More on ER Model Detail Relationships课件.ppt

More on ER Model Detail Relationships 4 Attributes Attribute A property or characteristic of an entity type that is of interest to the organisation Simple Attribute An attribute that cannot be broken down into smaller components e.g. Emp No Attributes Cont’d Composite Attribute An attribute that can be broken down into component parts e.g. Address (Street, City, State, Postal Code) Name (First Name, Middle Initials, Last Name) Attributes Cont’d Stored Attribute An attribute whose valued is stored in the database Derived Attribute An attribute whose values can be calculated from related attribute values e.g. Years Employed (using Employed Date) Age (using Date of Birth) Identifier Composite Identifier An identifier that consists of a composite attribute e.g. Flight Id (Flight No, Date) Identifier Choose an identifier that will not change its value over the life of each instance of the entity type Choose an identifier such that each instance of the entity type, the attribute is guaranteed to have valid values and not be null (or unknown) Avoid the use of so-called intelligent identifiers, whose structure indicates classifications, etc. Consider substituting single-attribute identifiers for large composite identifiers Entity Types Weak Entity An entity types whose existence depends on some other entity Entity Types Identifying Relationship A relationship between a weak entity type and its owner Sample Entity Definitions Name: Department Type: Regular Definition: a department of an organisation Identifier: Dept_No Name: Dependent Type: Weak Definition: a person who is a dependent of an employee and entitle for insurance Identifier: Depd_Name (partial only) Sample Attribute Definitions Name: Emp_No Domain: employee identities Definition: unique identifier of an employee Null: No Name: Emp_Name Components: First_Name, Mid_Initials, Last_Name Definition: a partial identifier of a name Null: No Sample Relationship Definitions Name: Works_for