CSC 220: Database Management Systems

Lecture-5: Enhanced Entity Relationship (EER)

Instructor: Faima Abbasi

 inheritance
These are fundamental to conceptual modeling
 The additional EER concepts are used to model
applications more completely and more accurately
 EER includes some object-oriented concepts, such as
inheritance
Subclasses and Superclasses (1)
 An entity type may have additional meaningful
subgroupings of its entities
 Example: EMPLOYEE may be further grouped into:

SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN, …
 Based on the EMPLOYEE’s Job

MANAGER
 EMPLOYEEs who are managers

SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
 Based on the EMPLOYEE’s method of pay
 EER diagrams extend ER diagrams to represent these
additional subgroupings, called subclasses or subtypes
Subclasses and Superclasses
Subclasses and Superclasses (2)
 Each of these subgroupings is a subset of EMPLOYEE
entities
 Each is called a subclass of EMPLOYEE
 EMPLOYEE is the superclass for each of these
subclasses
 These are called superclass/subclass
relationships:
 EMPLOYEE/SECRETARY

 EMPLOYEE/TECHNICIAN
 EMPLOYEE/MANAGER
 …
Subclasses and Superclasses (3)
 These are also called IS-A relationships
 SECRETARY IS-A EMPLOYEE, TECHNICIAN IS-A
EMPLOYEE, ….
 Note: An entity that is member of a subclass represents
the same real-world entity as some member of the
superclass:
 The subclass member is the same entity in a distinct
specific role
 An entity cannot exist in the database merely by being a
member of a subclass; it must also be a member of the
superclass
 A member of the superclass can be optionally included as a
member of any number of its subclasses
Subclasses and Superclasses (4)
 Examples:
 A salaried employee who is also an engineer belongs to
the two subclasses:

ENGINEER, and

SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
 A salaried employee who is also an engineering manager
belongs to the three subclasses:

MANAGER,

ENGINEER, and

SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
 It is not necessary that every entity in a superclass be a
member of some subclass
Representing Specialization in EER
Diagrams
Attribute Inheritance in Superclass /
Subclass Relationships
 An entity that is member of a subclass inherits
 All attributes of the entity as a member of the
superclass
 All relationships of the entity as a member of the
superclass
 Example:
 In the previous slide, SECRETARY (as well as
TECHNICIAN and ENGINEER) inherit the
attributes Name, SSN, …, from EMPLOYEE
 Every SECRETARY entity will have values for the
inherited attributes
Specialization (1)
 Specialization is the process of defining a set of
subclasses of a superclass
 The set of subclasses is based upon some
distinguishing characteristics of the entities in the
superclass
 Example: {SECRETARY, ENGINEER,
TECHNICIAN} is a specialization of EMPLOYEE
based upon job type.
 May have several specializations of the same
superclass
Specialization (2)
 Example: Another specialization of EMPLOYEE based on
method of pay is {SALARIED_EMPLOYEE,
HOURLY_EMPLOYEE}.
 Superclass/subclass relationships and specialization can be
diagrammatically represented in EER diagrams
 Attributes of a subclass are called specific or local
attributes.

For example, the attribute TypingSpeed of SECRETARY
 The subclass can also participate in specific relationship
types.
 For example, a relationship BELONGS_TO of
HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
Specialization (3)
Generalization
 Generalization is the reverse of the specialization process
 Several classes with common features are generalized
into a superclass;
 original classes become its subclasses
 Example: CAR, TRUCK generalized into VEHICLE;
 both CAR, TRUCK become subclasses of the superclass
VEHICLE.
 We can view {CAR, TRUCK} as a specialization of
VEHICLE
 Alternatively, we can view VEHICLE as a generalization of
CAR and TRUCK
Generalization (2)
Generalization and Specialization (1)
 Diagrammatic notation are sometimes used to
distinguish between generalization and
specialization
 Arrow pointing to the generalized superclass
represents a generalization
 Arrows pointing to the specialized subclasses
represent a specialization
 We do not use this notation because it is often
subjective as to which process is more appropriate
for a particular situation
 We advocate not drawing any arrows
Generalization and Specialization (2)
 Data Modeling with Specialization and
Generalization
 A superclass or subclass represents a collection
(or set or grouping) of entities
 It also represents a particular type of entity
 Shown in rectangles in EER diagrams (as are
entity types)
 We can call all entity types (and their
corresponding collections) classes, whether they
are entity types, superclasses, or subclasses
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (1)
 If we can determine exactly those entities that will
become members of each subclass by a
condition, the subclasses are called predicate-
defined (or condition-defined) subclasses
 Condition is a constraint that determines subclass
members
 Display a predicate-defined subclass by writing the
predicate condition next to the line attaching the
subclass to its superclass
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (2)
 If all subclasses in a specialization have membership
condition on same attribute of the superclass,
specialization is called an attribute-defined specialization
 Attribute is called the defining attribute of the specialization
 Example: JobType is the defining attribute of the
specialization {SECRETARY, TECHNICIAN, ENGINEER} of
EMPLOYEE
 If no condition determines membership, the subclass is
called user-defined
 Membership in a subclass is determined by the database
users by applying an operation to add an entity to the
subclass
 Membership in the subclass is specified individually for
each entity in the superclass by the user
Displaying an attribute-defined
specialization in EER diagrams
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (3)
 Two basic constraints can apply to a
specialization/generalization:
 Disjointness Constraint:
 Completeness Constraint:
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (4)
 Disjointness Constraint:
 Specifies that the subclasses of the specialization
must be disjoint:
 an entity can be a member of at most one of the
subclasses of the specialization
 Specified by d in EER diagram
 If not disjoint, specialization is overlapping:
 that is the same entity may be a member of more
than one subclass of the specialization
 Specified by o in EER diagram
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (5)
 Completeness Constraint:
 Total specifies that every entity in the superclass
must be a member of some subclass in the
specialization/generalization
 Shown in EER diagrams by a double line
 Partial allows an entity not to belong to any of the
subclasses
 Shown in EER diagrams by a single line
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (6)
 Hence, we have four types of

