IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Logical Database Design &

Relational Model

Lecture - 06

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IT1090 - Information Systems and Data Modeling

Learning Outcome
LO3: Model data requirements using data models

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In this lecture you will learn

What is logical database design?

How to derive a logical model from the information

represented in the ER model (conceptual model)

We focus on one type of logical model which is

relational model

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Relational Model
•Data model on which most DBMS implementations
are based. CODD 1970

•Simple & elegant mod:

• Everything is a relation (= table)
Every relation is a table with rows &
columns

•There are standard ways to convert from

ER model (Conceptual Model )

Relational model (Logical Model )

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Relational Model (contd.)

The relational model represents the database as a
collection of relations.

Relation consists of
Relation schema
Relation instance (table)

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Relation
RELATION:
Schema
Instance

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Relation Schema
Describes the column heads (attributes) of the
relation

name of the relation,

name of each filed,
domain of each field

Domain : is described by domain name and set

of associated values.

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Relation Schema
Schema Name(relation name)

•Students
(sid:string,
name:string,
login:string, domain
Field name
age :integer,
gpa :real )

• Domain GPA : real (0-4)

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Relation Instance
Set of tuples or records or rows :
Each tuple has the same number of fields as the
relation schema
Example : Relation Instance

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Degree of a relation
The degree of R is the number of attributes in R
(ID,Name,Address,Phone)=4

ID Name Address Phone

100 Sampath Moratuwa 01992883
110 Amali Colombo -3 01983733
120 Sanath Negombo null

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Example
Make a list of students in the class, keeping their ID,
name and phone number.
ID Name Phone
S01 Mike 111
S02 Elisa 222

This is the basic structure of the relation model, a

table or relation.

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Formalizing : Relations
Definition: A relation is a named table of data
Table is made up of rows (records or tuples), and columns
(attributes or fields)
Not all tables qualify as relations. Requirements:
1. Every relation has a unique name
2. Every attribute value is atomic (not multivalued, not
composite)
3. Every row is unique (can’t have two rows with exactly the same
values for all their fields)
4. Attributes (columns) in tables have unique names
5. The order of the columns is irrelevant
6. The order of the rows is irrelevant

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Formalizing Key Fields

Primary key (PK)

Minimal set of attributes that uniquely identifies a
row
This is how we can guarantee that all rows are unique

Foreign key (FK)

Set of attributes in a table that serves as a reference
to the primary key of another table

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Foreign Key
A constraint involving two relations
referencing relation
referenced relation.
Tuples in the referencing relation have attributes FK
(called foreign key attributes) that reference the
primary key attributes PK of the referenced relation
referencing Enrolled (cid ,grade, studid) FK

referenced Students (sid, name ,login, age, gpa)

PK
Display the foreign keys by drawing an arrow from the
foreign key to the primary key

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Integrity Constraints - IC
DBMS must prevent entry of incorrect information.
To prevent : Constraints / conditions are specified on
a relational schema = ICs
Database which satisfies all constraints specified on
a database schema is a legal instance.
DBMS enforces constraints - permits only legal
instances to be stored.
When the application is run the DBMS checks for the
violation and disallows the changes to the data that
violates the specified IC.
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Integrity Constraints
Specified and enforced at different times.

Specified : When the DBA /end user defines

the data base schema

Enforced : When database application is run

DBMS checks for violations
Disallow violating entries

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Integrity Constraints
Many kinds of ICs:

Domain constraints
Key constraints
Entity integrity constraints
Referential integrity constraints

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Domain Constraints
•Domain constraints: value in the Column must be
drawn from the domain associated with that
column

•Restricts the :
• Type
• Values that can appear in the field
Eg.
• Name Char (25)
• GPA (real >=0, =<4)

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Key constraints
Is a statement that;
A certain minimal subset of the fields of a relation
is a unique identifier for a tuple.

Which Means
Two tuples in a legal instance cannot have
identical values in all the fields of a key.

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Constraints…
•Entity Integrity Constraints: states that primary key
values cannot be null.
• This is because primary key values are used to identify
the individual tuples.
•Referential Integrity Constraints
• Sometimes information stored in one relation is linked
to information stored in another relation.
• If one is modified the other must be modified to keep
the data consistent.
• An IC involving both relations must be specified.
• IC involving 2 relations is a foreign key constraint.
• Foreign keys enforce referential integrity constraints.

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Referential Integrity
The value in the foreign key column ( can be either:
a value of an existing primary key in the referenced relati
or a null.

FK
cid grade stuid PK Students
Carnatic101 C 53666 sid name login age gpa
B 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
Reggae203 53666
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
Topology112 A 53650
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
History105 B 53666

Enrolled
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DB operations & Constraints

IC are specified when a relation is created and enforced
(checked) when a relation is modified.

3 types of modifications to the relation :

Insert : inserts a new tuple(s) into a relation.

Delete : delete tuple(s) in a relation.

Update : changes the values of some attributes in

existing tuples .

