Abstract
Integration of heterogeneous databases requires that semantic differences between schemas are resolved by a process of schema transformation. Previously, we have developed a general framework to support the schema transformation process, consisting of a hypergraphbased common data model and a set of primitive schema transformations defined for this model. Higher-level common data models and primitive schema transformations for them can be defined in terms of this lowerlevel model.
In this paper, we show that a key feature of our framework is that both primitive and composite schema transformations are automatically reversible. We show how these transformations can be used to automatically migrate or wrap data, queries and updates between semantically equivalent schemas.We also show how to handle transformations between non-equivalent but overlapping schemas.We describe a prototype schema integration tool that supports this functionality. Finally, we briefly discuss how our approach can be extended to more sophisticated application logic such as constraints, deductive rules, and active rules.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
C. Batini, M. Lenzerini, and S. Navathe. A comparative analysis of methodologies for database schema integration. ACM Computing Surveys, 18(4):323–364, 1986.
S.S. Chawathe, H. Garcia-Molina, J. Hammer, K. Ireland, Y. Papakonstantinou, J.D. Ullman, and J. Widom. The TSIMMIS project: Integration of heterogeneous information sources. In Proceedings of the 10th Meeting of the Information Processing Society of Japan, pages 7–18, October 1994.
T. Critchlow, M. Ganesh, and R. Musick. Automatic generation of warehouse mediators using an ontology engine. In Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Knowledge Represenation Meets Databases (KRDB’ 98), volume 10. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 1998.
U. Dayal and P. Bernstein. On the updatability of relational views. In Proc. 5th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB 79), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 1979.
L.M. Haas, D. Kossmann, E.L. Wimmers, and J. Yang. Optimizing queries across diverse data sources. In Proceedings of the 23rd VLDB Conference, pages 276–285, Athens, Greece, 1997.
R. Hull. Managing sematic heterogeneity in databases: A theoretical perspective. In Proceedings of PODS, 1997.
R. Langerak. View updates in relational databases with independent scheme. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 15(1), March 1990.
P.J. McBrien. A reference implementation for a formal approach to schema transformation. Technical Report TR98-09, King’s College London, 1998.
P.J. McBrien and A. Poulovassilis. A formal framework for ER schema transformation. In Proceedings of ER’97, volume 1331 of LNCS, pages 408–421, 1997.
P.J. McBrien and A. Poulovassilis. A formalisation of semantic schema integration. Information Systems, 23(5):307–334, 1998.
P.J. McBrien and A. Poulovassilis. A uniform approach to inter-model transformations. In Advanced Information Systems Engineering, 11th International Conference CAiSE’99, volume 1626 of LNCS, pages 333–348. Springer-Verlag, 1999.
A. Poulovassilis and P.J. McBrien. A general formal framework for schema transformation. Data and Knowledge Engineering, 28(1):47–71, 1998.
M.T. Roth and P. Schwarz. Don’t scrap it, wrap it! A wrapper architecture for data sources. In Proceedings of the 23rd VLDB Conference, pages 266–275, Athens, Greece, 1997.
A. Sheth and J. Larson. Federated database systems. ACM Computing Surveys, 22(3):183–236, 1990.
M. Templeton, H. Henley, E. Maros, and D.J. Van Buer. InterViso: Dealing with the complexity of federated database access. The VLDB Journal, 4(2):287–317, April 1995.
M.E. Vidal, L. Raschid, and J-R. Gruser. A meta-wrapper for scaling up to multiple autonomous distributed information sources. In Proceedings of the 3rd IFCIS International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems (CoopIS98), pages 148–157. IEEE-CS Press, 1998.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mc Brien, P., Poulovassi, A. (1999). Automatic Migration and Wrapping of Database Applications — A Schema Transformation Approach. In: Akoka, J., Bouzeghoub, M., Comyn-Wattiau, I., Métais, E. (eds) Conceptual Modeling — ER ’99. ER 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1728. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47866-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-47866-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66686-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47866-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive