B.Sc.

(General) Degree Program

Faculty of Applied Sciences
University of Sri Jayewardenepura

CSC209 2.0 Database Management Systems

Presented By:
Surani Tissera(PhD)
Department of Computer Science
 CSC 209 2.0 Database Management Systems

The Relational Data Model and Relational Database

Constraints
Chapter Outline
● Relational Model Concepts
● Relational Model Constraints and Relational
Database Schemas
● Update Operations and Dealing with Constraint
Violations

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 CSC 209 2.0 Database Management Systems

Informal Definitions
● Informally, a relation looks like a table of values.

● A relation typically contains a set of rows.

● The data elements in each row represent certain facts that correspond to
a
real-world entity or relationship
○ In the formal model, rows are called tuples

● Each column has a column header that gives an indication of the

meaning of the data items in that column
○ In the formal model, the column header is called an attribute name
(or just attribute)
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Example of a Relation

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Informal Definitions
● Key of a Relation:
○ Each row has a value of a data item (or set of items)
that uniquely identifies that row in the table
■Called the key
○ In the STUDENT table, SSN is the key

○ Sometimes row-ids or sequential numbers are

assigned as keys to identify the rows in a table
■ Called artificial key or surrogate key
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Formal Definitions - Schema

● The Schema (or description) of a Relation:
○ Denoted by R(A1, A2, .....An)
○ R is the name of the relation
○ The attributes of the relation are A1, A2, ..., An
● Example:
CUSTOMER (Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#)
○ CUSTOMER is the relation name
○ Defined over the four attributes: Cust-id, Cust-name, Address,
Phone#
● Each attribute has a domain or a set of valid values.
○ For example, the domain of Cust-id is 6 digit numbers.
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Formal Definitions - Tuple

● A tuple is an ordered set of values (enclosed in angled brackets ‘< … >’)
● Each value is derived from an appropriate domain.
● A row in the CUSTOMER relation is a 4-tuple and would consist of four
values, for example:
○ <632895, "John Smith", "101 Main St. Atlanta, GA 30332", "(404) 894-
2000">
○ This is called a 4-tuple as it has 4 values
○ A tuple (row) in the CUSTOMER relation.
● A relation is a set of such tuples (rows)

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Formal Definitions - Domain

● A domain has a logical definition:
○ Example: “USA_phone_numbers” are the set of 10 digit phone numbers
valid in the U.S.
● A domain also has a data-type or a format defined for it.
○ The USA_phone_numbers may have a format: (ddd)ddd-dddd where
each d is a decimal digit.
○ Dates have various formats such as year, month, date formatted as yyyy-
mm-dd, or as dd mm,yyyy etc.

● The attribute name designates the role played by a domain in a relation:

○ Used to interpret the meaning of the data elements corresponding to that
attribute
○ Example: The domain Date may be used to define two attributes named
“Invoice-date” and “Payment-date” with different meanings
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Formal Definitions - State

● The relation state is a subset of the Cartesian product of the
domains of its
attributes
○each domain contains the set of all possible values the attribute
can take.
● Example: attribute Cust-name is defined over the domain of
character strings of maximum length 25

○dom(Cust-name) is varchar(25)
● The role these strings play in the CUSTOMER relation is that of the
name of a customer.
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Formal Definitions - Summary

● Formally,
○ Given R(A1, A2, .........., An)
○ r(R) ⊂ dom (A1) X dom (A2) X ....X dom(An)
● R(A1, A2, …, An) is the schema of the relation
● R is the name of the relation
● A1, A2, …, An are the attributes of the relation
● r(R): a specific state (or "value" or “population”) of relation R – this is a set of
tuples (rows)
○ r(R) = {t1, t2, …, tn} where each ti is an n-tuple
○ ti = <v1, v2, …, vn> where each vj element-of dom(Aj)
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Formal Definitions - Example

● Let R(A1, A2) be a relation schema:
○ Let dom(A1) = {0,1}
○ Let dom(A2) = {a,b,c}
● Then: dom(A1) X dom(A2) is all possible combinations:
{<0,a> , <0,b> , <0,c>, <1,a>, <1,b>, <1,c> }

● The relation state r(R) ⊂ dom(A1) X dom(A2)

● For example: r(R) could be {<0,a> , <0,b> , <1,c> }
○ this is one possible state (or “population” or “extension”) r of the
relation R, defined over A1 and A2.
○ It has three 2-tuples: <0,a> , <0,b> , <1,c>
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Definition Summary
Informal Terms Formal Terms
Table Relation
Column Header Attribute
All possible Column Domain
Values
Row Tuple

Table Definition Schema of a Relation

Populated Table State of the Relation
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Example – A relation STUDENT

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Characteristics Of Relations
● Ordering of tuples in a relation r(R):
○ The tuples are not considered to be ordered, even though they appear to be
in the tabular form.

