CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM

• US 20120041986A1
• Filed: 10/26/2011
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Weissman, Craig, Wong, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/793
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2264 Multidimensional index structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2462 Approximate or statistical queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task

Abstract

Systems and methods for hosting variable schema data such as dynamic tables and columns in a fixed physical database schema. Standard objects, such as tables are provided for use by multiple tenants or organizations in a multi-tenant database system. Each organization may add or define custom fields for inclusion in a standard object. Custom fields for multiple tenants are stored in a custom data column within the object data structure, and this single custom data column may contain different data types for each tenant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of storing multiple fields for multiple tenants in a single multi-tenant data structure, comprising:

defining a multi-tenant data structure having a plurality of custom data columns;

defining a first data field for a first tenant, the first data field having a first data type;

defining a second data field for a second tenant, the second field having a second data type, wherein the second data type is different than the first data type; and

when records having data values in the first and second fields are created by the first and second tenants, respectively, storing the data values of first and second fields to a single custom data column in the data structure, wherein the single custom data column includes data values having different data types for different tenants.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a separate data structure; and

for each of the first and second fields, storing an indication of the corresponding data type in the separate data structure.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the separate data structure has an organization id column, the method further comprising:

determining a tenant id for each of the first and second tenants; and

for each of the first and second tenants, storing the respective tenant id in the organization id column of the separate data structure.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing; and

storing, in the separate data structure, an indication that the at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing an indication of the data type corresponding to each of the first and second fields in extensible markup language (XML) format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data values of first and second fields are stored in the single custom data column as text in a canonical format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a separate data structure having one or more columns; and

in response to an indication from one of the first tenant and the second tenant that data in the first data field or the second data field, respectively, be unique, copying the data values stored in the single custom data column corresponding to the first data field or the second data field, respectively, to a column in the separate data structure.

8. A computer-readable medium storing code for controlling a database system to store multiple fields for multiple tenants in a single multi-tenant data structure, the code comprising instructions to:

define a multi-tenant data structure having a plurality of custom data columns;

define a first data field for a first tenant, the first data field having a first data type;

define a second data field for a second tenant, the second field having a second data type, wherein the second data type is different than the first data type; and

when records having data values in the first and second fields are created by the first and second tenants, respectively, store the data values of first and second fields to a single custom data column in the data structure, wherein the single custom data column includes data values having different data types for different tenants.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the code further comprises instructions to:

define a separate data structure; and

for each of the first and second fields, store an indication of the corresponding data type in the separate data structure.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the separate data structure has an organization id column and the code further comprising instructions to:

determine a tenant id for each of the first and second tenants; and

for each of the first and second tenants, store the respective tenant id in the organization id column of the separate data structure.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, the code further comprises instructions to:

determine at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing; and

store, in the separate data structure, an indication that the at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, the code further comprises instructions to store an indication of the data type corresponding to each of the first and second fields in extensible markup language (XML) format.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the data values of first and second fields are stored in the single custom data column as text in a canonical format.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the code further comprises instructions to:

define a separate data structure having one or more columns; and

in response to an indication from one of the first tenant and the second tenant that data in the first data field or the second data field, respectively, be unique, copy the data values stored in the single custom data column corresponding to the first data field or the second data field, respectively, to a column in the separate data structure.

15. A multi-tenant database system, comprising:

a database for storing multi-tenant data objects; and

a database management process configured to;

define a multi-tenant data structure having a plurality of custom data columns;

define a first data field for a first tenant, the first data field having a first data type;

define a second data field for a second tenant, the second field having a second data type, wherein the second data type is different than the first data type; and

when records having data values in the first and second fields are created by the first and second tenants, respectively, store the data values of first and second fields to a single custom data column in the data structure, wherein the single custom data column includes data values having different data types for different tenants.

16. The multi-tenant database system of claim 15, wherein the database management process is further configured to:

define a separate data structure; and

for each of the first and second fields, store an indication of the corresponding data type in the separate data structure.

17. The multi-tenant database system of claim 16, wherein the separate data structure has an organization id column and the database management process is further configured to:

determine a tenant id for each of the first and second tenants; and

for each of the first and second tenants, store the respective tenant id in the organization id column of the separate data structure.

18. The multi-tenant database system of claim 16, wherein the database management process is further configured to:

determine at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing; and

store, in the separate data structure, an indication that the at least one of the first data field or the second field has been flagged for indexing.

19. The multi-tenant database system of claim 15, wherein the database management process is further configured to store an indication of the data type corresponding to each of the first and second fields in extensible markup language (XML) format.

20. The multi-tenant database system of claim 15, wherein the data values of first and second fields are stored in the single custom data column as text in a canonical format.