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Lecture 6

The lecture covers key concepts in database systems, including relational keys such as superkeys, candidate keys, primary keys, alternate keys, and foreign keys. It also discusses integrity constraints, including entity integrity and referential integrity, as well as the role of views in providing security and logical data independence. The importance of ensuring that updates to base relations are reflected in views is highlighted, along with the restrictions on modifying views.

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10 views24 pages

Lecture 6

The lecture covers key concepts in database systems, including relational keys such as superkeys, candidate keys, primary keys, alternate keys, and foreign keys. It also discusses integrity constraints, including entity integrity and referential integrity, as well as the role of views in providing security and logical data independence. The importance of ensuring that updates to base relations are reflected in views is highlighted, along with the restrictions on modifying views.

Uploaded by

Hamza Bilal
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 PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CSC271 Database Systems

Lecture # 6
Summary: Previous Lecture
 Relational model terminology
 Mathematical relations
 Database relations
 Properties of a relation
Relational Keys
 Superkey
 Candidate key
 Primary key
 Alternate key
 Foreign key
Superkey
 An attribute, or set of attributes, that
uniquely identifies a tuple within a relation
A super key may contain additional attributes
that are not necessary for unique identification
 Consider Branch relation:
 {branchNo, street, city, postcode}
 {branchNo, street, city}
 {branchNo, city} or {branchNo, postcode}
Candidate Key
 Superkey (K) such that no proper subset is
a superkey within the relation
 In each tuple of R, values of K uniquely identify that tuple
(uniqueness)
 No proper subset of K has the uniqueness property
(irreducibility)
 In simple words, superkey with minimal attributes
 Instance of a relation cannot be used to prove uniqueness
 Consider Branch relation
 branchNo or postcode
Primary Key
 Candidate key selected to identify tuples
uniquely within relation
 Consider Branch relation
 Primary key: branchNo
Alternate Keys
 Candidatekeys that are not selected to be
primary key
 Consider Branch relation
 Alternate key: postcode
Foreign Key
 Attribute, or set of attributes, within one
relation that matches candidate key of some
(possibly same) relation
 Used to represent relationship
 In the Branch relation, branchNo is the primary key
 However, in the Staff relation the branchNo attribute
exists to match staff to the branch office they work in
 In the Staff relation, branchNo is a foreign key
 branchNo in the Staff relation targets the primary key
attribute branchNo in the home relation, Branch
Representing Relational Database Schemas

 Conceptual schema or conceptual model


Branch (branchNo, street, city, postcode)
Staff (staffNo, Name, position, sex, DOB, salary, branchNo)
Integrity Constraints
 We need to understand Nulls before
starting discussion on integrity constraints
 Null
 Represents value for an attribute that is currently
unknown or not applicable for tuple
 Deals with incomplete or exceptional data
 Represents the absence of a value and is not the same as
zero or spaces, which are values
Types of Integrity Constraints
 Entityintegrity constraint
 Referential integrity constraint
Entity Integrity Constraint
 In
a base relation, no attribute of a primary
key can be null
Referential Integrity Constraint
 If foreign key exists in a relation, either
foreign key value must match a candidate
key value of some tuple in its home relation
or foreign key value must be wholly null
Example: Referential Integrity
 For Example: branchNo in Staff relation is
foreign key from Branch relation
 It should not be allowed to create Staff record with
branch number B025, unless there exists a record for
branch number B025 in Branch relation
 However, we should be able to create new Staff record
with null branch number (new Staff has joined the
company but not assigned to particular branch yet)
Violation of Referential Integrity

B025
General Constraints
 Additional rules specified by users or
database administrators that define or
constrain some aspect of the enterprise
 For example, If upper limit of 20 exists for number of
Staff that may work at a branch office
 DBMS should enforce it
 Level of support for general constraints varies from
system to system
Views in Relational Model
 Base Relation
 Named relation corresponding to an entity in conceptual
schema, whose tuples are physically stored in database
 View
 The dynamic result of one or more relational operations
operating on the base relations to produce another
relation
 A view is a virtual relation that does not necessarily exist
in the database but can be produced upon request by a
particular user, at the time of request
Views
A virtual relation that does not necessarily
actually exist in the database but is
produced upon request, at time of request
 Contents of a view are defined as a query on
one or more base relations
 Views are dynamic, meaning that changes
made to base relations that affect view
attributes are immediately reflected in the
view
Purpose of Views
 Provides powerful and flexible security
mechanism by hiding parts of database
from certain users
 Permits users to access data in a customized
way, so that same data can be seen by
different users in different ways, at same
time
 Can simplify complex operations on base
relations
Views Supporting External Model
 For example
 A user might need Branch tuples along with names of
managers
 Some members of staff should see Staff tuples without the
salary attribute
 Attributes may be renamed or the order of attributes
changed e.g. branchNo attribute of branches is
represented by Branch Number
Views & Logical Data Independence
 Views allow a more significant type of
logical data independence that supports the
reorganization of the conceptual schema
 For example, if a new attribute is added to a relation,
existing users can be unaware of its existence if their views
are defined to exclude it
 If an existing relation is rearranged or split up, a view
may be defined so that users can continue to see their
original views
Updating Views
 All updates to a base relation should be
immediately reflected in all views that
reference that base relation
 If view is updated, underlying base relation
should reflect change
Updating Views..
 There are restrictions on types of
modifications that can be made through
views:
 Updates are allowed if query involves a single base
relation and contains a candidate key of base relation
 Updates are not allowed involving multiple base relations
 Updates are not allowed involving aggregation or
grouping operations
Summary
 Relational keys
 Integrity constraints
 Views

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