Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e Appendix B The Semantic Object Model

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/2 Copyright © 2004 Introduction  The semantic object model is a data model which result in a database design –It was first presented in 1988  The E-R model and the semantic object model may be used to study and document the users’ data –However, the designs they produce may not be exactly the same

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/3 Copyright © 2004 Different Data Models for Database Designs  The goals of the early stages of database development are to determine entities or objects, attributes, and relationships

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/4 Copyright © 2004 Different Data Models for Database Designs

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/5 Copyright © 2004 Semantic Objects  A semantic object is a named collection of attributes that sufficiently describes a distinct identity –Semantic objects are grouped into classes with names that distinguish one class from other classes –A particular semantic object is an instance of the class  An object has a collection of attributes –Each attribute represents a characteristic of the identity being represented  Objects represent distinct identities, i.e., they are recognized as independent and separate and that users want to track and report

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/6 Copyright © 2004 Attributes  Attributes define semantic objects’ characteristics  Three types of attributes –Simple attributes have a single element –Group attributes are composites of other attributes –Object attributes or object links are attributes that establish a relationship between one semantic object and another  Paired attributes: If an object contains another object, the second object will contain the first

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/7 Copyright © 2004 Object Diagram  Object diagrams are used to summarize the structures of objects and to present them visually

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/8 Copyright © 2004 Object Diagram

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/9 Copyright © 2004 Attribute Cardinality  Each attribute has both a minimum and a maximum cardinality  Minimum cardinality indicates the number of instances of the attribute that must exist for the object to be valid –If it is 0, the attribute is not required to have a value –if it is 1, it must have a value –Minimum cardinality can sometimes be larger than 1  Maximum cardinality indicates the maximum number of instances of the attribute that the object may have –If it is 1, the attribute can have no more than one instance –If it is N, the attribute can have many values, and the absolute number is not specified –Maximum cardinality can be a specific number

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/10 Copyright © 2004 Object Instances

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/11 Copyright © 2004 Object Identifiers  An object identifier is one or more object attributes that the users employ to identify object instances –Identifiers, denoted by “ID” in front of the attribute, are potential names for a semantic object  A group identifier is an identifier that has more than one attribute –Examples: {FirstName, LastName}  Object identifiers may or may not be unique  If an attribute is to be used as an identifier, its value is required  Normally, cardinality of an ID attribute is 1.1

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/12 Copyright © 2004 Attribute Domains  Attribute domain is a description of an attribute’s possible values  Simple attribute domain consists of –Physical description indicates the type and length of data and other constraints It can be an enumerated list, i.e., the set of an attribute’s specific values –Example: {‘Blue’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Red’} –Semantic description indicates the function or purpose of the attribute

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/13 Copyright © 2004 Attribute Domains (cont.)  Group attribute domain consists of –Physical description is a list and order of all of the attributes in the group –Semantic description is the function or purpose of the group  Object attribute domain is the set of object instances of that type –It is a dynamically enumerated list, i.e., the list contains all of the object instances of a particular type

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/14 Copyright © 2004 Semantic Object Views  Semantic object view, or view, is a portion of an object that is visible to a particular application  A view consists of the name of the object plus a list of all of the attributes visible from that view  Views can be used –To develop the data model –To support new forms, reports, and queries based on the existing database structure

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/15 Copyright © 2004 Semantic Object Views

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/16 Copyright © 2004 Types of Objects  Seven types of objects –Simple object –Composite object –Compound object –Hybrid object –Association object –Parent/subtype object –Archetype/version object  A single-value attribute is an attribute whose maximum cardinality is 1  A multi-value attribute is one whose maximum cardinality is greater than 1  A non-object attribute is a simple or group attribute

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/17 Copyright © 2004 Simple Objects  A simple object contains only single-value, simple, or group attributes

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/18 Copyright © 2004 Simple Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/19 Copyright © 2004 Composite Objects  A composite object is a semantic object that contains one or more multi-value, simple or group attributes but no object attributes

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/20 Copyright © 2004 Composite Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/21 Copyright © 2004 Composite Objects (Cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/22 Copyright © 2004 Composite Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/23 Copyright © 2004 Composite Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/24 Copyright © 2004 Compound Objects  A compound object contains at least one object attribute  Four types of compound objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/25 Copyright © :1 Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/26 Copyright © :1 Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/27 Copyright © 2004 Representing 1:1 Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/28 Copyright © 2004 Transforming 1:1 Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/29 Copyright © :N Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/30 Copyright © 2004 Representing 1:N Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/31 Copyright © 2004 Transforming 1:N Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/32 Copyright © 2004 N:M Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/33 Copyright © 2004 N:M Compound Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/34 Copyright © 2004 Representing N:M Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/35 Copyright © 2004 Transforming N:M Compound Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/36 Copyright © 2004 Hybrid Objects  A hybrid object is a semantic object with at least one multi-value group attribute that includes a semantic object attribute –It is a combination of composite and compound objects  Hybrid object cardinality

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/37 Copyright © 2004 Hybrid Objects (cont.)  Hybrid object cardinality

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/38 Copyright © 2004 Hybrid Object Cardinality

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/39 Copyright © 2004 Transforming Hybrid Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/40 Copyright © 2004 Association Objects  An association object is an object that relates two (or more) objects and stores data that are peculiar to that relationship

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/41 Copyright © 2004 Association Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/42 Copyright © 2004 Transforming Association Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/43 Copyright © 2004 Parent/Subtype Objects  A subtype acquires, or inherits, all of the attributes of its parent –Subscript P indicate the first attribute of a subtype, the parent attribute –Identifiers of the subtype are the same as the identifiers of the parent  Subtype attributes have subscript 0.ST or 1.ST –0 or 1 is the minimum cardinality and ST indicates that the attribute is a subtype  An object may contain more than one subtype attribute

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/44 Copyright © 2004 Parent/Subtype Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/45 Copyright © 2004 Parent/Subtype Objects (cont.)

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/46 Copyright © 2004 Exclusive Subtype

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/47 Copyright © 2004 Nested Subtype

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/48 Copyright © 2004 Transforming Parent/Subtype Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/49 Copyright © 2004 Archetype/Version Objects  An archetype object is a semantic object that produces other semantic objects that represent versions, releases, or editions of the archetype

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/50 Copyright © 2004 Archetype/Version Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/51 Copyright © 2004 Transforming Archetype/Version Objects

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/52 Copyright © 2004 Semantic Object Vs. E-R Model  Both models are tools for understanding and documenting the structure of the users’ data  The E-R model takes the concept of atomic entity –These atoms can be combined to form user views  The semantic object model takes the concept of semantic object –Set of semantic objects is a map of the user’s essential data structure –Only semantic objects, not entities, have meaning to users –Semantic objects are semantically self-contained or semantically complete which can be readily transformed into database designs

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/53 Copyright © 2004 Example: Semantic Objects Model

Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e by David M. KroenkeAppendix B/54 Copyright © 2004 Example: Entity-Relationship Model

Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation, 9/e Appendix B The Semantic Object Model