Method and apparatus for pseudo-conversion of table objects

• US 7,908,299 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2008
• Issued: 03/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Barbarek, Wayne Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu; Yicun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mamillapalli; Pavan
• Application Number:
  US12/023,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20090198715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,139 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.101, 707/805, 707/825, 715/762
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2272 Management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/177 of tables; using ruled lines

Abstract

A method for converting a table object from a first partitioning type to a second partitioning type includes steps or acts of gathering information including a definition of a clustering index of the table object; converting the table object of the first partitioning type into a virtual table object of the second partitioning type by virtually applying the information to a clustering index of the table object such that the virtual table object represents how the table object will appear when it is explicitly converted; and presenting the virtual table object to a user for viewing and manipulating as a table of the second partitioning type before generating an explicit conversion to said second partitioning type.

Claims

1. A method for converting a table object from a first partitioning type to a second partitioning type, the method comprising steps of:

automatically gathering information comprising a definition of a clustering index of the table object of the first partitioning type and attributes of said table object inherited from its clustering index, wherein said information is automatically gathered from a data store comprising real and virtual object definitions;

generating a virtual table object of the second partitioning type by applying the gathered information to a clustering index of the virtual table object, such that the virtual table object represents how the table object will appear with partitioning type conversions applied;

wherein the table object is not changed until the conversions are applied; and

presenting the virtual table object to a user for viewing and manipulating as the second partitioning type, such that the user is able to toggle between the table object of the first partitioning type and the virtual table object of the second partitioning type before converting the table object to said second partitioning type.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first partitioning type is index-controlled partitioning and the second partitioning type is table-controlled partitioning.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the virtual table object is presented on interactive screens.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

receiving a reset command from the user; and

reinstating the table object to the first partitioning type in response to the reset command.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein generating an explicit conversion comprises steps of:

generating a data definition language consistent with the second partitioning type;

applying the data definition language to the table object; and

executing the generated data definition language for explicitly converting the table object to the second partitioning type.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein generating an explicit conversion further comprises:

separating fields from the table object and the clustering index into two separate embodiments; and

applying second partition type attributes to the table object, such that the user can toggle between the table object and the virtual table object.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein applying the second partition type attributes comprises matching original names defining columns from the table object to the clustering index.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein generating the explicit conversion comprises maintaining the clustering index.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein generating the explicit conversion comprises converting the clustering index into a type-2 clustering index.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an instruction from the user wherein the instruction indicates a task to be performed to implicitly manipulate the virtual table object as if it were of the second partitioning type;

modifying the virtual table object in accordance with the instruction; and

presenting the modified virtual table object to the user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the instruction comprises a keyword for altering a default value of a field.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein modifying the virtual table object comprises altering the default value of the field upon receiving the keyword.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein modifying the virtual table object comprises at least one instruction selected from a group consisting of:

deleting, inserting, copying, moving, repeating, and rearranging the partitioning key columns.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising an initial step of auto-generating a default value such that the user can accept the auto-generated default value without having to enter the value.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein gathering the information further comprises storing the information.

16. A computer program product stored on a computer readable storage medium and comprising code that, when executed, causes a computer to convert a table object from a first partitioning type to a second partitioning type by:

automatically gathering information comprising a definition of a clustering index of the table object of the first partitioning type and attributes of said table object inherited from its clustering index, wherein said information is automatically gathered from a data store comprising real and virtual object definitions;

generating a virtual table object of the second partitioning type by applying the gathered information to a clustering index of the virtual table object, such that the virtual table object represents how the table object will appear with partitioning type conversions applied; and

wherein the table object is not changed until the conversions are applied; and

presenting the virtual table object to a user for viewing and manipulating as the second partitioning type, such that the user is able to toggle between the table object of the first partitioning type and the virtual table object of the second partitioning type before converting the table object to said second partitioning type.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the clustering index is a virtual clustering index.

18. An information processing system for converting a table object from a first partitioning type to a second partitioning type, the system comprising:

an input/output interface comprising a display for receiving input from a user and for presenting a virtual table object to the user;

a processor for converting the table object to a virtual table object by performing steps of;

automatically gathering information comprising a definition of a clustering index of the table object of the first partitioning type and attributes of said table object inherited from its clustering index, wherein said information is automatically gathered from a data store comprising real and virtual object definitions;

generating a virtual table object of the second partitioning type by applying the gathered information to a clustering index of the virtual table object, such that the virtual table object represents how the table object will appear with partitioning type conversions applied;

wherein the table object is not changed until the conversions are applied; and

presenting the virtual table object to a user for viewing and manipulating as the second partitioning type, such that the user is able to toggle between the table object of the first partitioning type and the virtual table object of the second partitioning type before converting the table object to said second partitioning type.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the first partitioning type is table-controlled partitioning and the second partitioning type is index-controlled partitioning.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the clustering index is a virtual clustering index.