Oracle International Corporation

Viswanathan Krishnamurthy

Ravi Murthy

Nipun Agarwal

Muralidhar Krishnaprasad

Anil Nori

Sivasankaran Chandrasekar

Jagannathan Srinivasan

Rajagopalan Govindarajan

Sam Idicula

Dinesh Das

Visar Nimani

Eric Sedlar

A modular repository is described, where operational features may be implemented without the need to scan every resource included in the modular repository. A modular repository includes a dedicated set of database objects containing all information needed to access the resources in the repository. For example, the database objects of a modular repository may include those user identifier mappings and ACL mappings, etc., to which metadata in the modular repository refers. A database system may also include a mechanism through which a modular repository may be mounted under a subdirectory of a common directory in the database system. The resources of a modular repository that are mounted under the common directory may be accessed through the common directory. Further, a client may query the resources of any modular repository mounted under the common directory by making the federated repository, represented by the common directory, the context of the query.

Operationally complete hierarchical repository in a relational database

Techniques are provided for using XML syntax in exchanging data in relational databases. According to certain embodiments of the invention, one or more portions of the relational database is visualized as an XML document. A standard Uniform Resource Locator (URL) mechanism is provided to access data stored in the relational database by defining the URL as an XPath expression over the visualized XML document.

Method and mechanism for identifying transaction on a row of data

Techniques are provided for mapping XML data and metadata from data in relational databases. According to certain embodiments of the invention, a mechanism is provided to allow the user to use a database query to retrieve data form a relational database in the form of XML documents by canonically mapping object relational data to XML data and canonically mapping object relational schemas to XML-Schemas. The mechanism causes the generation of XML-schema information for the XML documents.

Apparatus and method for mapping relational data and metadata to XML

A method and system are provided for allowing users to register XML schemas in a database system. The database system determines, based on a registered XML schema, how to store within the database system XML documents that conform to the XML schema. This determination involves mapping constructs defined in the XML schema to constructs supported by the database system. Such constructs may include datatypes, hierarchical relationship between elements, constraints, inheritances, etc. Once the mapping has been determined, it is stored and used by the database system to determine how to store subsequently received XML documents that conform to the registered XML schema.

Mechanism for mapping XML schemas to object-relational database systems

Techniques are provided for XML data storage and query rewrites in relational databases. According to certain embodiments of the invention, a mechanism is provided to allow the user to store an XML document in a relational database and to submit mapping information that indicates a mapping of each field of the XML document to the column in the relational database in which the data from each field is stored. If the user submits an XML query to access the data in the XML document that is stored in the relational database, then a mechanism is provided to generate a database query based on the XML query and the mapping information.

Method and apparatus for flexible storage and uniform manipulation of XML data in a relational database system

A method and apparatus are provided for handling within a database system data items that are associated with data types whose native structure is not known to the database system. The data items are stored within the database system in their native structure, even though it is not understood by the database system. To store the data items, the database system calls a pickling routine that is provided by the user, or by the runtime subsystem of the programming environment that is native to the data item. To retrieve the routine from storage, the database system calls an unpickling routine, also provided by the user or the appropriate runtime subsystem. Because the database maintains the data items in their native format, no conversions are required as the data items are passed between the database system and external routines that manipulate the data items.

Opaque types

A method and system for optimizing the execution of database statement is described. Optimization of database statements having non-boolean predicates is disclosed. Also disclosed is the determination and use of different granularity levels of information for submitting database statement predicates to optimizer-related functions.

Method and mechanism for extending native optimization in a database system

A method and apparatus are provided for handling within a database system data items that are associated with data types whose native structure is not known to the database system. The data items are stored within the database system in their native structure, even though it is not understood by the database system. To store the data items, the database system calls a pickling routine that is provided by the user, or by the runtime subsystem of the programming environment that is native to the data item. To retrieve the routine from storage, the database system calls an unpickling routine, also provided by the user or the appropriate runtime subsystem. Because the database maintains the data items in their native format, no conversions are required as the data items are passed between the database system and external routines that manipulate the data items. Techniques are also provided for declaring attributes of the data item that can be accessed within the database system. The user provides routines for the database system to call in order to access the declared attributes, which may be different than the actual attributes that the data item has in its native environment.

A method and system for associating properties in a computer system is described. An aspect relates to a mechanism for dynamically determining the value of a property for an instance or object, which can override the property defined for the class or object type. Another aspect relates to a mechanism for dynamically changing at run-time the set of properties associated with system structures, such as classes, object types, instances, or objects. Yet another aspect relates to a mechanism that can associate or disassociate an entire set of properties at the same time, rather than having to separately associate or disassociate each property within a set of properties. A further aspect relates to a mechanism for allowing particular instances or objects to explicitly not inherit properties of its familial class or object type.

Method and mechanism for associating properties with objects and instances

A method and system for optimizing the execution of database statement is described. An aspect is related to providing a framework for the creation, association, and use of optimizer-related functions to calculate the cost of execution plans involving non-native database entities. Examples of these optimizer-related functions include selectivity, statistics, and costs functions. Another aspect is related to the optimization of database statements having non-boolean predicates. Yet another aspect is related to the determination and use of different granularity levels of information for submitting database statement predicates to optimizer-related functions. Optimizer-related functions can also be defined for system-supplied objects and entities.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Viswanathan Krishnamurthy