Chapter 5

Object Oriented DBMS

 Object Oriented Concepts
 An object-oriented database (OOD) is a database system that can work with
complex data objects.
 OO concepts are applied in the areas of databases, software engineering,
knowledge bases, artificial intelligence, and computer systems in general.
 An object typically has two components: state (value) and behavior (operations).
 Applications for OO databases include:
 Computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM)
 Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
 Computer-aided software engineering (CASE)
 Geographic information systems (GIS)
 Many applications in science and medicine
 Document storage and retrieval
Cont.…
 Object-oriented databases closely relate to object-oriented
programming concepts.
 The main ideas of object-oriented programming are:
 Object
 Class
 Polymorphism
 Inheritance
 Encapsulation
1. Objects
 Objects represent real world entities, concepts, and tangible as well as
intangible things.
For example a person, a licenses
 Objects are categorized by their type or class.
 An object is an instance of a type or class
 Characteristics of Object

Some important characteristics of an object are:

 Object name: The name is used to refer different objects in the program.
 Object identifier: This is the system generated identifier which is assigned,
when a new object is created.
 Transient object: In OOPL, objects which are present only at the time of
execution are called as transient object. For example: Variables in OOPL
 Persistent objects: An object which exists even after the program is completely
executed is called as persistent objects. Object-oriented databases can store
objects in secondary memory
2. Class
 Classes are classified as lexical and non lexical classes.
 A lexical class contains objects that can be directly represented by
their values.
E.g. integer, string .
 A non lexical class contains objects each of which is represented by
a set of attributes and methods
E.g. person ,employee
 Each individual object is called an instance of its class
 3. Polymorphism
Polymorphism is the capability of an object to take multiple forms.
 This ability allows the same program code to work with different data types.
 For example Both a car and a motorcycle are able to break, but the mechanism is
different. In this example, the action break is a polymorphism.
4. INHERITANCE
 Inheritance creates a hierarchical relationship between related classes. Where the
child class inherit attributes and behaviors from their parent table.
 Defining new types inherits all the existing class fields and methods plus further
extends them.
 For example, a parent class called Vehicle will have child classes Car and Bike.
Both child classes inherit information from the parent class and extend the
parent class with new information depending on the vehicle type
 5. Encapsulation

 Encapsulation is the way to restrict the direct access to some components

an object.
 Through this process, pieces of information and details of how an object
works are hidden, resulting in data and function security.
 Classes interact with each other through methods without the need to
know how particular methods work.
 As an example, a car has descriptive characteristics and actions. You can
change the color of a car, yet the model or make are examples of
properties that cannot change. A class encapsulates all the car information
into one entity, where some elements are modifiable while some are not.
 Drawbacks of relational DBMS
 Relational databases are widely used in many industries to store financial
records, keep track of inventory and to keep records on employees.
 In a relational database, information is stored in tables (often called
relations) which help organize and structure data.
 Cost :- One disadvantage of relational databases is the expensive of setting
up and maintaining the database system. In order to set up a relational
database, you generally need to purchase special software.
 Structured Limits:- Some relational databases have limits on field lengths.
When you design the database, you have to specify the amount of data you
can fit into a field.
 Isolated Databases:- For example, the hospital billing department used one
database while the hospital personnel department used a different database.
Getting those databases to "talk" to each other can be a large, and expensive.
 OODBMS definitions
 An OODBMS is a database management system that supports the creation
and modeling of data as objects.
 OODBMS also includes support for classes of objects and the inheritance of
class properties, and incorporates methods, subclasses and their objects.
 An OODBMS applies concepts of OOP, and applies them to the
management of persistent objects on behalf of multiple users, with
capabilities for security, integrity, recovery and contention management.
 An OODBMS is based on the principles of “objects,” namely abstract data
types, classes, inheritance mechanisms, polymorphism, dynamic binding and
message passing.
Components of Object-Oriented Data Model
The OODBMS is based on three major components, namely: Object
structure, Object classes, and Object identity. These are explained below.
1. Object Structure:
• The structure of an object refers to the properties that an object is made
up of.
• These properties of an object are referred to as an attribute.
 The object structure is further composed of three types of components:
Messages, Methods, and Variables. These are explained below.
1. Messages – A message provides an interface or acts as a communication
medium between an object and the outside world.
2. Methods – When a message is passed then the body of code that is
executed is known as a method.
3. Variables – It stores the data of an object.
2. Object Classes:
• An object which is a real-world entity is an instance of a class.
• Hence first we need to define a class and then the objects are made
which differ in the values they store but share the same class
definition.
• The objects in turn correspond to various messages and variables
stored in them.
OO Data modeling and E-R diagramming
E-R Model ER model
• Is used to represent real life scenarios as entities.
• The properties of these entities are their attributes in the ER diagram
and their connections are shown in the form of relationships.
• An ER model is generally considered as a top down approach in
data designing.
 Advantages of E - R model
 The data requirements are easily understandable using an E - R
model as it utilizes clear diagrams.
 The E-R model can be easily converted into a relational database.
 The E-R diagram is very easy to understand as it has clearly defined
entities and the relations between them.
Disadvantages of E-R model
 There is no data manipulation language available for an E- R model
as it is a largely abstract concept.
 There are no standard notations for an E - R model. It depends on
each individual designer how they design it.
 Object Oriented Model
• Object oriented data model is based on using real life scenarios.
• In this model, the scenarios are represented as objects.
• The objects with similar functionalities are grouped together and linked
to different other objects.
Advantages of Object Oriented Model
• Due to inheritance, the data types can be reused in different objects.
This reduces the cost of maintaining the same data in multiple locations.
• The object oriented model is quite flexible in most cases.
• It is easier to extend the design in Object Oriented Model.
Disadvantages of Object Oriented Model
• It is not practically implemented in database systems as it is mostly a
theoretical approach.
• This model can be quite complicated to create and understand.
Attributes: are nothing but the properties of objects in the system.
 Types of Attributes

The three types of attributes are as follows:

1. Simple attributes
Attributes can be of primitive data type such as, integer, string, real etc.
which can take literal value.
Example: 'ID' is simple attribute and value is 07.
2. Complex attributes
Attributes which consist of collections or reference of other multiple
objects are called as complex attributes.
Example: Collection of Employees consists of many employee names.
3. Reference attributes
Attributes that represent a relationship between objects and consist of
value or collection of values are called as reference attributes.
Example: Manager is reference of staff object
  Properties of OID
1. Uniqueness: OID cannot be same to every object in the
system and it is generated automatically by the system.
2. Invariant: OID cannot be changed throughout its entire
lifetime.
3. Invisible: OID is not visible to user
End Of this course