Chapter 3
The Relational
Data Model and
Relational
Database
Constraints
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Chapter 3 Outline
The Relational Data Model and Relational Database
Constraints
Relational Model Constraints and Relational Database
Schemas
Update Operations, Transactions, and Dealing with
Constraint Violations
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Concepts
Represents database as a collection of relations
Each relation resembles Table of values
Row
• Represents a collection of related data values
• Fact that typically corresponds to a real-world entity or relationship
• Tuple
Table name and column names
• Interpret the meaning of the values in each row attribute
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domains, Attributes, Tuples, and Relations
Domain D
Set of atomic values
Atomic
Each value in the domain is indivisible
Specifying a domain
Data type specified for each domain
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domains, Attributes, Tuples, and Relations
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domains, Attributes, Tuples, and Relations
Relation schema R
Denoted by R(A1, A2, ...,An)
Made up of a relation name R and a list of attributes, A1, A2, ..., An
Attribute Ai
Name of a role played by some domain D in the relation schema R
Degree (or arity) of a relation
Number of attributes n of its relation schema
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domains, Attributes, Tuples, and Relations
we can specify the following previously defined domains for some of the attributes of the
STUDENT relation: dom(Name) = Names; dom(Ssn) = Social_security_numbers;
dom(HomePhone) = USA_phone_numbers3 , dom(Office_phone) = USA_phone_numbers, and
dom(Gpa) = Grade_point_averages.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domains, Attributes, Tuples, and Relations
Relation (or relation state)
Set of n-tuples r = {t1, t2, ..., tm}
Each n-tuple t
• Ordered list of n values t =<v1, v2, ..., vn
• Each value vi, 1 ≤ i ≤ n, is an element of dom(Ai) or is a special NULL value
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of Relations
Ordering of tuples in a relation
Relation defined as a set of tuples
Elements have no order among them, tuples in a relation do not have any
particular order.
Many tuple orders can be specified on the same relation.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of Relations
Alternative definition of a relation
Tuple considered as a set of (<attribute>, <value>) pairs
Each pair gives the value of the mapping from an attribute Ai to a
value vi from dom(Ai)
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of Relations
Values and NULLs in tuples
Each value in a tuple is atomic value
Flat relational model
• Composite and multivalued attributes not allowed
• First normal form assumption
Multivalued attributes
• Must be represented by separate relations
Composite attributes
• Represented only by simple component attributes in basic relational
model
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of Relations
NULL values
Represent the values of attributes that may be unknown or may
not apply to a tuple
Meanings for NULL values
• Value unknown
• Value exists but is not available
• Attribute does not apply to this tuple (also known as value undefined)
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of Relations
Interpretation (meaning) of a relation
Assertion
• Each tuple in the relation is a fact or a particular instance of the
assertion
• For example, the first tuple in Figure 5.1 asserts the fact that there is a
STUDENT whose Name is Benjamin Bayer, Ssn is 305-61-2435, Age is
19, and so on.
Predicate
• Values in each tuple interpreted as values that satisfy predicate
• For example, the predicate STUDENT (Name, Ssn, …) is true for the
five tuples in relation STUDENT of Figure 5.1.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Notation
Relation schema R of degree n
Denoted by R(A1, A2, ..., An)
Uppercase letters Q, R, S
Denote relation names
Lowercase letters q, r, s
Denote relation states
Letters t, u, v
Denote tuples
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Notation
Name of a relation schema: STUDENT
Indicates the current set of tuples in that relation
Notation: STUDENT(Name, Ssn, ...)
Refers only to relation schema
Attribute A can be qualified with the relation name R to
which it belongs
Using the dot notation R.A
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Notation
n-tuple t in a relation r(R)
Denoted by t = <v1, v2, ..., vn>
vi is the value corresponding to attribute Ai
Component values of tuples:
t[Ai] and t.Ai refer to the value vi in t for attribute Ai
t[Au, Aw, ..., Az] and t.(Au, Aw, ..., Az) refer to the subtuple of values
<vu, vw, ..., vz> from t corresponding to the attributes specified in
the list
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Constraints
Constraints
Restrictions on the actual values in a database state
Derived from the rules in the miniworld that the database
represents
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Model Constraints
Inherent model-based constraints or implicit
constraints
Inherent in the data model (no duplicate tuples for example)
Schema-based constraints or explicit constraints
Can be directly expressed in schemas of the data model
(domain, keys, NULLs, entity integrity and referential integrity)
Application-based or semantic constraints or business
rules
Cannot be directly expressed in schemas
Expressed and enforced by application program
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Domain Constraints
Domain constraints specify that within each tuple, the value of
each attribute A must be an atomic value from the domain dom(A).
Typically include:
Numeric data types for integers and real numbers
Characters
Booleans
Fixed-length strings
Variable-length strings
Date, time, timestamp
Money
Other special data types
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL Values
No two tuples can have the same
combination of values for all their
attributes.
Superkey
No two distinct tuples in any state r of R
can have the same value for SK
(attribute set)
In the above EMPLOYEE table, for(EMPLOEE_ID,
EMPLOYEE_NAME), the name of two employees can be the same, but
their EMPLYEE_ID can't be the same.
