translating er model into relational model

Translating ER Model into Relational Model

ER Model Relational Model

Considerations:Minimize the number of relations to reduce query-processing time.

Do not allow null values if possible

Provide a semantically clear design

Provide a design that accommodates potential changes of the schema

Reality: decreasing the number of relationsPros: higher efficiency of query processing

Cons: more nulls; less semantic clarity; less flexibility

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ER Model Relational Model (cont.)

Step 0: Identify: 0.1. Entity types (strong & weak, superclass/subclass)0.2. Relationship types0.3. Special attributes (composite, multi-valued, derived)

Step 1: Strong entity types and single-valued attributesStep 2: Many-to-many relationshipsStep 3: One-to-many relationshipsStep 4: One-to-one relationshipsStep 5: n-ary relationships (n 3)Step 6: Weak entity typesStep 7: Multi-valued attributesStep 8: Superclasses and subclasses

Note: Steps 1-8 may not be followed in the above sequence. For example, you may do step 6 before step 2, and so on

Applicable to both binary and unary (recursive) relationships

An ER Model

INFO 605 4

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Step 0

0.1.1. Strong entity types:

Department, Course, Instructor, TeachingAssistant

0.1.2. Weak entity types:

TeachingPreference

0.1.3. Superclasses/Subclasses:

Instructor/(DeptHead, ParttimeInstructor)

0.2.1. Relationship types related to strong entity types:

Many-to-many: None

One-to-many: Department:Course, Department:Instructor, Instructor(Superviser):Instructor(Supervisee)

One-to-one: Department:DeptHead

n-ary: Course:Instructor:TeachingAssistant

0.2.2. Relationship types related to weak entity types:

One-to-many: Instructor:TeachingPreference

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Step 0 (cont.)

0.3.1. Composite attributes:

address(street, city, state, zipcode)

0.3.2. Multi-valued attributes:

phoneNo

0.3.3. Derived attributes:

unitsTaught

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Step 1: Strong Entity Types

Each strong entity type maps into a relation(table)Each simple attribute of the strong entity type maps to an attribute of the relationEach composite attribute will be broken into multiple simple attributes (address = street, city, state, zip)We’ll deal with Multi-valued attributes later (PhoneNo)Derived attributes, by definition, can be derived, and therefore are not necessary to be representedThe primary key of the entity type maps to the primary key of the relationPrimary keys are underlined

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Step 1: Example

At this step, we got:

Department (deptCode, deptName, street, city, state, zipcode)

Course (courseNo, sectionNo, title, courseType, units)

Instructor (instructorID, fName, lName, gender, ssn, position)

TeachingAssistant (teachingAssistantID, ssn, studentID, salary)

How about phoneNo of Department and unitsTaught of Instructor?

We will deal with multi-valued attributes (e.g., phoneNo) later

We don’t need to add derived attributes (e.g., unitsTaught) in relations.

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Step 2: Many-to-Many Relationships

Each Many-to-Many relationship type maps into a relation (i.e., a relationship relation)

The primary key of this relation is the combination of the primary keys of the participating entity types

These are also foreign keys

Attributes of the relationship type maps to attributes of the relation, similar to those of strong entity types

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Step 2: Example

empID name salary

0001 Harry 80k

0002 Leon 100k

0003 John 90k

projectID startDate endDate

1001 9/10/2003 3/14/2004

1002 4/3/2003 7/2/2004

Employee

empID {PK}namesalary…

Project

projectID{PK}startDateendDate…

AssignedTo0..*1..3

empID projectID position

0001 1001 manager

0002 1001 designer

0001 1002 developer

0003 1002 manager

Employee (empID, name, salary)

position

Project (projectID, startDate, endDate)

Assignment (empID, projectID, position)

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Step 3: One-to-Many Relationships

For each One-to-Many relationship type related to strong entity types:

Can be treated as a Many-to-Many relationshipAdd a relationship relation

Do not need to introduce a separate relationAdd a foreign key (FK) (and relationship attributes)

to the relation on the “many” side

that references the PK on the “one” side

Can we add the FK on the “one” side? Why or why not?