specialization/generalization:
 Disjoint, total

 Disjoint, partial
 Overlapping, total
 Overlapping, partial
 Note: Generalization usually is total because the
superclass is derived from the subclasses.
Example of disjoint partial Specialization
Example of overlapping total Specialization
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (1)
 A subclass may itself have further subclasses
specified on it
 forms a hierarchy or a lattice
 Hierarchy has a constraint that every subclass
has only one superclass (called single
inheritance); this is basically a tree structure
 In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of more
than one superclass (called multiple
inheritance)
Shared Subclass “Engineering_Manager”
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (2)
 In a lattice or hierarchy, a subclass inherits attributes not
only of its direct superclass, but also of all its predecessor
superclasses
 A subclass with more than one superclass is called a
shared subclass (multiple inheritance)
 Can have:
 specialization hierarchies or lattices, or
 generalization hierarchies or lattices,
 depending on how they were derived
 We just use specialization (to stand for the end result of
either specialization or generalization)
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (3)
 In specialization, start with an entity type and
then define subclasses of the entity type by
successive specialization
 called a top down conceptual refinement process
 In generalization, start with many entity types and
generalize those that have common properties
 Called a bottom up conceptual synthesis process
 In practice, a combination of both processes is
usually employed
Specialization / Generalization Lattice
Example (UNIVERSITY)
Categories (UNION TYPES) (1)
 All of the superclass/subclass relationships we have seen
thus far have a single superclass
 A shared subclass is a subclass in:
 more than one distinct superclass/subclass relationships
 each relationships has a single superclass
 shared subclass leads to multiple inheritance
 In some cases, we need to model a single
superclass/subclass relationship with more than one
superclass
 Superclasses can represent different entity types
 Such a subclass is called a category or UNION TYPE
Categories (UNION TYPES) (2)
 Example: In a database for vehicle registration, a vehicle
owner can be a PERSON, a BANK (holding a lien on a
vehicle) or a COMPANY.
 A category (UNION type) called OWNER is created to
represent a subset of the union of the three superclasses
COMPANY, BANK, and PERSON
 A category member must exist in at least one of its
superclasses
 Difference from shared subclass, which is a:
 subset of the intersection of its superclasses
 shared subclass member must exist in all of its superclasses
Two categories (UNION types):
OWNER, REGISTERED_VEHICLE
Alternative diagrammatic notations
 ER/EER diagrams are a specific notation for
displaying the concepts of the model
diagrammatically
 DB design tools use many alternative notations
for the same or similar concepts
 One popular alternative notation uses UML class
diagrams
 see next slides for UML class diagrams and other
alternative notations
UML Example for Displaying
Specialization / Generalization
Bank EER
Exercise I
Consider an online auction database system in which members (buyers and sellers)
participate in the sale of items. The data requirements for this system are
summarized as follows:
• The online site has members who are identified by a unique member id and are
described by an email address, their name, a password, their home address, and
a phone number.
• User accounts are categorized as buyer and seller. A member is a buyer or a
seller, can not be both of them at the same time.
• A buyer has a shipping address recorded in the database. A seller has a bank
account number and routing number recorded in the database.
• Items are placed by a seller for sale and are identified by a unique item number
assigned by the system. Items are also described by an item title, an item
description, a starting bid price, bidding increment, the start date of the auction,
and the end date of the auction.
• Items are also categorized as COMPUTER,HARDWARE,MODEM. An item must
belong to one of these categories and it may belong to more then one at the
same time.
• Buyers make bids for items they are interested in. A bidding price and time of
bid placement is recorded. The person at the end of the auction with the
highest bid price is declared the winner and a transaction between the buyer
and the seller may proceed soon after.
Exercise II
A well-known bicycle company stores its data in a special database. Company has
customers and products.
• All customers have a unique customer_id.
• Customers are categorized as foreign customers or domestic customers. A
customer must be foreign or domestic, and can not belong to both of the
categories at the same time.
• Foreign customers are identified by their unique id, currency, company name
and address composed of city state and zipcode.
• Domestic customers are identified by their unique id, name and address.
Domestic customers may have more than one address information.
• Products are identified by unique product_id, model, type and price.
• Only two type of products are produced in this company. These product types
are Bike and Mountain Bike.
• Each bike has color and cycle attributes.
• Each mountain bike has cycling team attribute.
• A product may belong to at least one of this types. Moreover it may belong to
both of them at the same time.
• Customers may request products. And a product may be requested by more
than one customer, also it may not be requested by any customer at all.
• When a product is requested or ordered by a customer; request id, request
type and request content information is stored.
Summary
 Introduced the EER model concepts
 Class/subclass relationships
 Specialization and generalization
 Inheritance