DYNAMIC DATABASE MAPPING

• US 20150142836A1
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Hurst, Adam, Borges, Matthew, McClements, Tim
• Granted Patent: US 10,296,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2282 Tablespace storage structures; Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A method for providing mapping between a first data model and a second data model may include sending a request for metadata to a data producer providing data using the second data model. The metadata may be received from the data producer and analyzed to determine a structure of the second data model. System tables may be created based on the analysis of the metadata. The system tables may include data tables to store data from the data producer and to provide the mapping between the metadata of the second data model and the data tables in the first data model. Requests may be made to the data producer for data to be retrieved and populated in the data tables using the first data model.

Claims

1. A method for generating a mapping between a first data model and a second data model, the method comprising:

sending a request for metadata to a data producer providing data using the second data model;

receiving the metadata of the second data model from the data producer;

analyzing the metadata of the second data model to determine a structure of the second data model; and

based on the analysis of the metadata, creating system tables, the system tables including a first set of tables for storing data from the data producer using the first data model, a second set of tables includes information about the metadata of the second data model, and a third set of tables including the mapping between the metadata of the second data model and the first set of tables in the first data model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reading the system tables and creating an in-memory data structure using the system tables.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting data from the data producer; and

populating the first set of tables with the data received from the data producer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping includes:

an entity set and type of the second data model mapping to an entity table in the first data model; and

properties of the entity type mapping to different columns in the table.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the properties of the entity type mapping to the different columns in the table includes:

each primitive property mapping to a different column; and

keys of the entity mapping to a column in the table including entity ID hashes generated based on the entity set and key properties of the entity.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the mapping includes:

associations defining relationships between entity types in the second datable model mapping to an association table in the first data model;

collections of an entity type in the second data model mapping to a collections table in the first data model;

each complex type property in the second data model mapping to columns of the entity table of the entity which uses the complex type property.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the entity table includes a column for entity tags (ETags) for at least one of a media resource or a named resource stream.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data model is a relational database model and the second data model is an entity data model.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the Open Data Protocol (OData) is used to request the metadata and data from the data producer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for metadata sent to the data producer includes a user identification and an associated password to access metadata and data from the data producer.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the client device is operable to request an update to the data stored on the client device, and the server is further operable to:

receive the request for the update from the client device;

request data from the data producer;

transform data received from the data producer into the first data model;

determine changes to the data based on the data stored in the server and the transformed data received from the data producer; and

send changes to the client device.

11. A system, comprising:

a data producer storing data;

a client device executing an application using data stored in the client device based on a first data model, the data stored in the client device being data received from the data producer; and

a server in communication with the data producer and the client device, the server operable to;

receive requests from the client device to receive data from the data producer, the data producer providing data using a second data model;

in response to the client device request for data, request metadata from the data producer;

analyze the metadata to determine a structure of the second data model;

create system tables based on the analysis, the system tables including data tables using the first data model to store the data from the data producer, metadata tables to store the metadata from the data producer and mapping tables providing the mapping between the metadata of the second data model and the data tables in the first data model;

request data from the data producer;

populate data tables with the received data; and

send the system tables to the client device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first data model is a relational database model and the second data model is an entity data model.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the server communicates with the client device using an offline protocol and communicates with the data producer using an online protocol based on the second data model.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the mapping includes an entity set of the second data model mapping to an entity table in the first data model and properties of the entity type mapping to different columns in the table.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the properties of the entity type mapping to the different columns in the table includes:

each primitive property mapping to a different column; and

keys of the entity mapping to a column in the table including entity ID hashes generated based on the entity set and key properties of the entity.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the mapping includes:

associations defining relationships between entity types in the second data model mapping to an association table in the first data model; and

collections of an entity type in the second data model mapping to a collections table in the first data model;

each complex type property in the second data model mapping to columns of the entity table of the entity which uses the complex type property.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the client device is operable to make requests based on the second data model using the mapping tables and the metadata tables.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the client device is operable to request an update to the data stored on the client device, and the server is further operable to:

receive the request for the update from the client device, the request including a delta link indicating when the data stored in the client device was requested from the data producer;

request data from the data producer using the delta link;

transform data received from the data producer into the first data model; and

send transformed data to the client device.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions, wherein execution of the program instructions by one or more processors of a computer system causes one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

sending a request for metadata to a data producer providing data using a second data model, which is different from a first data model used to store data by a client device;

receiving the metadata of the second data model from the data producer;

analyzing the metadata of the second data model to determine a structure of the second data model;

creating system tables based on the analysis, the system tables including data tables using the first data model to store the data from the data producer, metadata tables to store the metadata from the data producer, and mapping tables providing the mapping between the metadata of the second data model and the data tables in the first data model;

requesting the data from the data producer for the data tables; and

populating the data tables with the data received from the data producer.