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Step 3: Example

If we add an FK to the “many” side, we get:

If we add an FK to the “one” side, we get:

deptCode deptName

math mathematics

acct accounting

instructorID position

11 assistant

22 associate

33 full

Departm ent Instructor1..1 1..*Has

instructorID position deptCode

11 assistant math

22 associate math

33 full acct

deptCode deptName instructorID

math mathematics 11

math mathematics 22

acct accounting 33

Step 3: Example


Department:CourseCourse (courseNo, sectionNo, title, courseType, units, deptCode)

Foreign key deptCode references Department (deptCode);

Department:InstructorInstructor (instructorID, fName, lName, gender, ssn, position,

deptCode)


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Department CourseOffers

1..1 1..*

Department InstructorHas

1..1 1..*

Step 3: Example (cont.)

Instructor(Supervisor):Instructor(Supervisee)

Add a foreign key to the “Many” side: Instructor (Supervisee)

Instructor (instructorID, fName, lName, SSN, position, deptCode, supervisorID)Foreign key supervisorID references Instructor (instructorID)

In case of recursive relationship, we need to rename the foreign key.

Due to the partial participation of Instructor(Supervisee), supervisorID can be null.

If you want to avoid null values, we need to create a new relation: Supervision (instructorID, supervisorID)

Foreign key instructorID references Instructor (instructorID)

Foreign key supervisorID references Instructor (instructorID)

Avoid nulls for foreign keys, but lower efficiency of query processing

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The “Many” side has partial participation.(i.e., an instructor may not have a supervisor.)

Instructor

Supervises 0..3

0..1Supervisor

Supervisee

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Step 4: One-to-One Relationships

Three approachesEmployee (empID, empName)

Account (username, password)

Foreign key approachAdd an FK to the entity type that “fully” participates in the relationship

Account (username, password, empID)Foreign key empID references Employee (empID)

Merged relation approachMerge the two entity types and the relationship into a single relation

Employee (empID, empName, username, password)

Relationship relation approachAdd another relation to represent the relationship

Employee_Account (empID, username)

Partial participation Full participation

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Step 4: Example

In our case, we have an one-to-one relationship:

Department fully participants in Manages relationship;

Only a subclass of Instructor, DeptHead, participates in this relationship

Because DeptHead is a subclass of Instructor, we will do Step 8 first and accomplish this step later

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Step 5: n-ary Relationships

Each n-ary (n3) relationship type maps into a relation

The primary key of this relation is the combination of the primary keys of the participating entity types

These are also foreign keys.

Exception: if the cardinality of any entity type is 1, the primary key for this entity type is not as part of the primary key of the new relation.

Attributes of the relationship type maps to attributes of the relation, similar to those of strong entity types

Step 5: Example

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Supplier (supplierID, supplierName)

Project (projectID, projectName) Part (partID, partName)

Supply (supplierID, projectID, partID, quantity)

Primary key

Foreign keys

Step 5: Example

In our case,

TeachingCourse (courseNo, sectionNo, instructorID, teachingAssistantID, instructorEval, taEval)

PK: {courseNo, sectionNO}

FKs: {courseNo, sectionNo}, instructorID, teachingAssistantID19

Course (courseNo, sectionNo, …)

TeachingAssistant (TeachingAssistantID, …)

Instructor (instructorID, …)

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Step 5: Example



Foreign key {courseNo, sectionNo} references Course (courseNo, sectionNo)


Foreign key teachingAssistantID references TeachingAssistant (teachingAssistantID);

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Step 6: Weak Entities

For each weak entity, create a relation that includes all the simple attributes of that entity.

The primary key of a weak entity is partially or fully derived from each owner entity.

