The Relational Model

Unit-3

• Relational Data Model

• Relational Query Language (DDL + DML)
• Integrity Constraints (IC)
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Relational Database:
 ER to Relational

Definitions
 Relational database: a set of relations
 Relation: made up of 2 parts:
 Instance : a table, with rows (tuples) and columns (attributes).
#Rows = cardinality, #attributes = degree / arity.

 Schema : specifies name of relation, plus name and type of

each column.
• E.G.
• Students(sid: string, name: string, login: string,age: integer, gpa:
real).

 Think of a relation as a set of rows or tuples

i.e., all rows are distinct (not required by commercial database)
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Example Instance of Students

 ER to Relational

Relation

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

 Cardinality = ?, degree = ?
 Cardinality = 3, degree = 5.
 All rows are distinct
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Attribute Types / Domain

 Each column of a relation has a name
 Set of allowed values for each column is called domain of column
 Domain specifies that values of the column must be drawn from the
domain associated with the column – domain constraint
 Column values are (normally) required to be atomic, i.e.,
indivisible
 The special value null is a member of every domain
 Null value causes complications in the definition of many
operations.
 used to represent values that are unknown or inapplicable to certain tuples.
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Relations are Unordered

 Order of tuples is irrelevant (tuples may be stored in an arbitrary order)
 E.g., account relation with unordered tuples
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Database
 A database consists of multiple relations
 Information about an enterprise is broken up into parts,
with each relation storing one part of the information

E.g.: account : stores information about accounts

depositor : stores information about which
customer
owns which account
customer : stores information about customers

 Storing all information as a single relation such as

bank(account-number, balance, customer-name, ..)
results in:
 repetition of information (e.g., two customers own an
account)
 need for null values (e.g., represent a customer without an
account)
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Relational Query Languages

 ER to Relational

(SQL)
 A major strength of the relational model:
supports simple, powerful querying of data.
 Queries can be written intuitively, and the
DBMS is responsible for efficient
evaluation.
 The key: precise semantics for relational
queries.
 Allows the optimizer to extensively re-order
operations, and still ensure that the answer
does not change.
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

DDL ---- Creating Relations

CREATE TABLE Students
 Creates Students (sid: CHAR(20),
relation. Observe that name: CHAR(20),
type (domain) of each login: CHAR(10),
field is specified, and age: INTEGER,
enforced by DBMS gpa: REAL)
whenever tuples are
added or modified.
CREATE TABLE Enrolled
 As another example, (sid: CHAR(20),
Enrolled table holds cid: CHAR(20),
information about courses grade:
that students take. CHAR(2))
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

DDL --- Destroying and

 ER to Relational

Altering Relations
DROP TABLE Students

 Destroys the relation Students. The schema

information and the tuples are deleted.

ALTER TABLE Students

ADD COLUMN firstYear: integer

 The schema of Students is altered by

adding a new field; every tuple in the
current instance is extended with a null
value in the new field.
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

DML --- Query single relation

 To find all 18 year old students, we can

write:
sid name login age gpa
SELECT *
FROM Students S 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
WHERE S.age=18 53688 Smith smith@ee 18 3.2

•To find just names and logins, replace the first line:

SELECT S.name, S.login

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language

DML --- Querying Multiple

 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Relations
 What does the
SELECT S.name, E.cid
following query FROM Students S, Enrolled E
compute? WHERE S.sid=E.sid AND E.grade=“A”

Given the following sid cid grade

instances of Enrolled and 53831 Carnatic101 C
53831 Reggae203 B
Students:
53650 Topology112 A
sid name login age gpa 53666 History105 B
53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2 we get:
53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8 S.name E.cid
Smith Topology112

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

DML --- Adding and Deleting

 ER to Relational

Tuples
 Can insert a single tuple using:
INSERT INTO Students (sid, name, login, age, gpa)
VALUES (53688, ‘Smith’, ‘smith@ee’, 18, 3.2)

 Can delete all tuples satisfying some

condition (e.g., name = Smith):
DELETE
FROM Students S
WHERE S.name = ‘Smith’

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Integrity Constraints (ICs)

 IC: condition that must be true for any
instance of the database
• ICs are specified when schema is defined.
• ICs are checked when relations are modified.

 A legal instance of a relation is one that

satisfies all specified ICs.
• DBMS should not allow illegal instances.

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Integrity Constraints (ICs)

 IC include:

• Fundamental constraints :
• Key
• Foreign Key,
• Domain Constraints

• General constraints:
• table constraints (single table)
• assertions (several tables)
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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Key Constraint
 Two rules for Key constraints:
 Two distinct tuples in a legal instance cannot
have identical values in all columns of keys
(unique)
 No subset of the set of fields in a key is a
unique identifier for a tuple (maximal)
 Example:
• “No two students can have the same student Id “
• “No two students can have the same student Id and
name”
CORE IDEA : Minimal subset of columns of the
relation that uniquely identify the tuple.

