Chapter 1

Introduction to Object Oriented

Databases
Contents:
 Background
 Basic OO concepts
 OO DB schema design
 Main Features of OO Data model
 Standards of OO model
 Object Definition Language
 Object Query Language

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 2

 Background
 Relational DBMSs support a small, fixed collection of
data types (e.g. integer, dates, string, etc.) which has
proven adequate for traditional application domains such
as administrative and business data processing. RDBMSs
support very high-level queries, query optimization,
transactions, backup and crash recovery, etc.
 However, many other application domains need complex
kinds of data such as CAD/CAM, multimedia
repositories, and document management.
 Object-oriented strongly influenced efforts to enhance
database support for complex data and led to the
development of object-database systems.
Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 3
 Layers of Database Design

Relational Normalization & SQL

ER diagram RDBMS
database design Physical design table definitions
Mapping onto
Relations
(no operations)

UML class Mapping onto

Object-Relational Normalization & Extended-SQL
Relations and Object
Physical design table definitions ORDBMS
diagram types database design

Mapping directly
onto ODL classes

Object-Oriented
database schema Optimization OODBMS
in ODL

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 4

 RELATIONAL MODEL
 Relations are the key concept, everything
else is around relations
 Primitive data types, e.g., strings, integer,
date, etc.
 Great normalization, query optimization, and
theory
 What is missing??
 Handling of complex objects
 Handling of complex data types
 Code is not coupled with data
 No inheritance, encapsulation, etc.

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Object-database systems paths:
 A database system that incorporates all the important
object-oriented concepts
 Object-database systems have developed along two
distinct paths:
 (1)Object-Oriented Database Systems. The approach is
heavily influenced by OO programming languages and can be
understood as an attempt to add DBMS functionality to a
programming language environment.
 The Object Database Management Group (ODMG) has
developed a standard Object Data Model (ODM) and Object
Query Language (OQL), which are the equivalent of the SQL
standard for relational database systems.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 6

Object-database systems paths:
 (2) Object-Relational Database Systems. ORDB
systems can be thought of as an attempt to extend
relational database systems with the functionality
necessary to support a broader class of application
domains, provide a bridge between the relational and
object-oriented paradigms. This approach attempts to
get the best of both.
 The SQL:1999 (also known as SQL3) standard extends SQL to
incorporate support for ORDB systems
 RDDMS vendors, such as IBM, Informix, ORACLE have added
ORDBMS functionality to their products.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 7

 Basic OO concepts
 A conceptual entity is anything that exists and can
be distinctly identified.
 E.g. a person, an employee, a car, a part
 In an OO system, all conceptual entities are
modeled as objects.
 An object has structural properties defined by a
finite set of attributes and behavioural properties
defined by a finite set of methods.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 8

 Basic OO concepts …
 Each object is associated with a logical non-reusable
and unique object identifier (OID). The OID of an
object is independent of the values of its attributes.
 All objects with the same set of attributes and
methods are grouped into a class, and form instances
of that class.
 Classes are classified as lexical classes and non-lexical
classes.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 9

 Basic OO concepts …
 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.
 Instances of a non-lexical class are referred to by their
OIDs.
 E.g. PERSON, EMPLOYEE, PART are non-lexical
classes.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 10

 OO Schema Design
 Entity-Relationship Diagrams can be extended to
support OO schema design.
 All the structural properties of the OO approach can be
expressed in or derived from an ER diagram.
 E.g. subclass-superclass relationship: ISA, UNION
composite object: IS-PART-OF existentially dependent
object: EX and ID dependent relationships
 Methods and derived attributes can be defined for both
entity types and relationship types

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 11

 OO Schema Design …
 An ER diagram augmented with methods is called
an OOER diagram.
 An OOER diagram is a normal form OOER
diagram if its corresponding ER diagram is a NF-
ER diagram, and there are no inheritance conflicts
in its ISA hierarchies.

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 12

 OOER Diagram

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 13

 Class Diagram
 UML class diagram also allows you to
model OO schema

generali
tion

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 14

 OBJECT-ORIENTED MODEL
Features
 Relations are not the central concept, classes
and objects are the main concept
 Object-Oriented DBMS(OODBMS) are DBMS based
on an Object- Oriented Data Model inspired by OO
programming languages
 Main Features:
• Powerful type system
• Classes
• Object Identity
• Inheritance

 OODBMS are capable of storing complex objects,

i.e., objects that are composed of other objects,
and/or multi-valued attributes.

