Method and apparatus for storing and maintaining structured documents

• US 7,899,834 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Oezgen, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): Channavajjala; Srirama
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le; Jessica N
• Application Number:
  US11/021,789
• Publication Number:
  US 20060155741A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,259 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 709/246, 715/513
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/83 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

According to some embodiments, a method and apparatus for storing and maintaining structured documents includes identifying a structured document, decomposing the structured document into a plurality of nodes, each of the nodes representing a portion of information of the document, creating, for each of the nodes, a corresponding object, and loading each of the objects into a database system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a structured document that is formatted using a markup language and includes a plurality of fragments as defined by the markup language;

decomposing said structured document into a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document as defined by the markup language;

creating, for each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document, at least one persistence of a corresponding object oriented programming language object, each of said created objects including a unique object identifier identifying a storage location for each object and information defining a relationship between itself and at least one other object oriented programming language object created for the structured document;

loading each of said objects into a hybrid object-relational database system, the loading including storing object data including the information defining the relationship between the object and at least one other object oriented programming language object created for the structured document for each of said objects in an object management system component of said hybrid object-relational database system, and storing the object identifier of each of said objects in a relational table of a structured query language component of said hybrid object-relational database system;

providing simultaneous access to a plurality of users to modify same nodes of said structured document; and

manipulating, in parallel, a plurality of said object oriented programming language objects loaded in said hybrid object-relational database corresponding to said simultaneously accessed same nodes of said structured document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said nodes is an element node and said node information includes a node name.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said nodes is a text node and said node information includes text.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each object identifier identifies a page in a memory on which the corresponding object is stored.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a relational table stores information identifying at least a first object identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a request to modify a first one of said objects;

retrieving said first object from said hybrid object-relational database system;

modifying said first object and creating a modified object; and

determining whether said modified object is able to be stored in said database to replace said first object.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying a second request to modify said first one of said objects;

retrieving said first object from said hybrid object-relational database system;

modifying said first object and creating a second modified object; and

determining whether said second modified object is able to be stored in said database to replace said object.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said determining further comprises:

determining that said first object was modified during a period after said first object is retrieved in response to said second request; and

determining that said second modified object is not able to be stored in said database to replace said object.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing processor-executable instructions; and

a processor in communication with the memory and operative in conjunction with the stored instructions to;

identify a structured document that is formatted using a markup language and includes a plurality of fragments defined by the markup language;

decompose said structured document into a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document as defined by the markup language;

create, for each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document, at least one persistence of a corresponding object oriented programming language object, each of said created objects defining a relationship between itself and at least one other object oriented programming language object as defined by the markup language;

load each of said objects into a hybrid object-relational database system, the loading including storing object data including the information defining the relationship between the object and at least one other object oriented programming language object created for the structured document for each of said objects in an object management system component of said hybrid object-relational database system, and storing the object identifier of each of said objects in a relational table of a structured query language component of said hybrid object-relational database system;

provide simultaneous access to a plurality of users to modify same nodes of said structured document; and

manipulate, in parallel, a plurality of said object oriented programming language objects loaded in said hybrid object-relational database corresponding to said simultaneously accessed same nodes of said structured document.

10. A storage medium storing processor-executable instructions thereon, the medium comprising:

instructions to identify a structured document that is formatted using a markup language and includes a plurality of fragments defined by the markup language;

instructions to decompose said structured document into a plurality of nodes, each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document as defined by the markup language;

instructions to create, for each of said nodes corresponding to at least a portion of said plurality of fragments of said structured document, at least one persistence of a corresponding object oriented programming language object, each of said created objects defining a relationship between itself and at least one other object oriented programming language object created for the structured document;

instructions to load each of said objects into a hybrid object-relational database system, the loading including storing object data including the information defining the relationship between the object and at least one other object oriented programming language object created for the structured document for each of said objects in an object management system component of said hybrid object-relational database system, and storing the object identifier of each of said objects in a relational table of a structured query language component of said hybrid object-relational database system;

instructions to provide simultaneous access to a plurality of users to modify same nodes of said structured document; and

instructions to manipulate, in parallel, a plurality of said object oriented programming language objects loaded in said hybrid object-relational database corresponding to said simultaneously accessed same nodes of said structured document.

11. The medium of claim 10, wherein each of said objects is managed by an object management system of a database server.

12. The medium of claim 10, further comprising:

instructions to determine whether a request to update said objects is to be committed.