The super key would be EMPLOYEE_ID (EMPLOYEE_ID,
EMPLOYEE-NAME), etc.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL Values
Key
Superkey of R
Removing any attribute A from K leaves a set of attributes K`
that is not a superkey of R any more
Key satisfies two properties:
Two distinct tuples in any state of relation cannot have identical
values for (all) attributes in key
Minimal superkey
• Cannot remove any attributes and still have uniqueness constraint in
above condition hold
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL Values
Key
The attribute set {Ssn} is a key of STUDENT because no two student tuples can have
the same value for Ssn.
Any set of attributes that includes Ssn—for example, {Ssn, Name, Age}—is a
superkey. However, the superkey {Ssn, Name, Age} is not a key of STUDENT
because removing Name or Age or both from the set still leaves us with a superkey
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL Values
Candidate key
Relation schema may have more than one key. Each of the key
is called candidate key.
Primary key of the relation
Designated among candidate keys
Underline attribute
Other candidate keys are designated as unique keys
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL Values
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Databases and Relational Database Schemas
Relational database schema S
Set of relation schemas S = {R1, R2, ..., Rm}
Set of integrity constraints IC
Relational database state
Set of relation states DB = {r1, r2, ..., rm}
Each ri is a state of Ri and such that the ri relation states satisfy integrity
constraints specified in IC
Invalid state
Does not obey all the integrity constraints
Valid state
Satisfies all the constraints in the defined set of integrity constraints IC
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Relational Databases and Relational Database Schemas
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Integrity, Referential Integrity & Foreign Keys
Entity integrity constraint
States that No primary key value can be NULL
This is because the primary key value is used to identify individual tuples in a
relation.
Having NULL values for the primary key implies that we cannot identify some
tuples.
Referential integrity constraint
Specified between two relations
Maintains consistency among tuples in two relations
Informally, the referential integrity constraint states that a tuple in one relation
that refers to another relation must refer to an existing tuple in that relation
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Integrity, Referential Integrity & Foreign Keys
Foreign key rules:
The attributes in FK have the same domain(s) as the primary
key attributes PK of R2
Value of FK in a tuple t1 of the current state r1(R1) either occurs
as a value of PK for some tuple t2 in the current state r2(R2).
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
A foreign key can refer to its own relation. For example, the attribute Super_ssn in EMPLOYEE
refers to the supervisor of an employee; this is another employee, represented by a tuple in the
EMPLOYEE relation
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Update Operations, Transactions, and
Dealing with Constraint Violations
Operations of the relational model can be
categorized into retrievals and updates
Basic operations that change the states of
relations in the database:
Insert
Delete
Update (or Modify)
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
The Insert Operation
Provides a list of attribute values for a new tuple t that is to
be inserted into a relation R
Can violate any of the four types of constraints
If an insertion violates one or more constraints
Default option is to reject the insertion
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Insert <‘Cecilia’, ‘F’, ‘Kolonsky’, NULL, ‘1960-04-05’, ‘6357
Windy Lane, Katy’, ‘TX’, ‘F’, 28000, NULL, 4> into
EMPLOYEE.
Insert <‘Alicia’, ‘J’, ‘Zelaya’, ‘999887777’, ‘1960-04-05’,
‘6357 Windy Lane, Katy,TX’, ‘F’, 28000, ‘987654321’, 4>
into EMPLOYEE.
Insert <‘Cecilia’, ‘F’, ‘Kolonsky’, ‘677678989’, ‘1960-04-05’,
‘6357 Windswept, Katy, TX’, ‘F’, 28000, ‘987654321’, 7>
into EMPLOYEE.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
The Delete Operation
Can violate only referential integrity
If tuple being deleted is referenced by foreign keys from
other tuples
Restrict
• Reject the deletion
Cascade
• Propagate the deletion by deleting tuples that reference the tuple
that is being deleted
Set null or set default
• Modify the referencing attribute values that cause the violation
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Delete the EMPLOYEE tuple with Ssn = ‘999887777’.
Delete the EMPLOYEE tuple with Ssn = ‘333445555’.
Delete the WORKS_ON tuple with Essn = ‘999887777’ and
Pno = 10.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
The Update Operation
Update the salary of the EMPLOYEE tuple with Ssn =
‘999887777’ to 28000.
Update the Dno of the EMPLOYEE tuple with Ssn =
‘999887777’ to 7.
Update the Ssn of the EMPLOYEE tuple with Ssn =
‘999887777’ to ‘987654321’.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
The Transaction Concept
Transaction
Executing program
Includes some database operations
Must leave the database in a valid or consistent state
Online transaction processing (OLTP) systems
Execute transactions at rates that reach several hundred per
second
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Question Bank
Characteristics differentiate relations from ordinary tables
or files
Classify database constraints into:
Inherent model-based constraints, explicit schema-based
constraints, and application-based constraints
Modification operations on the relational model:
Insert, Delete, and Update
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Question Bank
1. Explain the following terms with example.
a) Domain
b) Attribute
c) Tuple
d) Relation
2. Explain the terms super key, candidate key, primary key anf foreign key with
example.
3. Draw a relational database schema for the company database with relations
as EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT, DEPT_LOCATIONS, PROJECT,
WORKS_ON, DEPENDENT.
4. Explain the different database constraints. Explain how INSERT, DELETE and
UPDATE operations violates the database constraints. Give suitable
examples.
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Design an ER Diagram for keeping track of Information about Bank
Database, Taking into account 4 entities
Design an ER Diagram for maintaining Movie Database taking into
account atleast 4 entities
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
