Crucible query system

• US 6,006,224 A
• Filed: 02/13/1998
• Issued: 12/21/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 02/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Instancia Incorporated
• Original Assignee: OrganicNet, Inc.
• Inventors: Boes, Karin M., Long, James L., McComb, David W.
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, RUAY L
• Application Number:
  US09/023,167
• Time in Patent Office: 676 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-10, 707/100-104, 707/200-206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24565 Triggers; Constraints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4494 data driven
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A database system including a query mechanism for accessing data stored in the database. The database system includes classes comprising stored code enabling User generated database queries comprise data indicating one or more addresses at which the desired data resides. The query mechanism parses a query in to a plurality of query components. A query class in the query system instantiates a query component object for each of the query components. The query component objects are chained together to form query chains that enable message passing between the query component objects.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a server database in a database computing system in response to a request by an application program executing in an application computing system, wherein a communications facility is connected to couple the application computing system to the database computing system, and wherein the application computing system includes a first interface for providing application programs executing at the application computing system with an interface to the database computing system, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a first query in the application computing system;

parsing the first query to provide query components;

providing a query class comprising a plurality of subclasses wherein each query subclass corresponds to each query component, and wherein each subclass contains variable declarations and methods;

for each query component, constructing query component objects from the corresponding query subclasses and containing data from each query component that satisfy the variable declarations in the subclass;

chaining the query component objects together; and

making the chained query component objects persistent by saving data describing the chained query component to persistent storage.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of chaining comprises providing message paths within each query component object that allow messages to be passed from each query component object to selected other query component objects.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a query class further comprises:

selecting each of the plurality of subclasses to implement primitive database functionality.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a query class further comprises:

providing an update subclass including methods to access a group of specified objects, and modify the attributes and relationships of the specified objects;

providing an insert including methods to create a new object and set the values of its attributes and relationships;

providing a delete subclass including methods to delete the specified group of objects;

providing a connect subclass including methods to open a connection to the specified database, and return the session object that is created; and

providing a disconnect subclass including methods to close a database connection.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of providing a query class further comprises providing a traversal subclass including variable declarations and methods implementing query object traversal.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of making persistent further comprises saving the data describing the chained query component with the subclass corresponding to that query component object.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

generating a second query in the application computing system, wherein the second query refers to the first query;

parsing the second query to provide query components;

for each query component in the second query, constructing query component objects corresponding to the query subclasses, wherein one of the query component objects comprising methods to access the component objects of the first query; and

chaining the query component objects together.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of making persistent further comprises extensionally saving data describing the chained query component to persistent storage along with the result produced by the executed chained query components.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

modifying the database schema at runtime by modifying an attribute of at least one subclass;

identifying a persistent query components saved with the subclass having an attribute modified during the modifying step; and

modifying data within the identified persistent query component that refers to the modified attribute.

10. A query system for a server database in a database computing system, the query system responsive to a request by an application program executing in an application computing system, the query system comprising

a first interface within the application computing system providing application programs executing at the application computing system with an interface to the database computing system;

a second interface within the application computing system providing application programs executing at the application computing system with a user interface;

a query module coupled to receive user supplied query data from the second interface;

a parsing module coupled to receive the query data and to generate a plurality of query components;

an object-oriented query class comprising a plurality of subclasses, wherein each query component has a corresponding subclass, and wherein each subclass contains preselected attributes, variable declarations and methods to enable the subclass to construct a query component object, wherein each query component object contains data from one of the query components;

a chaining module coupled to receive the query component objects and link the query component objects to generate a query chain; and

a storage module coupled to receive the chained query component objects and make the chained query component objects persistent by saving data describing the chained query component to persistent storage.

11. A database system comprising:

a database server in a database computing system, the database computing system having a processor, an input/output device, and a data storage device;

a database access system in an application computing system, the application conputing system having a processor, an input/output device, and a data storage device;

a communications facility to couple the application computing system to the database computing system;

a first interface within the application computing system providing application programs executing at the application computing system with an interface to the database computing system;

a second interface within the application computing system providing application programs executing at the application computing system with a user interface;

a query system coupled to receive a query statement from data entry means and generate a plurality of query data components;

a proxy system coupled to receive the query data components and generate a query component object from each query data component, wherein the query component objects comprise data and methods for implementing the query language statement;

a database access layer coupled to the proxy system to receive messages from and send messages to the query component objects, and coupled directly to the query system to receive query language messages from and send query language messages to the query system;

the query system further comprising;

a parsing module coupled to receive the query language statement and to generate a plurality of query data components;

an object-oriented query class comprising a plurality of subclasses, wherein each query data component has a corresponding subclass, and wherein each subclass contains preselected attributes, variable declarations and methods selected to enable the subclass to construct the corresponding query component object;

a chaining module coupled to communicate with the query component objects in the query system and link the query component objects to generate a query chain; and

a storage module coupled to receive the chained query component objects and make the chained query component objects persistent by saving data describing the chained query component to persistent storage.