● Ordering of attributes in a relation schema R (and of values within each tuple):

○ We will consider the attributes in R(A1, A2, ..., An) and the values in t=<v1,
v2, ..., vn> to be ordered .
■ (However, a more general alternative definition of relation does not
require this ordering).

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Same state as previous Figure (but with different order of

tuples)

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Characteristics Of Relations
● Values in a tuple:
○ All values are considered atomic (indivisible).
○ Each value in a tuple must be from the domain of the attribute for that
column
■ If tuple t = <v1, v2, …, vn> is a tuple (row) in the relation state r of
R(A1, A2, …, An)
■ Then each vi must be a value from dom(Ai)

○ A special null value is used to represent values that are unknown or

inapplicable to certain tuples.

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Characteristics Of Relations
● Notation:
○ We refer to component values of a tuple t by:
■ t[Ai] or t.Ai
■ This is the value vi of attribute Ai for tuple t
○ Similarly, t[Au, Av, ..., Aw] refers to the subtuple of t containing the values
of attributes Au, Av, ..., Aw, respectively in t

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Relational Integrity Constraints

● Constraints are conditions that must hold on all valid relation states.
● There are three main types of constraints in the relational model:
○ Key constraints
○ Entity integrity constraints
○ Referential integrity constraints
● Another implicit constraint is the domain constraint
○ Every value in a tuple must be from the domain of its attribute (or it could

be null, if allowed for that attribute)

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Key Constraints
● Superkey of R:
○ Is a set of attributes SK of R with the following condition:
■ No two tuples in any valid relation state r(R) will have the same value for SK
■ That is, for any distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK] ≠ t2[SK]
■ This condition must hold in any valid state r(R)
● Key of R:
○ A "minimal" superkey
○ That is, a key is a superkey K such that removal of any attribute from K results in a
set of attributes that is not a superkey (does not possess the superkey uniqueness
property)

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Key Constraints (continued)

● Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:
○ CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
○ CAR has two keys:
■ Key1 = {State, Reg#}
■ Key2 = {SerialNo}
○ Both are also superkeys of CAR
○ {SerialNo, Make} is a superkey but not a key.
● In general:
○ Any key is a superkey (but not vice versa)
○ Any set of attributes that includes a key is a superkey
○ A minimal superkey is also a key

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Key Constraints (continued)

● If a relation has several candidate keys, one is chosen arbitrarily to be the primary key.
○ The primary key attributes are underlined.
● Example: Consider the CAR relation schema:
○ CAR(State, Reg#, SerialNo, Make, Model, Year)
○ We chose SerialNo as the primary key
● The primary key value is used to uniquely identify each tuple in a relation
○ Provides the tuple identity
● Also used to reference the tuple from another tuple
○ General rule: Choose as primary key the smallest of the candidate keys (in terms of

size)

○ Not always applicable – choice is sometimes subjective

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CAR table with two candidate keys – LicenseNumber chosen as

Primary Key

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Relational Database Schema

● Relational Database Schema:
○ A set S of relation schemas that belong to the same database.
○ S is the name of the whole database schema
○ S = {R1, R2, ..., Rn}
○ R1, R2, …, Rn are the names of the individual relation schemas within
the database S
● Following slide shows a COMPANY database schema with 6 relation
schemas

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COMPANY Database Schema

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Entity Integrity
● Entity Integrity:
○ The primary key attributes PK of each relation schema R in S cannot
have null values in any tuple of r(R).
■ This is because primary key values are used to identify the individual
tuples.
■ t[PK] ≠ null for any tuple t in r(R)
■ If PK has several attributes, null is not allowed in any of these
attributes
○ Note: Other attributes of R may be constrained to disallow null values,
even though they are not members of the primary key.

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Referential Integrity
● A constraint involving two relations
○ The previous constraints involve a single relation.
● Used to specify a relationship among tuples in two relations:
○ The referencing relation and the referenced relation.

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Referential Integrity
● Tuples in the referencing relation R1 have attributes FK (called foreign key
attributes) that reference the primary key attributes PK of the referenced
relation R2.
○ A tuple t1 in R1 is said to reference a tuple t2 in R2 if t1[FK] = t2[PK].
● A referential integrity constraint can be displayed in a relational database
schema as a directed arc from R1.FK to R2.

