SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO FACILITATE REPORT CREATION FOR NON-RELATIONAL DATABASES

• US 20100153466A1
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Burger, Tomas
• Application Number:
  US12/336,705
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153466A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/802
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems

Abstract

According to some embodiments, a system, method, means, and/or computer program code are provided to facilitate report generation. In some cases, a list of nodes associated with a non-relational database may be gathered, the nodes in the list being oriented as a graph representing relations between the nodes. For each node in the list, node data may be automatically collected from the non-relational database on a node-by-node basis in accordance with the graph. Based on the collected node data, information may then be stored into a universal container, the stored information in the universal container being adapted to be accessed by a reporting tool.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions, to facilitate report generation, that when executed by a processor result in the following:

gathering a list of nodes associated with a non-relational database, the nodes in the list being oriented as a graph representing relations between the nodes;

for each node in the list, automatically collecting node data from the non-relational database on a node-by-node basis in accordance with the graph; and

storing, based on the collected node data, information into a universal container, the stored information in the universal container being adapted to be accessed by a reporting tool.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions further results in:

generating a report based on the stored information in the universal container.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the non-relational data is associated with at least one of:

(i) an object-oriented database, or (ii) object relational mapping stored via a relational database management system.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the graph is associated with at least one of:

(i) a cyclic graph, (ii) a directed graph, (iii) an undirected graph, (iv) a mixed graph, (v) a multi-graph, or (vi) a hierarchy.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said collecting includes selecting a subsequent node based on a current node and a walking strategy.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said collecting includes, for a particular node, at least one of:

(i) collecting for a result associated with that particular node, (ii) collecting for an aggregation of values to be associated with another node, (iii) collecting only when that particular node does not have a child node, or (iv) not collecting any information associated with that particular node.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions further results in column selection wherein attributes are determined to define information to be included in the universal container in accordance with a node type.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein said collecting is associated with filtering metadata.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the filtering metadata is associated with at least one of:

(i) requiring an exact match between a filter value and a field value for a node, (ii) using a filter value as a pattern to evaluate a field value for a node, (iii) using a pair of filter values as interval boundaries to evaluate a field value for a node, or (iv) only including a field value for a node if the field value qualifies in accordance with a ranking threshold.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least some of the stored information in the universal container is associated with a table-like schema.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein at least some of the stored information in the universal container is associated with at least one of:

(i) keys, (ii) values, and (iii) attributes.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the reporting tool is associated with at least one of:

(i) an extract, transform, load reporting tool, (ii) a data mart persistent layer, or (iii) a reporting user interface.

13. A system to facilitate report generation, comprising:

a transfer engine to;

(i) gather a list of nodes associated with a non-relational database, the nodes in the list being oriented as a graph representing relations between the nodes, and (ii) for each node in the list, collect node data from the non-relational database on a node-by-node basis in accordance with the graph; and

a universal container, coupled to the transfer engine, to store, based on the collected node data, information into a universal container, the stored information in the universal container being adapted to be accessed by a reporting tool.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a client device coupled to the universal container to generate reports based on table-like schema information in the universal container.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the universal container further includes:

a client interface to;

(i) receive reporting structure data from the client device, and (ii) provide the reporting data in the table-like schema to the client device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the universal container further includes at least one of:

(i) keys information storage, (ii) values information storage, or (iii) attributes information storage.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a non-relational database coupled to the transfer engine, wherein the non-relational database is associated with at least one of;

(i) an object-oriented database, or (ii) object relational mapping stored via a relational database management system

18. A method to facilitate report generation, comprising:

gathering a list of nodes associated with a non-relational database, the nodes in the list being oriented as a graph representing relations between the nodes;

for each node in the list, automatically collecting node data from the non-relational database on a node-by-node basis in accordance with the graph; and

storing, based on the collected node data, information into a universal container, the stored information in the universal container being adapted to be accessed by a reporting tool.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

generating a report based on the stored information in the universal container.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the non-relational data is associated with at least one of:

(i) an object-oriented database, or (ii) object relational mapping stored via a relational database management system.