System and method for querying data for implicit hierarchies

• US 20040243576A1
• Filed: 05/30/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Shrivastava, Saurabh, Srinivasan, Uppili
• Granted Patent: US 7,801,913 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2452 Query translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24534 Query rewriting; Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases

Abstract

A method, system, and article of manufacture for querying an implicit hierarchy is disclosed. According to one approach, implicit hierarchies can be queried by accessing the relevant catalog tables for the attribute relevant to the query. Each identified entry in the relevant catalog table is followed through its implied hierarchical chains until all relevant entries have been identified. The catalog table containing the normalized form of the DN for each user can be consulted to identify the entry identifier for each entry corresponding to implicit hierarchy being queried, which can be searched in the appropriate catalog table to search the chain of entries for the implied hierarchy. In an approach, one or more templates may be used to generate a query language statement to perform the query upon the implicit hierarchy.

Claims

1. A method for generating a statement in a database query language to search against an implicit hierarchy of directory information objects stored in a relational database, comprising:

receiving a search request that searches for directory information pertaining to an implicit hierarchy, wherein the implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in a directory information tree for the directory information; and

generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information objects stored in the relational database, the statement being generated from one or more templates corresponding to search conditions in the search request.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the implicit hierarchy does not correspond to the pathname of the directory information objects.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the directory information objects comprise group objects.

4. The method of claim 3 in which attribute information for the members of the group objects are queried.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the attribute information comprise email information.

6. The method of claim 4 in which the attribute information comprise authorization or authentication information.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the search request seeks both direct and indirect relationships within the implicit hierarchy.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the statement comprises a SQL statement.

9. The method of claim 8 in which the statement comprises at most one SQL statement.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the directory information objects comprise LDAP objects.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the search request is an LDAP search filter.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the one or more templates comprise a base template comprising a header section, a body section, and a closing section, and the method further comprising:

generating a first set of query statements to fill in the header section;

generating a second set of query statements to fill in the body section; and

generating a third set of query statements to fill in the closing section.

13. The method of claim 12 in which the first set of query statements identifies database tables to be accessed.

14. The method of claim 13 in which the database tables include a database table that stored object attribute information.

15. The method of claim 13 in which the database tables include a database table that stores distinguished names information.

16. The method of claim 12 in which the second set of query statements identifies one or more catalog tables to access.

17. The method of claim 1 in which the one or more templates access a normalized name table to identify an identifier for a subject of the search request.

18. The method of claim 1 in which one or more catalog tables are accessed by the statement.

19. The method of claim 18 in which multiple identifiers for subjects are sought in the one or more catalog tables to query indirect attributes in the implicit hierarchy.

20. The method of claim 1 in which at least one of the one or more templates have the form:

21. The method of claim 20 in which [HINT COND] specifies one or more hints for a SQL optimizer.

22. The method of claim 20 in which [SELECT LIST] specifies the columns to be fetched.

23. The method of claim 20 in which [FROM TABLES] specifies a list of tables in the query.

24. The method of claim 20 in which [ENTRYID CLAUSE] specifies condition for selecting appropriate objects in a main attribute storage table.

25. The method of claim 20 in which [DNCOND] specifies a condition so that appropriate scope condition can be enforced.

26. The method of claim 20 in which [REQD ATTR] specifies a list of attributes that is requested in the query.

27. The method of claim 20 in which [SUBQUERY] specifies a subquery condition based on results for fetched objects.

28. A computer usable medium, the medium comprising a sequence of instructions which, when executed, causes the execution of a process for generating a statement in a database query language to search against an implicit hierarchy of directory information objects stored in a relational database, the process comprising:

receiving a search request that searches for directory information pertaining to an implicit hierarchy, wherein the implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in a directory information tree for the directory information;

generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information objects stored in the relational database, the statement being generated from one or more templates corresponding to search conditions in the search request.

29. A system for generating a statement in a database query language to search against an implicit hierarchy of directory information objects stored in a relational database, comprising:

means for receiving a search request that searches for directory information pertaining to an implicit hierarchy, wherein the implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in a directory information tree for the directory information;

means for generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information objects stored in the relational database, the statement being generated from one or more templates corresponding to search conditions in the search request.

30. A method for querying against an implicit hierarchy of directory information, comprising:

receiving a search request that searches for directory information, the directory information representing at least one implicit hierarchy, wherein the one implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in the directory information;

generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information; and

executing the statement to query against the one implicit hierarchy.

31. The method of claim 30 in which the directory information comprise group objects.

32. The method of claim 30 in which the search request seeks both direct and indirect relationships within the implicit hierarchy.

33. The method of claim 30 in which the statement comprises a SQL statement.

34. The method of claim 30 in which the directory information comprise LDAP objects.

35. The method of claim 34 in which the search request is an LDAP search filter.

36. The method of claim 30 in which the statement accesses a normalized name table to identify an identifier for a subject of the search request.

37. The method of claim 30 in which one or more catalog tables are accessed by the statement.

38. The method of claim 30 in which one or more levels in the implicit hierarchy is queried.

39. The method of claim 30 in which multiple dimensions of implicit hierarchies is queried by the statement.

40. A system for querying against an implicit hierarchy of directory information, comprising:

means for receiving a search request that searches for directory information, the directory information representing at least one implicit hierarchy, wherein the one implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in the directory information;

means for generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information; and

means for executing the statement to query against the one implicit hierarchy.

41. A computer usable medium, the medium comprising a sequence of instructions which, when executed, causes the execution of a process for querying against an implicit hierarchy of directory information, the process comprising:

receiving a search request that searches for directory information, the directory information representing at least one implicit hierarchy, wherein the one implicit hierarchy is not explicitly represented in the directory information;

generating a statement in a database query language that searches for the directory information; and

executing the statement to query against the one implicit hierarchy.

42. An directory search filter interface structure, comprising:

a filter portion configured to indicate a query of an implicit hierarchy.

43. The directory search filter interface structure of claim 42 which is directed to an LDAP information system.

44. The directory search filter interface structure of claim 42 in which the filter portion comprises a flag to the directory search filter structure.

45. The directory search filter interface structure of claim 44 in which the flag identifies the attribute related to the implicit hierarchy.

46. The directory search filter interface structure of claim 42 further comprising a second filter portion to identify a scope for the query.

47. The directory search filter interface structure of claim 46 in the second filter portion identifies n levels of the implicit hierarchy to query.