DETECTING AND APPLYING DATABASE SCHEMA CHANGES TO REPORTS

• US 20110119288A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: SINHA, ANAND
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/217 Database tuning G06F16/2282 takes precedence; database performance monitoring G06F11/3409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models

Abstract

A system and method to detect database schema changes are described. In various embodiments, a method of the embodiments detects database schema changes via triggers. In various embodiments, the changes are detected by comparing database schemas and determining modifications to database tables and database columns thereof. In various embodiments, the detected changes are applied to a report by generating a parse tree relevant for the modifications to database tables and columns; and traversing the tree to produce a statement to change the report to be relevant for the modifications to database tables and columns.

Claims

1. A machine-readable storage device having machine readable instructions tangibly stored thereon which when executed by the machine, cause the machine to perform a method to apply database schema changes to a report, the method comprising:

detecting a change in a database schema;

receiving one or more changes between a first database schema relevant for a first database state and a second database schema relevant for a second database state; and

applying the one or more changes to the report.

2. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein detecting the change in the database schema comprises:

receiving the first database state;

receiving the second database state; and

comparing the first database state to the second database state.

3. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein receiving the first database state comprises:

receiving one or more table names relevant for the first database state;

receiving one or more column names relevant for the first database state; and

receiving one or more data types, wherein the one or more data types are correspondingly relevant for each of the one or more column names.

4. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise generating a query to receive the first database state one or more time intervals.

5. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein receiving the second database state comprises:

receiving one or more table names relevant for the second database state;

receiving one or more column names relevant for the second database state; and

receiving one or more data types, wherein the one or more data types are correspondingly relevant for each of the one or more column names.

6. The machine-readable storage device of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise generating a query to receive the second database state at one or more time intervals.

7. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein receiving the one or more changes comprises:

identifying one or more database operations relevant for the one or more changes;

receiving one or more targets correspondingly relevant for the one or more database operations;

receiving one or more first names of the one or more targets of the one or more database operations, wherein the one or more first names are relevant for the first database state;

receiving one or more second names of the one or more targets of the one or more database operations, wherein the one or more second names are relevant for the second database state; and

receiving one or more timestamp values for the one or more database operations.

8. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein applying the one or more changes to the report comprises:

generating a parse tree relevant for the first database state;

modifying the parse tree to include the one or more changes between the first database schema and the second database schema; and

traversing the parse tree to generate a statement to modify the report to reflect the second database schema.

9. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein detecting the change in the database schema further comprises generating a data definition language trigger.

10. The machine-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein detecting the change in the database schema further comprises generating a data manipulation language trigger.

11. A computerized system including a processor, the processor communicating with one or more memory devices storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

a module operable to receive one or more database states from a database;

a module operable to find one or more changes between a first database schema relevant for a first database state and a second database schema relevant for a second database state; and

a module operable to apply the one or more changes to a report.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising instructions for a module to generate a parse tree, wherein the module to generate the parse tree is operable to:

generate the parse tree relevant for the first database state;

modify the parse tree to be relevant for the second database state; and

traverse the parse tree to generate a statement relevant for the changes between the first database schema and the second database schema to a report.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the module operable to receive the one or more database states from the database is further operable to receive the one or more database states periodically and store the one or more database states to the memory.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a report generator operable to receive and organize database data; and

a user interface operable to receive and display database data from the report generator.

15. A computerized method, comprising:

identifying one or more database operations relevant for one or more changes in a database schema;

identifying one or more targets of the one or more database operations; and

applying the one or more changes to the one or more targets in a report.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving one or more first names of the one or more targets of the one or more database operations, wherein the one or more first names are relevant for a first database state; and

receiving one or more second names of the one or more targets of the one or more database operations, wherein the one or more second names are relevant for a second database state.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising receiving one or more timestamp values for the one or more database operations.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein applying the one or more changes to the report comprises:

generating a parse tree relevant for the database schema;

modifying the parse tree to include the one or more changes; and

traversing the parse tree to generate a statement to modify the report to reflect the one or more changes.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising recording the one or more changes in the database schema and storing the one or more changes to a memory.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising retrieving the one or more changes form the memory to compare a first database schema relevant for a first database state to a second database schema relevant for a second database state.