Graphical Interaction with Heterogeneous Databases.

Tiziana Catarci, Giuseppe Santucci, John Cardiff: Graphical Interaction with Heterogeneous Databases. VLDB J. 6(2): 97-120(1997)

@article{DBLP:journals/vldb/CatarciSC97,
  author    = {Tiziana Catarci and
               Giuseppe Santucci and
               John Cardiff},
  title     = {Graphical Interaction with Heterogeneous Databases},
  journal   = {VLDB J.},
  volume    = {6},
  number    = {2},
  year      = {1997},
  pages     = {97-120},
  ee        = {db/journals/vldb/CatarciSC97.html},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}

Abstract

During the past few years our research efforts have been inspired by two different needs. On one hand, the number of non-expert users accessing databases is growing apace. On the other, information systems will no longer be characterized by a single centralized architecture, but rather by several heterogeneous component systems. In order to address such needs we have designed a new query system with both user-oriented and multidatabase features. The system's main components are an adaptive visual interface, providing the user with different and interchangeable interaction modalities, and a "translation layer", which creates and offers to the user the illusion of a single homogeneous schema out of several heterogeneous components. Both components are founded on a common ground, i.e. a formally defined and semantically rich data model, the Graph Model, and a minimal set of Graphical Primitives, in terms of which general query operations may be visually expressed. The Graph Model has a visual syntax, so that graphical operations can be applied on its components without unnecessary mappings, and an object-based semantics. The aim of this paper is twofold. We first present an overall view of the system architecture and then give a comprehensive description of the lower part of the system itself. In particular, we show how schemata expressed in different data models can be translated in terms of Graph Model, possibly by exploiting reverse engineering techniques. Moreover, we show how mappings can be established between well-known query languages and the Graphical Primitives. Finally, we describe in detail how queries expressed by using the Graphical Primitives can be translated in terms of relational expressions so to be processed by actual DBMSs.

Copyright © 1997 by Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Permission to make digital or hard copies of the abstract is granted provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or direct commercial advantage, and that copies show this notice along with the full citation.

Online Edition (Springer)

Citation Page

ACM SIGMOD Anthology

CDROM Version: Load the CDROM "Volume 4 Issue 1, Books, VLDB-j, TODS, ..." and ...

Windows: Click the letter of your CD drive
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Mac: Click here
UNIX/LINUX: mount the CD and click on the path of your mount point:
/Anthology/An4-1 or /cdrom

DVD Version: Load ACM SIGMOD Anthology DVD 2" and ...

Windows: Click the letter of your CD drive
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Mac: Click here
UNIX/LINUX: mount the DVD and click on the path of your mount point:
/Anthology/aDVD2 or /dvd