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Insert Operation
The insert operation can violate the following
constraints:
Domain constraints (invalid value)
Key constraints (duplicate key values)
Entity integrity constraints (null primary key value)
Referential integrity constraint (non-existing
primary key value)

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Examples
Students sid name login age gpa
53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8

Domain constraints (invalid value)

Insert <‘abc’,’Tom’,’tom@lk’,’17’,3.2>into Students
sid value is not in the domain

Enrolled cid Grade sid

IT A 53666
IS B 53650

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Examples
Students sid name login age gpa
53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8

Key constraints (duplicate key values)

Insert <‘53666’,’Tom’,’tom@lk’,’17’,3.2>into Students

Enrolled cid Grade sid

IT A 53666
IS B 53650

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Examples
sid name login age gpa
Students
53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8

Entity integrity constraints (null primary key value)

Insert <null,’Tom’,’tom@lk’,’17’,3.2>into Students

Enrolled cid Grade sid

IT A 53666
IS B 53650

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Examples Students sid name login age gpa

53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8

Referential integrity constraint (non-existing primary key

value)
Insert <‘IT’,’A’,’53900’>into Enrolled

Enrolled cid Grade sid

IT A 53666
IS B 53650

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Delete Operation
•Delete operation can violate referential integrity.
Enrolled Students
cid grade stuid sid name login age gpa
Carnatic101 C 53666 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
Reggae203 B 53666 53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
Topology112 A 53650 53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
•Two
History105
options:B 53666
• Reject the deletion
• Cascade the delete

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Update Operation
Update operation can be considered as a deleting a
tuple and re-inserting the tuple with new values.
All constraints discussed in Insert & Delete need to
be considered.
Domain constraints (invalid value)
Key constraints (duplicate key values)
Entity integrity constraints (null primary key
value)
Referential integrity constraint (non-existing
primary key value)
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ER to Relational Mapping…
In the Database Design process, we firstly derive a
conceptual model (ER Diagram)
This model needs to be mapped to the relational model
in order to be implemented using a relational DBMS
(RDBMS). Moving from Conceptual (ER) to lower level
Logical Model (Relational)
ER is independent of the details of the implementation
(relational, network or OO)_
This section discusses the rules that can be used for this
process

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Mapping: Regular Entity

ER Model Relational Model

Entity(strong)  Relation

For example,
name ARTIST

Primary key Artist ID name

ID
Primary key
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Mapping: Composite Attribute

ER Model Relational
Model
Composite attributes  Set of simple atomic
attributes
EMPLOYEE

Employee surname firstname

fullname
firstname

surname
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Mapping: Multivalued Attributes

ER Model Relational Model
Multivalued attribute  Relation & Foreign Key

Employee
Employee
name id name

id phone
Employee_contact

phone id

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Mapping:1:1 with Total & Partial

participation
If there is a 1:1 relationship R from entity A to B
and if B is in total participation with A on R then
the foreign key is placed in B.
Employee

eid

Employee manage
Dept Dept

eid dno mgreno

dno
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Mapping:1:1 with total participation

If there is a 1:1 relationship R from entity A to B and if A
and B are both in total participation with R then A & B
can be collapsed as 1 table

A has B AB

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Mapping :1:N Conversion

1:N relationships, post the identifier (Primary Key) from
the ‘one’ side as an attribute into the ‘many’ side.

C-TYPE
C-MAX C-NAME

Course C-ID
TEL
1 DIRECTOR
FK
Is registered

N S-DEGREE

Student
S-DOB

S-ID S-NAME
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Mapping : M:N Conversion

FK

FK

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Mapping ..N-array Relationships

ER Model Relational Model
N-ary relationship “Relationship” relation
and n foreign keys
B
A
pkA pkB

A B
R pkA pkB pkC pkD
r
C D
C D pkC pkD

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Mapping Weak Entities … (contd.)

ER Model Relational Model
Weak Entity Relations and combination of
partial and primary keys

1
Employee EMPLOYEE

Policy id
id
N
name Dependents DEPENDENTS

id name age
age
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Your Turn – Map to a Relational

Schema

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Lecture Outline
• ER-to-Relational Mapping Algorithm

– Step 1: Mapping of Regular Entity Types

• Multivalued attributes.
• Composite attributes

– Step 2: Mapping of Weak Entity Types

– Step 3: Mapping of Binary 1:1 Relation Types
– Step 4: Mapping of Binary 1:N Relationship Types.
– Step 5: Mapping of Binary M:N Relationship Types.
– Step 6: Mapping of N-array Relationship Types.
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Summary of Mapping constructs and constraints

Correspondence between ER and Relational Models

ER Model Relational Model
Entity type “Entity” relation
1:1 or 1:N relationship type Foreign key (or “relationship” relation)
M:N relationship type “Relationship” relation and two foreign keys
N-array relationship type “Relationship” relation and n foreign keys
Simple attribute Attribute
Composite attribute Set of simple component attributes
Multivalued attribute Relation and foreign key
Value set Domain
Key attribute Primary (or secondary) key

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End of Lecture 06

Questions ?

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