The identification of a weak entity’s primary key depends on the relationship with its owner entity.

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Step 6: Example

First, we create a relation for the weak entity.

TeachingPreference (courseType, numCourses)

The primary key is undetermined at present.

Second, according to its relationship with the owner entity, we add the primary key.

TeachingPreference (instructorID, courseType, numCourses)

Foreign key instructorID references Instructor (instructorID);

primary keyforeign key

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Step 7: Multi-valued Attributes

Each multi-valued attribute maps into a separate relationThe relation has an attribute for each simple attribute of the multi-valued attributeInclude also an attribute for the primary key of the entity or relationship type that the attribute belongs to

This is also a foreign key

The primary key of this relation is the combination of all the attributes if the multi-valued attribute is simpleIf the multi-valued attribute is composite, the primary key of this relation may be a combination of some of the attributes

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Step 7: Example


DeptPhoneNo (deptCode, phoneNo)


An example on multi-valued attribute that is composite

Customer (custNo, lName, fName)

CreditCard (custNo, cardNo, expiration)

Foreign key custNo references Customer (custNo);

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Step 8: Superclasses/Subclasses

Each superclass maps into a relation

Each subclass also maps into a relationThe primary key is the same as the primary key of its superclass

This is also a foreign key

Treat attributes that belongs to the subclasses only as usual

For multi-leveled hierarchy, the primary key of the root entity propagates down a hierarchy of entity types

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Step 8: Example


Superclass:Instructor (instructorID, fName, lName, gender, ssn, position, deptCode)


Subclasses:DeptHead (instructorID, startDate, bonus)


ParttimeInstructor (instructorID, hourlyRate)Foreign key instructorID references Instructor (instructorID);

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Go back to Step 4: Example


Department (deptCode, deptName, street, city, state, zipcode, deptHeadID)

Foreign key deptHeadID references DeptHead (instructorID)

Department DeptHeadManages

1..1 1..1

Instructor

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Final Results of Relational Schema

How to get the final results of relational schema:

Revisit Step 1 through Step 8, write down all relation schemas. If a relation schema occurs more than once, write down the latest modified one.

Finally, we got totally 10 relations.

Final Results of Relational Schema (Cont.)

Department (deptCode, deptName, street, city, state, zipcode, deptHeadID)

Foreign key deptHeadID references DeptHead (instructorID);

DeptPhoneNo (deptCode, phoneNo)


Instructor (instructorID, fName, lName, gender, ssn, position, deptCode)


Supervision (instructorID, supervisorID)


Foreign key supervisorID references Instructor (instructorID);

TeachingPreference (instructorID, courseType, numCourses)


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Final Results of Relational Schema (Cont.)

DeptHead (instructorID, startDate, bonus)


ParttimeInstructor (instructorID, hourlyRate)


Course (courseNo, sectionNo, title, courseType, units, deptCode)


TeachingAssistant (teachingAssistantID, ssn, studentID, salary);


Foreign key {courseNo, sectionNo} references Course (courseNo, sectionNo)


Foreign key teachingAssistantID references TeachingAssistant (teachingAssistantID);

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Use “” to Represent Foreign Keys

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Summary of the Schema Mapping Process

Step 0: IdentificationStep 1: Strong entity

Entity -> a new relation

Step 2: Many-to-Many relationshipsAdd a new relation

Step 3: One-to-Many relationshipsFK on the M-side

Step 4: One-to-one relationshipsFK on the fully participating side

Step 5: n-ary relationshipsAdd a new relation

Step 6: Weak entityA new relation with FK from the strong entity as part of its PK

Step 7: Multi-valued attributesA new relation with FK

Step 8: Superclasses and subclassesFK in each subclass

translating er model into relational model

Documents

entity types strong

derived step

composite attributes

weak entity typesstep

relationship type maps

special attributes composite

multivalued attributesstep

multiple simple attributes