NAVIGATION OF A DATA EXTRACTION GRAPH OF DATA AND METADATA FROM A DATA REPOSITORY

• US 20160103899A1
• Filed: 06/24/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation, Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: ZHENG, ZUYE, MOKTALI, AMRUTA, DESHPANDE, SUYOG ANIL
• Granted Patent: US 10,353,912 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence

Abstract

Navigation of a data extraction graph is described. The data extraction graph may be a graph representation of data and metadata in an object-oriented database. In one example, a data extraction definition of metadata from a database system is presented in a graph format. The graph format is transformed into a linear object tree, and/or an object list. Navigation commands are received from a user to navigate the transformed graph format. Selections of objects are received from the user to select objects in the transformed graph format. A summary view of the selected objects is then provided in the transformed graph format.

Claims

1. A database system-implemented method for defining an extraction dataset from an object-oriented database comprising:

presenting from the object-oriented database a data extraction definition in a data graph representation;

transforming the data graph representation into a linear object format;

providing a view of objects of the data extraction definition in the linear object format;

receiving navigation commands from a user to navigate the linear object format;

receiving selections of objects from the user to select objects in the linear object format;

modifying the linear object format based on the user selections;

modifying the data graph representation based on the modified linear object format; and

extracting a dataset from the object-oriented database based on the data graph.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the linear object format is a tree or an object list.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the linear object format includes showing an object hierarchy and object metadata from the object-oriented database.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the metadata serves as an attribute to an object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data graph representation presents objects and relationships between objects.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data graph representation displays join conditions using metadata stored in lookup field definitions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data graph representation comprises nodes, each node representing a sequential list of steps.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data graph representation defines specific fields to be extracted in extracting the dataset.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transforming the data graph representation to a source code format such as Javascript Object Notation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data graph representation contains an object hierarchy within the data extraction definition, the method further comprising:

downloading the Javascript Object Notation format of the built object hierarchy;

receiving an upload of a modified version of the Javascript Object Notation format; and

modifying the data extraction definition using the modified version of the Javascript Object Notation format.

12. The medium of claim 1, wherein the linear object format is a tree or an object list.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the data graph representation presents objects and relationships between objects and the data graph representation displays join conditions using metadata stored in lookup field definitions.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform one or more operations comprising:

presenting from the object-oriented database a data extraction definition in a data graph representation;

transforming the data graph representation into a linear object format;

providing a view of objects of the data extraction definition in the linear object format;

receiving navigation commands from a user to navigate the linear object format;

receiving selections of objects from the user to select objects in the linear object format;

modifying the linear object format based on the user selections;

modifying the data graph representation based on the modified linear object format; and

extracting a dataset from the object-oriented database based on the data graph.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein the linear object format includes showing an object hierarchy and object metadata from the object-oriented database.

14. The medium of claim 13, wherein the metadata serves as an attribute to an object.

15. A system comprising:

a processor and a memory to execute instructions at the system; and

a mechanism to;

present from the object-oriented database a data extraction definition in a data graph representation;

transform the data graph representation into a linear object format;

provide a view of objects of the data extraction definition in the linear object format;

receive navigation commands from a user to navigate the linear object format;

receive selections of objects from the user to select objects in the linear object format;

modify the linear object format based on the user selections;

modify the data graph representation based on the modified linear object format; and

extract a dataset from the object-oriented database based on the data graph.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the data graph representation comprises nodes, each node representing a sequential list of steps.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the data graph representation defines specific fields to be extracted in extracting the dataset.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the mechanism is further to transform the data graph representation to a source code format such as Javascript Object Notation.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data graph representation contains an object hierarchy within the data extraction definition, and wherein the mechanism is further to:

download the Javascript Object Notation format of the built object hierarchy;

receive an upload of a modified version of the Javascript Object Notation format; and

modify the data extraction definition using the modified version of the Javascript Object Notation format.