DBMS CHAPTER 5

The Relational Data Model and Relational

Database Constraints

Prepared for B.Sc(H)Comp.Sc - sem IV

By: Ms.Shweta Wadhera
 CHAPTER OUTLINE

• Relational Model Concepts

• Relational Model Constraints and Relational Database Schemas
• Update Operations and Dealing with Constraint Violations
RELATIONAL MODEL CONCEPTS
• The relational Model of Data is based on the concept of a
Relation
• In this chapter we talk about the basic characteristics of the
Relational Data Model and its constraints .

• This Model uses the concept of a Mathematical relation ,

which looks like a table of values .

• A Relation is a mathematical concept based on the idea of sets.

RELATIONAL MODEL CONCEPTS
• The model was first proposed by Dr. E.F. Codd of IBM Research
in 1970 in the following paper:
• "A Relational Model for Large Shared Data Banks,"
Communications of the ACM, June 1970

• The above paper caused a major revolution in the field of

database management and earned Dr.Codd the coveted ACM
Turing Award .

• The 1st commercial implementation of the relational model

became available in 1980s .
 INFORMAL DEFINITIONS
• The relational model represents the database as a collection of
relations .
• Each relation resembles a Table of Values.

• A relation typically contains a set of rows.

• The data elements in each row represent certain facts that correspond
to a real-world entity or relationship
In the formal model, rows are called tuples

• Each column has a column header that specify how to interpret the
Data Values in each row .

In the formal model, the column header is called an attribute name

(or just attribute)
EXAMPLE OF A RELATION
INFORMAL DEFINITIONS
• Key of a Relation:
• Each row has a value of a data item (or set of items) that
uniquely identifies that row in the table called the key
In the STUDENT table, SSN is the key.
FORMAL DEFINATIONS
• Domain :- A domain D is a set of Atomic values . By
atomic we mean that each value in the domain is indivisible
as far as the relational model is concerned .

• We generally give a name to the domain , because it helps in

interpreting its values.

• A datatype or format is also specified for each domain.

FORMAL DEFINITIONS - DOMAIN
• A domain has a logical definition:
• Example: “phone_numbers_of India ” are the set of 10 digit mobile numbers
valid in the India.

• A domain also has a data-type or a format defined for it.

• The phone_numbers_India may have a format: (ddd)ddd-dddd where each d
is a decimal digit.
• Dates have various formats such as year, month, date formatted as yyyy-
mm-dd, or as dd mm,yyyy etc.

• The attribute name designates the role played by a domain in a relation:

• Used to interpret the meaning of the data elements corresponding to that
attribute
• Example: The domain Date may be used to define two attributes named
“Invoice-date” and “Payment-date” with different meanings
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS - SCHEMA
• The Schema (or description) of a Relation:
• A relation schema is used to describe a relation.
• Denoted by R (A1, A2, .....An)
• R is the name of the relation
• D is called the domain of Ai and is denoted by dom(Ai).
• The attributes of the relation are A1, A2, ..., An
• A relation schema R(A1, A2,….,An) , is made up of a relation
named R and a list of attributes A1,A2, … An .
• Each attribute Ai is the name of a role played by some
domain D in the Relation Schema R .
CONTD …

• The degree of a relation is the number of attributes n of

its relation schema .

• Example:
CUSTOMER (Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#)
• CUSTOMER is the relation name
• Defined over the four attributes: Cust-id, Cust-name,
Address, Phone#

• Each attribute has a domain or a set of valid values.

• For example, the domain of Cust-id is 6 digit numbers.
RELATIONAL DATABASE SCHEMA
• Relational Database Schema:
• A set S of relation schemas that belong to the same
database.
• S is the name of the whole database schema
• S = {R1, R2, ..., Rn}
• R1, R2, …, Rn are the names of the individual relation
schemas within the database S
• Following slide shows a COMPANY database schema with 6
relation schemas
COMPANY DATABASE SCHEMA
FORMAL DEFINITIONS - TUPLE
• A tuple is an ordered set of values (enclosed in angled brackets „< … >‟)
• Each value is derived from its corresponding domain.

