Chapter 4

The Relational Model 3: Advanced Topics

Database Management

Objectives
Discuss

views: what they are, how they are described, and how they are used. Discuss the use of indexes for improving performance. Examine the security features of a DBMS. Explain entity and referential integrity.

Objectives
Discuss

the manner in which the structure of a relational database can be changed. Define the catalog and explain its use. Discuss the integrity support within SQL.

Views
Snapshot

of certain data in the database at a given moment in time Usually much less involved than the full database, offers simplification. Provides measure of security, since sensitive tables or columns can be omitted.
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Figure 4.1 Housewares View

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Figure 4.2 Premiere Products Sample Data

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Figure 4.3 Sales Cust View

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Advantages of Views
Provides

data independence. The same data can be viewed by different users in different ways. Contains only those columns required by a given user.
Simplifies the users perception of the DBMS Provides a measure of security by omitting sensitive columns and tables

Indexes

Conceptually

the same as an index in a

book. Record numbers are automatically assigned and used by the DBMS.

Figure 4.4 Customer Table with Record Numbers

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Figure 4.5
Index for Customer Table on Customer Number Column

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Figure 4.6
Indexes for Customer Table on Credit Limit and Sale Rep Number Columns

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Indexes

Can

be added or dropped at will. Makes certain types of retrieval more efficient. Occupies space that can be used for something else. The DBMS must update the index whenever corresponding data in the database are updated.
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Figure 4.7 Indexing Options

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Security
The

prevention of unauthorized access to the database. In SQL, there are two security mechanisms:
GRANT to grant privileges to certain users. REVOKE to later revoke those privileges.

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Integrity Rules
Entity

integrity is the rule that no column that is part of the primary key may accept null values. Referential integrity states that if table A contains a foreign key that matches the primary key of table B, then values of this foreign key either must match the value of the primary key for the same row in table B or must be null.
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Figure 4.8
Defining Explicit Relationships Between Tables Using Primary and Foreign Keys

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Figure 4.9 Enforcing Referential Integrity

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Figure 4.10
Referential Integrity Violation Warning When Adding Data

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Figure 4.11
Referential Integrity Violation Warning When Deleting Data

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Changing the Structure of a Relational Database

ALTER

TABLE

Changes a tables structure in SQL.

DROP

TABLE

Deletes a table no longer needed in SQL.

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The Catalog
Information

about tables in the database is kept in the system catalog.

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Figure 4.13 Syscolumns Table

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Integrity in SQL
Integrity

Enhancement Feature (IEF) provides three types of integrity support:

Legal values. CHECK ensures that only values that satisfy a particular condition are allowed. Primary keys. PRIMARY KEY is used to specify the primary key for a table. Foreign keys. FOREIGN KEY specifies the foreign key and its corresponding primary key. 24