SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR AUTOMATIC CODE GENERATION FOR DATABASE OBJECT DELETION

• US 20110238706A1
• Filed: 03/25/2011
• Published: 09/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Agrawal, Sonali, Wong, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 9,037,546 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/802
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases

Abstract

In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for automatic code generation for database object deletion. These mechanisms and methods for automatic code generation for database object deletion can generate code for deleting database objects in an automated manner. The ability to generate code for deleting database objects in an automated manner can enable the efficient and accurate deletion of database objects, including database objects with relationships to other database objects.

Claims

1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for automatic code generation for database object deletion, the method comprising:

identifying metadata for a database table;

for objects of the database table, determining an associated delete method, using the metadata;

for each foreign key relationship between the objects of the database table, determining an associated delete constraint, using the metadata; and

automatically generating code for deleting the objects, using the determined delete method and the delete constraint.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the database object includes a record stored in the database table.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the database is of a multi-tenant on-demand database system.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the metadata describes the objects.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the metadata is referenced by the database table.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the delete method includes one of a plurality of predetermined methods associated with database object deletion.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the predetermined methods include at least one first method for recording deletion and at least one second method for not recording deletion.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the at least one first method for recording deletion is associated with a soft-delete and a hard-delete.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the at least one second method for not recording deletion is associated with no delete and delete by query.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the delete constraint includes at least one of a plurality of predetermined actions associated with database object deletion.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the plurality of predetermined actions include at least one of a restriction for preventing deletion, a cascade delete for deleting related objects, and a set null for setting a pointer to null.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the metadata stores the delete method and the delete constraint.

13. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the objects includes a custom object and at least one of the objects includes a standard object, and the automatically generated code for deleting the custom object includes dynamic code and the automatically generated code for deleting the standard object includes static code.

14. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the code is automatically generated based on a computation associated with the delete constraint.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computation includes determining whether the delete constraint allows deletion of the objects having the associated foreign key relationship.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein:

if it is determined that the delete constraint allows deletion of the objects having the associated foreign key relationship, then the code is automatically generated to delete the objects having the associated foreign key relationship using the delete method.

17. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to delete at least one of the objects.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising executing at leas portion of the code, in response to the request.

19. A method, comprising:

identifying metadata for a database table;

for objects of the database table, determining an associated delete method, using the metadata;

for each foreign key relationship between the objects of the database table, determining an associated delete constraint, using the metadata; and

automatically generating code for deleting the objects, using the determined delete method and the delete constraint.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor for;

identifying metadata for a database table;

for objects of the database table, determining an associated delete method, using the metadata;

for each foreign key relationship between the objects of the database table, determining an associated delete constraint, using the metadata; and

automatically generating code for deleting the objects, using the determined delete method and the delete constraint.

21. A method for transmitting code, comprising:

transmitting code for identifying metadata for a database table;

transmitting code for determining an associated delete method for objects of the database table, using the metadata;

transmitting code for determining an associated delete constraint for each foreign key relationship between the objects of the database table, using the metadata; and

transmitting code for automatically generating code for deleting the objects, using the determined delete method and the delete constraint.

22. A data structure stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

a database table; and

metadata referenced by the database table, the metadata including a delete method and at least one constraint for use in automatically generating code for deleting objects of the database table.