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Model-independent schema translation

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Abstract

We discuss a proposal for the implementation of the model management operator ModelGen, which translates schemas from one model to another, for example from object-oriented to SQL or from SQL to XML schema descriptions. The operator can be used to generate database wrappers (e.g., object-oriented or XML to relational), default user interfaces (e.g., relational to forms), or default database schemas from other representations. The approach translates schemas from a model to another, within a predefined, but large and extensible, set of models: given a source schema S expressed in a source model, and a target model TM, it generates a schema S′ expressed in TM that is “equivalent” to S. A wide family of models is handled by using a metamodel in which models can be succinctly and precisely described. The approach expresses the translation as Datalog rules and exposes the source and target of the translation in a generic relational dictionary. This makes the translation transparent, easy to customize and model-independent. The proposal includes automatic generation of translations as composition of basic steps.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Università Roma Tre, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Atzeni, Paolo Cappellari, Riccardo Torlone & Giorgio Gianforme

  2. Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA

    Philip A. Bernstein

Authors
  1. Paolo Atzeni
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  2. Paolo Cappellari
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  3. Riccardo Torlone
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  4. Philip A. Bernstein
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  5. Giorgio Gianforme
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Atzeni.

Additional information

P. Atzeni and R. Torlone partially supported by MIUR, Università Roma Tre and an IBM Faculty Award, and G. Gianforme by a Microsoft Research Fellowship.

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Atzeni, P., Cappellari, P., Torlone, R. et al. Model-independent schema translation. The VLDB Journal 17, 1347–1370 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00778-008-0105-2

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