A transparent object-oriented schema change approach using view evolution

Abstract

When a database is shared by many users, updates to the database schema are almost always prohibited because there is a risk of making existing application programs obsolete when they run against the modified schema. This paper addresses the problem by integrating schema evolution with view facilities. When new requirements necessitate schema updates for a particular user, the user specifies schema changes to the personal view rather than to the shared base schema. Our view evolution approach then computes a new view schema that reflects the semantics of the desired schema change, and replaces the old view with the new one. We present algorithms that implement the set of schema evolution operations typically supported by OODB systems as view definitions. This approach provides the means for schema change without affecting other views (and thus without affecting existing application programs). The persistent data is shared by different views of the schema, i.e., both old as well as newly developed applications can continue to interoperate. In this paper, we present examples that demonstrate our approach.<>