Storage organization for "open" sets of entity attributes in relational databases

Abstract

Relations are practically implemented by database management systems in the form of two-dimensional tables. In this regard, certain difficulties arise in the development of relational database schemas, in which it is necessary to represent objects with an alterable (open) set of attributes. The article proposes a solution to this problem by including special relations in the scheme - relations of properties directory. Properties directory allow replenishing the sets of object attributes without changing the structure of the database. Examples of the practical use of properties directory in the development of database schemas of two information systems are presented.