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 FEATURE 1: POWERFUL TYPE SYSTEM

 Primitive types
• Integer, string, date, Boolean, float, etc.
 Structure type
• Attribute can be a record with a schema
• E.g Struct {integer x, string y}
 Collection type
• Attribute can be a Set, Bag, List, Array of
other types
 Reference type
• Attribute can be a Pointer to another object

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 16

 FEATURE 2: CLASSES
• A ‘class’ is in replacement of ‘relation’
• Same concept as in OO programming languages

• All objects belonging to a same class share

the same properties and behaviour
• An ‘object’ can be thought of as ‘tuple’ (but
richer content)
• Classes encapsulate data + methods +
relationships, unlike relations that contain
data only
• In OODBMSs objects are persistency (unlike
OO programming languages)

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 17

 FEATURE 3: OBJECT IDENTITY
 OID is a unique identity of each object regardless of
its content
 Even if all attributes are the same, still objects have different
OIDs

 Easier for references

 An object is made of two things:

 State: attributes (name, address, birthDate of a person)
 Behaviour: operations (age of a person is computed from
birthDate and current date)

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 18

 FEATURE 4: INHERITANCE

 A class can be defined in terms of Person

another one. name: {firstName: string,

middleName: string,
lastName:
string}
birthDate:
address: date
string
 Person is super-class and Student age(): Integer

is sub-class. changeAddress(newAdd: string)

 Student class inherits attributes Student

and operations of Person. regNum: string {PK}

major: string
register(C: Course): boolean

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 19

 STANDARDS FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED
MODEL
• ODMG: Object Data Management Group (1991)
• provide a standard where previously there was none
• support portability between products
• standardize model, querying and programming issues

• Language of specifying the structure of object

database
• ODL: Object Definition Language
• OQL: Object Query Language

• ODL is somehow similar to DDL (Data Definition

Language) in SQL

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 20

 ODL: CLASSES & ATTRIBUTES

Keyword attribute

Two classes with their attributes

Attribute as a structure

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 ODL: RELATIONSHIPS

Keyword relationship

Keyword set

Set: set of unsorted unique

objects

Bag: set of unsorted objects

with possible duplication

List: set of sorted list

Array: set of sorted list

referenced by index
Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 22
 ODL: METHODS

Three methods declarations

Parameters are either

IN, OUT, or INOUT

Definition (implementation) is
not part of the class

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 ODL: INHERITANCE

• Same Idea as in OO programming (C++ or Java)

• Subclass inherits all attributes, relationships, and methods
• Plus adding additional fields
Keyword extends

Cartoon movie is a movie

with voices of characters

Murder movie is a movie

with the weapons used

Inherits from two other

classes

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 24

 ODL: INSTANCES & KEYS
• Instance of a class are all objects currently exist of that class
• In ODL that is called extent (and is given a name)
• Keys are not as important for referencing objects
• Because each object already has a unique OID
• Defining keys in ODL is optional
• ODL allows defining multiple keys (Comma separated)
Keywords extent & key

The key is the pair of (title, year)

The key is the pair of (empID,

SSN)

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Two keys empID and SSN Slide 25
 OQL: OBJECT-ORIENTED QUERY
LANGUAGE
• OQL is a query language designed to operate on
databases described in ODL.

• Tries to bring some concepts from the relational model to

the ODBMs
• E.g., the SELECT statement, joins, aggregation, etc.

• Reference of class properties (attributes, relationships,

and methods) using:
• Dot notation (p.a), or
• Arrow notation (p->a)

• In OQL both notations are equivalent

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 26

 OQL: EXAMPLE QUERIES I
Reference the extent (instance of class)

Select the year of movie ‘Gone with the wind’

For each movie m, s is the set of stars in

that movie (follow a relationship)

Select star names from movie ‘Casablanca’

Another notation

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 27

 OQL: EXAMPLE QUERIES II

Select distinct star names in movies owned by ‘Disney’

subquery

order movies owned by ‘Disney’ based on length and title

Report set of structures

Join two classes

Report pairs of stats who have the same address

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 28

 OQL OUTPUT

• Unlike SQL which produces relations, OQL produces

collection (set, bag, list) of objects
• The object can be of any type

Set of strings

Set of objects of type Movie

Set of structures

Advanced Database System – Ch-1: OO Database Slide 29