Chapter 5 Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations.PPT

Chapter 5: Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Regular Entities to Relations Simple attributes: E-R attributes map directly onto the relation Composite attributes: Use only their simple, component attributes Multi-valued Attribute - Becomes a separate relation with a foreign key taken from the superior entity Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Weak Entities Becomes a separate relation with a foreign key taken from the superior entity Primary key composed of: Partial identifier of weak entity Primary key of identifying relation (strong entity) Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Binary Relationships One-to-Many - Primary key on the one side becomes a foreign key on the many side One-to-One - Primary key on the mandatory side becomes a foreign key on the optional side Many-to-Many - Create a new relation with the primary keys of the two entities as its primary key NULL Values in Foreign Keys Whether or not a Foreign Key can have NULL values depends on the minimum cardinality of the concerned relationship Minimum cardinality of 0 represented as NULL allowed for foreign key columns Minimum cardinality of 1 represented as NULL disallowed for foreign key columns Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Associative Entities Identifier Not Assigned Default primary key for the association relation is composed of the primary keys of the two entities (as in M:N relationship) Identifier Assigned It is natural and familiar to end-users Default identifier may not be unique Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Unary Relationships One-to-Many - Recursive foreign key in the same relation Many-to-Many - Two relations: One for the entity type One for an associative relation in which the primary key has two attributes, both taken from the primary key of the entity Transforming EER Diagrams into Relations Mapping Ternary (and n-ary) Relationships One relation for each entity and one for the associative entity Associative