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Referential Integrity (or foreign key) Constraint

● Statement of the constraint
○ The value in the foreign key column (or columns) FK of the the
referencing relation R1 can be either:
■ (1) a value of an existing primary key value of a corresponding
primary key PK in the referenced relation R2, or
■ (2) a null.
● In case (2), the FK in R1 should not be a part of its own primary key.

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Displaying a relational database schema and

its constraints
● Each relation schema can be displayed as a row of attribute names
● The name of the relation is written above the attribute names
● The primary key attribute (or attributes) will be underlined
● A foreign key (referential integrity) constraints is displayed as a directed arc
(arrow) from the foreign key attributes to the referenced table

○ Can also point the the primary key of the referenced relation for clarity
● Next slide shows the COMPANY relational schema diagram

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Referential Integrity Constraints for

COMPANY database

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Other Types of Constraints

● Semantic Integrity Constraints:
○ based on application semantics and cannot be expressed by the model
per se
○ Example: “the max. no. of hours per employee for all projects he or she
works on is 56 hrs per week”
● A constraint specification language may have to be used to express these
● SQL-99 allows triggers and ASSERTIONS to express for some of these

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Populated database state

● Each relation will have many tuples in its current relation state
● The relational database state is a union of all the individual relation states
● Whenever the database is changed, a new state arises
● Basic operations for changing the database:
○ INSERT a new tuple in a relation
○ DELETE an existing tuple from a relation
○ MODIFY an attribute of an existing tuple
● Next slide shows an example state for the COMPANY database

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Populated database state for COMPANY

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Update Operations on Relations

● INSERT a tuple.
● DELETE a tuple.
● MODIFY a tuple.
● Integrity constraints should not be violated by the update operations.
● Several update operations may have to be grouped together.
● Updates may propagate to cause other updates automatically. This may be
necessary to maintain integrity constraints.

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Update Operations on Relations

● In case of integrity violation, several actions can be taken:

○ Cancel the operation that causes the violation (RESTRICT or REJECT option)

○ Perform the operation but inform the user of the violation

○ Trigger additional updates so the violation is corrected (CASCADE
option, SET NULL option)
○ Execute a user-specified error-correction routine

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Possible violations for each operation

● INSERT may violate any of the constraints:
○ Domain constraint:
■ if one of the attribute values provided for the new tuple is not of the
specified attribute domain
○ Key constraint:
■ if the value of a key attribute in the new tuple already exists in another
tuple in the relation
○ Referential integrity:
■ if a foreign key value in the new tuple references a primary key value that
does not exist in the referenced relation
○ Entity integrity:
■ If the primary key value is null in the new tuple

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Possible violations for each operation

● DELETE may violate only referential integrity:
○ If the primary key value of the tuple being deleted is referenced from
other tuples in the database
■ Can be remedied by several actions: RESTRICT, CASCADE, SET
NULL
● RESTRICT option: reject the deletion
● CASCADE option: propagate the new primary key value into the
foreign keys of the referencing tuples
● SET NULL option: set the foreign keys of the referencing tuples
to NULL
○ One of the above options must be specified during database design for
each foreign key constraint
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Possible violations for each operation

● UPDATE may violate domain constraint and NOT NULL constraint on an
attribute being modified
● Any of the other constraints may also be violated, depending on the attribute
being updated:
○ Updating the primary key (PK):
■ Similar to a DELETE followed by an INSERT
■ Need to specify similar options to DELETE
○ Updating a foreign key (FK):
■ May violate referential integrity
○ Updating an ordinary attribute (neither PK nor FK):
■ Can only violate domain constraints

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Summary
● Presented Relational Model Concepts
○ Definitions
○ Characteristics of relations
● Discussed Relational Model Constraints and Relational Database Schemas
○ Domain constraints’
○ Key constraints
○ Entity integrity
○ Referential integrity
● Described the Relational Update Operations and Dealing with Constraint Violation

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In-Class Exercise
(Taken from Exercise 5.15)
Consider the following relations for a database that keeps track of
student enrollment in courses and the books adopted for each course:
STUDENT(SSN, Name, Major, Bdate)
COURSE(Course#, Cname, Dept)
ENROLL(SSN, Course#, Quarter, Grade)
BOOK_ADOPTION(Course#, Quarter, Book_ISBN)

TEXT(Book_ISBN, Book_Title, Publisher, Author)

Draw a relational schema diagram specifying the foreign keys for this
schema.

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