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Keys
 ER to Relational

 Let K  R
 Candidate key:
 Minimum set of attributes which makes difference between any two
records of the table.
 CK: { sid}
 Ck constraint: No two record have same sid.
 sid
 K is a superkey of R if values for K are sufficient to
identify a unique tuple of relation r(R)
 Example: {customer-name, customer-street} and
{customer-name}
are both superkeys of relation Customer.
NO two customers can possibly have the same name.
 Set of all fields is a super key
 K is a candidate key if K is minimal
 Example: {customer-name} is a candidate key for
Customer.
- superkey
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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Primary and Candidate Keys

 ER to Relational

in SQL
 Possibly many candidate keys (specified using
UNIQUE), one of which is chosen as the primary
key. CREATE TABLE Enrolled
(sid CHAR(20)
cid CHAR(20),
grade CHAR(2),
PRIMARY KEY (sid,cid) )

CREATE TABLE Enrolled

(sid CHAR(20)
cid CHAR(20),
grade CHAR(2),
PRIMARY KEY (sid),
UNIQUE (cid, grade) )

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Primary and Candidate Keys

 ER to Relational

in SQL
CREATE TABLE Enrolled
“For a given student and course, (sid CHAR(20)
there is a single grade.” cid CHAR(20),
grade CHAR(2),
vs. PRIMARY KEY (sid,cid) )
“Students can take only one
CREATE TABLE Enrolled
course, and receive a single (sid CHAR(20)
grade for that course; further, cid CHAR(20),
no two students in a course grade CHAR(2),
PRIMARY KEY (sid),
receive the same grade.” UNIQUE (cid, grade) )

Used carelessly, an IC can prevent the

storage of database instances that arise
in practice! 1
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Foreign Keys, Referential

 ER to Relational

Integrity
 Foreign key : Set of fields in one relation that is used
to "refer" to a tuple in another relation.
- Like a `logical pointer’.
 Foreign key :
 FK in referencing relation must match PK of referenced
relation.
 Match = same number of columns, compatible data types
(column names can be different).
Enrolled (referencing relation)
sid cid grade Students (referenced relation)
sid name login age gpa
53666 Carnatic101 C
53666 Reggae203 B 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53650 Topology112 A 53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53666 History105 B 53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
Primary Key 1
Foreign Key
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Foreign Keys in SQL

 Only students listed in Students relation
should be allowed to enroll for courses.
CREATE TABLE Enrolled
(sid CHAR(20), cid CHAR(20), grade CHAR(2),
PRIMARY KEY (sid,cid),
FOREIGN KEY (sid) REFERENCES Students )

 If all foreign key constraints are enforced, referential

integrity is achieved, i.e., no dangling references.

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Enforcing Referential
 ER to Relational

Integrity
 Consider Students and Enrolled; sid in Enrolled is a
foreign key that references Students.
Enrolled (referencing relation)
sid cid grade Students (referenced relation)
sid name login age gpa
53666 Carnatic101 C
53666 Reggae203 B 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53650 Topology112 A 53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53666 History105 B 53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
Primary Key
Foreign Key

 Insertion: What if a new Student tuple is inserted?

 Insertion: What should be done if an Enrolled tuple
with a non-existent student id is inserted?
 Reject it
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  Relational Data Model

Enforcing Referential
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Integrity
Enrolled (referencing relation)
sid cid grade Students (referenced relation)
sid name login age gpa
53666 Carnatic101 C
53666 Reggae203 B 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53650 Topology112 A 53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53666 History105 B 53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
Primary Key
Foreign Key

Deletion: What if an Enrolled tuple is deleted?

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  Relational Data Model

Enforcing Referential
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Integrity
Enrolled (referencing relation)
sid cid grade Students (referenced relation)
sid name login age gpa
53666 Carnatic101 C
53666 Reggae203 B 53666 Jones jones@cs 18 3.4
53650 Topology112 A 53688 Smith smith@eecs 18 3.2
53666 History105 B 53650 Smith smith@math 19 3.8
Primary Key
Foreign Key
Deletion: What if a Students tuple is deleted?
 Cascading -- Also delete all Enrolled tuples that refer to it.
 No Action -- Disallow deletion of a Students tuple that is referred to.
 Set Default -- Set sid in Enrolled tuples that refer to it to a default
sid.
 Set Null -- Set sid in Enrolled tuples that refer to it to a special value
null, denoting `unknown’ or `inapplicable’. (Not always applicable)

 Similar if primary key of Students tuple is updated.

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Referential Integrity in SQL

 SQL/92 and
SQL/99 support CREATE TABLE Enrolled
all 4 options on (sid CHAR(20),
deletes and cid CHAR(20),
grade CHAR(2),
updates: PRIMARY KEY (sid,cid),
 Default is NO ACTION FOREIGN KEY (sid)
(delete/update is REFERENCES Students
rejected) ON DELETE CASCADE
 CASCADE (also ON UPDATE SET DEFAULT )
delete all tuples that
refer to deleted
tuple)
 SET NULL / SET
DEFAULT (sets
foreign key value of
referencing tuple) 2
  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Where do ICs Come From?

 ICs are based upon semantics of real-world
enterprise being described in database relations.

 We can check a database instance to see if an IC is

violated,
 but we can NEVER infer that an IC is true by looking
at an instance.

 An IC is a statement about all possible instances!

 From example, we know name is not a key, but the assertion
that sid is a key is given to us.

 Key and foreign key ICs are the most common;

but more general ICs supported too in some systems.

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints
 ER to Relational

Relational Model Terminology

 Schema / Data Model
 Relation /Relation Schema
 Instance / Database

 Schema Definition Language

 Constraint Specification Language

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  Relational Data Model
 Relational Query Language
 Integrity Constraints

Relational Model:
 ER to Relational

Summary
 A tabular representation of data.
 Simple and intuitive, currently the most
widely used.
 Integrity constraints can be specified by
the DBA, based on application semantics.
 DBMS checks for violations.
 Two important ICs: primary and foreign keys
 In addition, we always have domain constraints.
 Powerful and ‘natural’ query languages
exist.