Lehrgebiet Informationssysteme

FB Informatik

LG IS

AG DBIS

(C) AG DBIS

Mapping a Version Model to a Complex-Object Data Model

W. Käfer, H. Schöning

University of Kaiserslautern
P.O. Box 3049, 67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany
e-mail: haerder@informatik.uni-kl.de

Full paper (postscript version compressed by gzip)

Abstract:

Support for version management of highly interconnected complex objects is a strong requirement for database systems supporting CAD. In this paper, we present such a version model and exemplify it by means of the VLSI design process. However, we are not only interested in the version model itself, but also in its implementation on top of an existing complex-object data model without version support. In contrast to similar solutions basing on the relational data model, this approach allows for a simple and efficient implementation of the version model, allowing for powerful retrieval operations. Sharing of data, which occurs necessarily among versions, is system controlled. This prohibits redundant storage of data. We conclude that implementing a complex-object database system supporting versions is not more complicated than implementing a complex-object database system without version support.

Published in Proc. 8th Int. Conf. on Data Engineering, Feb. 1992, Tempe, Arizona, pp.348-357.