• A row in the CUSTOMER relation is a 4-tuple and would consist of four

values, for example:
• <632895, "John Smith", "101 Main St. Atlanta, GA 30332", "(404) 894-
2000">
• This is called a 4-tuple as it has 4 values

• A relation is a set of such tuples (rows)

FORMAL DEFINITIONS – RELATION STATE
• A Relation State :- The relation state is a subset of the
Cartesian product of the domains of its attributes
• each domain contains the set of all possible values the
attribute can take.
• Example: attribute Cust-name is defined over the domain of
character strings of maximum length 25
• dom(Cust-name) is varchar(25)
• The role these strings play in the CUSTOMER relation is that of
the name of a customer.
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS - SUMMARY
• Formally,
• Given R(A1, A2, .........., An)
• r(R)  dom (A1) X dom (A2) X ....X dom(An)
• R(A1, A2, …, An) is the schema of the relation
• R is the name of the relation
• A1, A2, …, An are the attributes of the relation
• r(R): a specific state of relation R
• r(R) = {t1, t2, …, tn} where each ti is an n-tuple
• ti = <v1, v2, …, vn> where each vj element-of dom(Aj)
Defination of Relation State :
A relation r , of the relation schema R(A1,A2,….,An) also denoted by r(R ), is a
set of n-tuples . Each tuple will be an n-tuple ,bcoz there are “n attributes”
r (R )= { t1, t2, ….., tn }
CONTD ….
• Each n-tuple t is an ordered list of n values t = < v1, v2 ,…,vn >
where each value Vi , 1<= i <= n, is an element of dom (Ai ) or is a
special Null value .
• Null value …. Values unknown or which do not exist or may not apply
to a particular entity . Ex : Off_phone_no.
 FORMAL DEFINITIONS - EXAMPLE
• Let R(A1, A2) be a relation schema:
• Let dom(A1) = {0,1}
• Let dom(A2) = {a,b,c}

• Then: dom(A1) X dom(A2) is all possible combinations:

{<0,a> , <0,b> , <0,c>, <1,a>, <1,b>, <1,c> }

• The relation state r(R)  dom(A1) X dom(A2)

• For example: r(R) could be {<0,a> , <0,b> , <1,c> }

• this is one possible state (or “population” or “extension”) r of the relation R,
defined over A1 and A2.
• It has three 2-tuples: <0,a> , <0,b> , <1,c>
DEFINITION SUMMARY

Informal Terms Formal Terms

Table Relation

Column Header Attribute

All possible Column Values Domain

Row Tuple

Table Definition Schema of a Relation

Populated Table State of the Relation

 CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS
• Ordering of tuples in a relation r(R):

• A relation is defined as a set of Tuples . Mathematically, elements

of a set have No order among them.

• Hence Tuples in a relation do not have any particular order.

• Also , defination of a relation does not specify any order.

• So there is no preference for one logical ordering over another.

• Hence relation states with different ordering of tuples are

considered as identical to each other.
EXAMPLE – A RELATION STUDENT
SAME STATE AS PREVIOUS FIGURE (BUT
WITH DIFFERENT ORDER OF TUPLES)
• Ordering of attributes in a relation schema R (and of values
within each tuple):

• We will consider the attributes in R(A1, A2, ..., An) and the
values in t = <v1, v2, ..., vn> to be ordered .

• According to the preceding defination of a relation , an n-

tuple is an ordered list of n-values , so the ordering of
values in a tuple is there…..
• and hence ordering of attributes in a relation schema is
important .
 CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS
• Values in a tuple:
• All values are considered atomic (indivisible).
• So composite and Multivalued attributes are NOT allowed .
• Each value in a tuple must be from the domain of the attribute
for that column
• If tuple t = <v1, v2, …, vn> is a tuple (row) in the relation state r of R(A1,
A2, …, An)
• Then each vi must be a value from dom(Ai)
• A special null value is used to represent values that are
unknown or inapplicable to certain tuples.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATIONS

• Notation:
• We refer to component values of a tuple t by:
• t [ Ai ] or t . Ai
• This is the value vi of attribute Ai for tuple t
RELATIONAL MODEL CONSTRAINTS

• Constraints are conditions that must hold on all valid

relation states.

• There are generally many restrictions or constraints on the

actual values in a DB state .
CATEGORIES OF CONSTRAINTS
• Model Based Constraints :- Constraints that are inherent in the
data model .

• Schema Based Constraints :- Constraints that can be directly

expressed in the schemas of the data model.(by specifying them in
DDL data defination Lang ).

• Application based Constraints :- Constraints that cannot be directly

expressed in the schemas of the data model, and hence must be
expressed and enforced by the application programs .
SCHEMA BASED CONSTRAINTS
These include ……

• Domain Constraints
• Key Constraints
• Constraints on Nulls
• Entity Integrity constraints
• Referential Integrity constraints
• Domain Constraints
Domain Constraints specify that within each tuple, the
value of each attribute Ai must be an atomic value from
the domain dom( Ai ).
 KEY CONSTRAINT
• A relation is a set of Tuples .
• All elements of a set are distinct .
 All tuples in a relation must be distinct .
 No two tuples can have the same combination of values.
• Suppose we denote one subset of values by sk .
• Then for any two distinct tuples t1 and t2 in a relation state r of R ,
we have the constraint
t1[ sk ] != t2[ sk ]
 Any such set of attributes sk is called a superkey
of R .
 In a way we can say that …..
A superkey sk specifies the uniqueness constraint ….
i.e No two distinct tuples in any state r of R can have the same
value for sk.