References

[1]: Serge Abiteboul, Richard Hull: IFO: A Formal Semantic Database Model. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 12(4): 525-565(1987)
[2]: Jean-Raymond Abrial: Data Semantics. IFIP Working Conference Data Base Management 1974: 1-60
[3]: Michele Angelaccio, Tiziana Catarci, Giuseppe Santucci: QBD*: A Graphical Query Language with Recursion. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 16(10): 1150-1163(1990)
[4]: François Bancilhon: Object-Oriented Database Systems. PODS 1988: 152-162
[5]: François Bancilhon, Sophie Cluet, Claude Delobel: A Query Language for the O₂ Object-Oriented Database System. DBPL 1989: 122-138
[6]: Jay Banerjee, Won Kim, Kyung-Chang Kim: Queries in Object-Oriented Databases. ICDE 1988: 31-38
[7]: Carlo Batini, Maurizio Lenzerini: A Methodology for Data Schema Integration in the Entity Relationship Model. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 10(6): 650-664(1984)
[8]: Carlo Batini, Maurizio Lenzerini, Shamkant B. Navathe: A Comparative Analysis of Methodologies for Database Schema Integration. ACM Comput. Surv. 18(4): 323-364(1986)
[9]: ...
[10]: Catriel Beeri: A Formal Approach to Object-Oriented Databases. Data Knowl. Eng. 5: 353-382(1990)
[11]: Ronald J. Brachman: What IS-A Is and Isn't: An Analysis of Taxonomic Links in Semantic Networks. IEEE Computer 16(10): 30-36(1983)
[12]: Ronald J. Brachman, James G. Schmolze: An Overview of the KL-ONE Knowledge Representation System. Cognitive Science 9(2): 171-216(1985)
[13]: Yuri Breitbart, Hector Garcia-Molina, Abraham Silberschatz: Overview of Multidatabase Transaction Management. VLDB J. 1(2): 181-239(1992)
[14]: Henri Briand, C. Ducateau, Y. Hebrail, Danièle Hérin-Aime, Jacques Kouloumdjian: From Minimal Cover to Entity-Relationship Diagram. ER 1987: 287-304
[15]: Daniel Bryce, Richard Hull: SNAP: A Graphics-based Schema Manager. ICDE 1986: 151-164
[16]: Malú Castellanos, Fèlix Saltor: Semantic Enrichment of Database Schemas: An Object Oriented Approach. RIDE-IMS 1991: 71-78
[17]: ...
[18]: Tiziana Catarci, Shi-Kuo Chang, Giuseppe Santucci: Query Representation and Management in a Multiparadigmatic Visual Query Environment. J. Intell. Inf. Syst. 3(3/4): 299-330(1994)
[19]: Tiziana Catarci, Giuseppe Santucci, Michele Angelaccio: Fundamental Graphical Primitives for Visual Query Languages. Inf. Syst. 18(2): 75-98(1993)
[20]: Shi-Kuo Chang: A Visual Language Compiler for Information Retrieval by Visual Reasoning. IEEE Trans. Software Eng. 16(10): 1136-1149(1990)
[21]: Peter P. Chen: The Entity-Relationship Model - Toward a Unified View of Data. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 1(1): 9-36(1976)
[22]: E. F. Codd: A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. Commun. ACM 13(6): 377-387(1970)
[23]: E. F. Codd: Relational Completeness of Data Base Sublanguages. In: R. Rustin (ed.): Database Systems: 65-98, Prentice Hall and IBM Research Report RJ 987, San Jose, California : (1972)
[24]: Mariano P. Consens, Alberto O. Mendelzon: GraphLog: a Visual Formalism for Real Life Recursion. PODS 1990: 404-416
[25]: ...
[26]: Isabel F. Cruz, Alberto O. Mendelzon, Peter T. Wood: G+: Recursive Queries Without Recursion. Expert Database Conf. 1988: 645-666
[27]: C. J. Date: An Introduction to Database Systems, Volume I, 4th Edition. Addison-Wesley 1986
[28]: Kathi Hogshead Davis, Adarsh K. Arora: Converting A Relational Database Model into an Entity-Relationship Model. ER 1987: 271-285
[29]: Ahmed K. Elmagarmid, Calton Pu: Guest Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue on Heterogeneous Databases. ACM Comput. Surv. 22(3): 175-178(1990)
[30]: Ramez Elmasri, Shamkant B. Navathe: Fundamentals of Database Systems. Benjamin/Cummings 1989
[31]: Willi Gotthard, Peter C. Lockemann, Andrea Neufeld: System Guided View Integration for Object-Oriented Databases. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 4(1): 1-22(1992)
[32]: Marc Gyssens, Jan Paredaens, Dirk Van Gucht: A Graph-Oriented Object Model for Database End-User Interfaces. SIGMOD Conference 1990: 24-33
[33]: Richard Hull, Roger King: Semantic Database Modeling: Survey, Applications, and Research Issues. ACM Comput. Surv. 19(3): 201-260(1987)
[34]: Shamkant B. Navathe, A. M. Awong: Abstracting Relational and Hierarchical Data with a Semantic Data Model. ER 1987: 305-333
[35]: Katalin Kalman: Implementation and Critique of an Algorithm which Maps a Relational Database to a Conceptual Model. CAiSE 1991: 393-415
[36]: Won Kim: A Model of Queries for Object-Oriented Databases. VLDB 1989: 423-432
[37]: Won Kim: Introduction to Object-Oriented Databases. MIT Press 1990, ISBN 0-262-11124-1
[38]: Kyung-Chang Kim, Won Kim, Alfred G. Dale: Cyclic Query Processing in Object-Oriented Databases. ICDE 1989: 564-571
[39]: Terry A. Landers, Ronni Rosenberg: An Overview of MULTIBASE. DDB 1982: 153-184
[40]: Leo Mark: A graphical query language for the Binary Relationship Model. Inf. Syst. 14(3): 231-246(1989)
[41]: ...
[42]: Shamkant B. Navathe, Suresh G. Gadgil: A Methodology for View Inegration in Logical Database Design. VLDB 1982: 142-164
[43]: ...
[44]: Amit P. Sheth, James A. Larson: Federated Database Systems for Managing Distributed, Heterogeneous, and Autonomous Databases. ACM Comput. Surv. 22(3): 183-236(1990)
[45]: David W. Shipman: The Functional Data Model and the Data Language DAPLEX. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 6(1): 140-173(1981)
[46]: Ben Shneiderman: Direct Manipulation: A Step Beyond Programming Languages. IEEE Computer 16(8): 57-69(1983)
[47]: Gomer Thomas, Glenn R. Thompson, Chin-Wan Chung, Edward Barkmeyer, Fred Carter, Marjorie Templeton, Stephen Fox, Berl Hartman: Heterogeneous Distributed Database Systems for Production Use. ACM Comput. Surv. 22(3): 237-266(1990)
[48]: ...
[49]: Jeffrey D. Ullman: Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems, Volume I. Computer Science Press 1988, ISBN 0-7167-8158-1
Contents
[50]: Ling-Ling Yan, Tok Wang Ling: Translating Relational Schema With Constraints Into OODB Schema. DS-5 1992: 69-85
[51]: Moshé M. Zloof: Query-by-Example: A Data Base Language. IBM Systems Journal 16(4): 324-343(1977)