a database, or retrieve data from
a database.
• Some common relational database management systems that use SQL are:
o Oracle,
o Sybase,
o Microsoft SQL Server,
o Access,
o Ingres, etc.
• Although most database systems use SQL, most of them also have their own additional
proprietary extensions that are usually only used on their system.
What Can SQL do?
• SQL can execute queries against a database
• SQL can retrieve data from a database
• SQL can insert records in a database
• SQL can update records in a database
• SQL can delete records from a database
• SQL can create new databases
• SQL can create new tables in a database
• SQL can create stored procedures in a database
• SQL can create views in a database
• SQL can set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

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SQL data types, nulls
The following table lists the general data types in SQL:

Data type Description

CHARACTER(n) Character string. Fixed-length n

VARCHAR(n) or Character string. Variable length. Maximum length n

CHARACTER VARYING(n)

BINARY(n) Binary string. Fixed-length n

BOOLEAN Stores TRUE or FALSE values

VARBINARY(n) or Binary string. Variable length. Maximum length n

BINARY VARYING(n)

INTEGER(p) Integer numerical (no decimal). Precision p

SMALLINT Integer numerical (no decimal). Precision 5

INTEGER Integer numerical (no decimal). Precision 10

BIGINT Integer numerical (no decimal). Precision 19

DECIMAL(p,s) Exact numerical, precision p, scale s. Example: decimal(5,2) is a

number that has 3 digits before the decimal and 2 digits after the
decimal

NUMERIC(p,s) Exact numerical, precision p, scale s. (Same as DECIMAL)

FLOAT(p) Approximate numerical, mantissa precision p. A floating number in

base 10 exponential notation. The size argument for this type
consists of a single number specifying the minimum precision

REAL Approximate numerical, mantissa precision 7

FLOAT Approximate numerical, mantissa precision 16

DOUBLE PRECISION Approximate numerical, mantissa precision 16

DATE Stores year, month, and day values

TIME Stores hour, minute, and second values

TIMESTAMP Stores year, month, day, hour, minute, and second values

INTERVAL Composed of a number of integer fields, representing a period of

time, depending on the type of interval

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ARRAY A set-length and ordered collection of elements

MULTISET A variable-length and unordered collection of elements

XML Stores XML data

SQL Server Data Types

String types:

Data type Description Storage

char(n) Fixed width character string. Maximum 8,000 characters Defined width

varchar(n) Variable width character string. Maximum 8,000 2 bytes + number of

characters chars

varchar(max) Variable width character string. Maximum 1,073,741,824 2 bytes + number of

characters chars

text Variable width character string. Maximum 2GB of text 4 bytes + number of
data chars

nchar Fixed width Unicode string. Maximum 4,000 characters Defined width x 2

nvarchar Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 4,000

characters

nvarchar(max) Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 536,870,912

characters

ntext Variable width Unicode string. Maximum 2GB of text

data

bit Allows 0, 1, or NULL

binary(n) Fixed width binary string. Maximum 8,000 bytes

varbinary Variable width binary string. Maximum 8,000 bytes

varbinary(max) Variable width binary string. Maximum 2GB

image Variable width binary string. Maximum 2GB

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Number types:

Data type Description Storage

tinyint Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 1 byte

smallint Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767 2 bytes

int Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 4 bytes

bigint Allows whole numbers between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 8 bytes

9,223,372,036,854,775,807

decimal(p,s) Fixed precision and scale numbers. 5-17 bytes

Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 –1.

The p parameter indicates the maximum total number of digits that

can be stored (both to the left and to the right of the decimal point).
p must be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18.

The s parameter indicates the maximum number of digits stored to

the right of the decimal point. s must be a value from 0 to p. Default
value is 0

numeric(p,s) Fixed precision and scale numbers. 5-17 bytes

Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 –1.

The p parameter indicates the maximum total number of digits that

can be stored (both to the left and to the right of the decimal point).
p must be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18.

The s parameter indicates the maximum number of digits stored to

the right of the decimal point. s must be a value from 0 to p. Default
value is 0

smallmoney Monetary data from -214,748.3648 to 214,748.3647 4 bytes

money Monetary data from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 8 bytes

922,337,203,685,477.5807

float(n) Floating precision number data from -1.79E + 308 to 1.79E + 308. 4 or 8 bytes
The n parameter indicates whether the field should hold 4 or 8
bytes. float(24) holds a 4-byte field and float(53) holds an 8-byte
field. Default value of n is 53.

real Floating precision number data from -3.40E + 38 to 3.40E + 38 4 bytes

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Date types:

Data type Description Storage

datetime From January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 3.33 8 bytes
milliseconds
DATETIME - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

datetime2 From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 100 6-8 bytes
nanoseconds

smalldatetime From January 1, 1900 to June 6, 2079 with an accuracy of 1 minute 4 bytes
SMALLDATETIME - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

date Store a date only. From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 3 bytes
DATE - format YYYY-MM-DD

time Store a time only to an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds 3-5 bytes

datetimeoffset The same as datetime2 with the addition of a time zone offset 8-10 bytes

timestamp Stores a unique number that gets updated every time a row gets
created or modified. The timestamp value is based upon an internal
clock and does not correspond to real time. Each table may have only
one timestamp variable
TIMESTAMP - format: a unique number

Other data types:

Data type Description

sql_variant Stores up to 8,000 bytes of data of various data types, except text, ntext, and
timestamp

uniqueidentifier Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)

xml Stores XML formatted data. Maximum 2GB

cursor Stores a reference to a cursor used for database operations

table Stores a result-set for later processing

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SQL NULL Values
• NULL values represent missing unknown data.
• By default, a table column can hold NULL values.

SQL NULL Values

• If a column in a table is optional, we can insert a new record or update an existing record
without adding a value to this column. This means that the field will be saved with a
NULL value.
• NULL values are treated differently from other values.
• NULL is used as a placeholder for unknown or inapplicable values.

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Stavanger

Suppose that the "Address" column in the "Persons" table is optional. This means that if we
insert a record with no value for the "Address" column, the "Address" column will be saved with
a NULL value.
How to test for NULL values?
It is not possible to test for NULL values with comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>.
Use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators instead.

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