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Chapter 3 Abstract

The chapter introduces the enhanced entity-relationship (EER) model which extends the basic ER model to address its shortcomings. The EER model introduces supertype/subtype relationships to model inheritance and specialization. Supertypes are generic entity types that have subtypes as subgroups. Subtypes inherit attributes from their supertypes. The chapter discusses concepts like generalization, specialization, attribute inheritance, and using subtype discriminators to model disjoint and overlapping subtypes. It also covers using entity clusters to improve readability of large EER diagrams.

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Khalid Ibrahim
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35 views19 pages

Chapter 3 Abstract

The chapter introduces the enhanced entity-relationship (EER) model which extends the basic ER model to address its shortcomings. The EER model introduces supertype/subtype relationships to model inheritance and specialization. Supertypes are generic entity types that have subtypes as subgroups. Subtypes inherit attributes from their supertypes. The chapter discusses concepts like generalization, specialization, attribute inheritance, and using subtype discriminators to model disjoint and overlapping subtypes. It also covers using entity clusters to improve readability of large EER diagrams.

Uploaded by

Khalid Ibrahim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 3:

THE ENHANCED E-R MODEL

Modern Database Management


11th Edition
Jeffrey A. Hoffer, V. Ramesh,
Heikki Topi

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall


1
OBJECTIVES
 Define terms
 Understand use of supertype/subtype relationships
 Understand use of specialization and generalization techniques
 Specify completeness and disjointness constraints
 Develop supertype/subtype hierarchies for realistic business
situations

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 2


 Basic E-R Model
 pushing 40 years old
 complex data relationships and new database technology have
outgrown it in some respects
 Enhanced E-R Model
 a response to the shortcomings of the basic E-R model
 not universally agreed upon in some respects
 introduced the supertype/subtype relationship

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall


Specialization Supertype

Based on
Object Inheritance
Oriented
Programming

Subtype

Generalization

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 4


SUPERTYPES AND SUBTYPES
 Enhanced ER model: extends original ER model with
new modeling constructs
 Subtype: A subgrouping of entities in an entity type that has
attributes distinct from those in other subgroupings
 Supertype: A generic entity type that has a relationship with
one or more subtypes
 Attribute Inheritance:
 Subtype entities inherit values of all attributes of the
supertype
 An instance of a subtype is also an instance of the supertype

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 5


 Generalization:
 The process of defining a more general entity type from a set
of more specialized entity types. BOTTOM-UP

 Specialization:
 The process of defining one or more subtypes of the supertype.
TOP-DOWN

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 6


Figure 3-1 Basic notation for supertype/subtype notation

a) EER

notation

specialization circle
(IsA relationship)

Inheritance symbol
(subset symbol)

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 7


Is qualified by
Completeness Constraints
Independent
Partial Constraints constraints

Completeness Constraints:
 Total Specialization (double line)
 Partial Specialization (single line)
Partial Constraints
 Disjoint ( d )
 Overlap ( o )
Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 8
Partial
Completeness
Constraints
Constraints
Total Specialization
A superclass entity belongs to Overlap
a subclass in hierarchy An instant of superclass
belongs to more than one
subclass
Ex: student works in University
Partial
Specialization
A superclass entity
does not belong to any
subclass Disjoint
Ex: Stack Holder An instant of
superclass
belongs to one
subclass

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 9


RELATIONSHIPS AND SUBTYPES
1. Relationships at the supertype level indicate that all
subtypes will participate in the relationship
2. Relationship at the subtype level are unique to that
subtype.

Case 1

Is carried for relationship Case2


exists at super class
Patient, therefore all Is assigned relationship
subtypes participate in exists only for Resident
that relationship Patient subtype entity

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 10


 Use this type of relationship when either (or both) of the
following are present:
1. When there are attributes that apply to some (but not all) of
the instances of an entity type
2. When instances of a subtype participate in a relationship
unique to that subtype
Case 1

All Patients have


attributes Name and
admission date
Case 2
While Outpatient and
Resident Patient Resident Patient has
have two different his own relationship
attributes with Entity Bed

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall


 The property by which subtype entities inherit values of
all attributes of the supertype.
 This important property makes it unnecessary to include
supertype attributes redundantly with the subtypes.

Faculty entity has attributes


•SSN, Name, Address, Gender,
Date Of Birth from Person entity
•And attributes Salary and Date
Hired from Employee Entity
•And attribute Rank from Faculty
Entity

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall


 Subtype Discriminator: An attribute of
supertype whose values determine the target
subtype(s)
 Disjoint – a simple attribute with alternative values
to indicate the possible subtypes
 Overlapping – a composite attribute whose subparts
pertain to different subtypes. Each subpart contains
a Boolean value to indicate whether or not the
instance belongs to the associated subtype

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 13


Subtype discriminator is an attribute of supertype
whose value determines to which subtype an
instance belongs

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall


Figure 3-8 Introducing a subtype discriminator (disjoint rule)

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 15


Figure 3-9 Subtype discriminator (overlap rule)

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 16


 EER diagrams are difficult to read when there are
too many entities and relationships.
 Solution: Group entities and relationships into
entity clusters.
 Entity cluster: Set of one or more entity types and
associated relationships grouped into a single
abstract entity type

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 17


Figure 3-13a
Possible entity
clusters for Pine
Valley Furniture in
Microsoft Visio

Related
groups of
entities could
become
clusters

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 18


Figure 3-13b EER diagram of PVF entity clusters

More readable,
isn’t it?

Chapter 3 © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.  Publishing as Prentice Hall 19

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