 Infact every relation has atleast one default superkey ---- the set
of all its attributes .
KEY CONSTRAINTS
• Superkey of R:
• Is a set of attributes SK of R with the following condition:
• No two tuples in any valid relation state r(R) will have the same value
for SK
• That is, for any distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK]  t2[SK]
• This condition must hold in any valid state r(R)
• Key of R:
• A "minimal" superkey
• That is, a key is a superkey K such that removal of any attribute from K
results in a set of attributes that is not a superkey (does not possess the
superkey uniqueness property)
• Example
• Sno Pno Qty_sold

s1 p1 500
s1 p2 200
s1 p3 500
s2 p1 500
s2 p2 200
s2 p3 500
s3 p2 200

(Sno,Pno,Qty_sold) ….. SuperKey

(Sno.Pno ) ………. Minimal Superkey
KEY CONSTRAINTS (CONTINUED)
• Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:
• CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
• CAR has two keys:
• Key1 = {State, Reg#}
• Key2 = {SerialNo}
• Both are also superkeys of CAR
• {SerialNo, Make} is a superkey but not a key.
• In general:
• Any key is a superkey (but not vice versa)
• Any set of attributes that includes a key is a superkey
• A minimal superkey is also a key
KEY CONSTRAINTS (CONTINUED)
• If a relation has several candidate keys, one is chosen arbitrarily to be
the primary key.
• The primary key attributes are underlined.

• Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:

• CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
• We chose SerialNo as the primary key

• The primary key value is used to uniquely identify each tuple in a

relation
• Provides the tuple identity
• Also used to reference the tuple from another tuple

• General rule: Choose as primary key the smallest of the candidate keys
(in terms of size)
• Not always applicable – choice is sometimes subjective
CAR TABLE WITH TWO CANDIDATE KEYS –
LICENSENUMBER CHOSEN AS PRIMARY KEY
ENTITY INTEGRITY
• Entity Integrity:
• The primary key attributes PK of each relation schema R in S
cannot have null values in any tuple of r(R).
• This is because primary key values are used to identify the individual
tuples.
• t[PK]  null for any tuple t in r(R)
• If PK has several attributes, null is not allowed in any of these attributes
• Note: Other attributes of R may be constrained to disallow null
values, even though they are not members of the primary key.
REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY
• A constraint involving two relations
• The previous constraints involve a single relation.
• Used to specify a relationship among tuples in two relations:
• The referencing relation and the referenced relation.
REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY
• Tuples in the referencing relation R1 have attributes FK (called
foreign key attributes) that reference the primary key attributes
PK of the referenced relation R2.
• A tuple t1 in R1 is said to reference a tuple t2 in R2 if t1[FK]
= t2[PK].
• A referential integrity constraint can be displayed in a relational
database schema as a directed arc from R1.FK to R2.
REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY (OR FOREIGN KEY)
CONSTRAINT
• Statement of the constraint
• The value in the foreign key column (or columns) FK of the
the referencing relation R1 can be either:
• (1) a value of an existing primary key value of a corresponding
primary key PK in the referenced relation R2, or
• (2) a null.
• In case (2), the FK in R1 should not be a part of its own primary
key.
DISPLAYING A RELATIONAL DATABASE SCHEMA
AND ITS CONSTRAINTS
• Each relation schema can be displayed as a row of attribute
names
• The name of the relation is written above the attribute names
• The primary key attribute (or attributes) will be underlined
• A foreign key (referential integrity) constraints is displayed as a
directed arc (arrow) from the foreign key attributes to the
referenced table
• Can also point the the primary key of the referenced relation for
clarity
• Next slide shows the COMPANY relational schema diagram
Referential Integrity Constraints for COMPANY database
SUMMARY
• Presented Relational Model Concepts
• Definitions
• Characteristics of relations
• Discussed Relational Model Constraints and Relational
Database Schemas
• Domain constraints‟
• Key constraints
• Entity integrity
• Referential integrity
 IN-CLASS EXERCISE
(Taken from Exercise 5.15)

Consider the following relations for a database that keeps track of student
enrollment in courses and the books adopted for each course:
STUDENT(SSN, Name, Major, Bdate)
COURSE(Course#, Cname, Dept)
ENROLL(SSN, Course#, Quarter, Grade)
BOOK_ADOPTION(Course#, Quarter, Book_ISBN)
TEXT(Book_ISBN, Book_Title, Publisher, Author)
Draw a relational schema diagram specifying the foreign keys for this
schema.