Flexible object representation of relational database cells having nontraditional datatypes

Claim 2

In a computer system having a database under control of a database management system which supports a traditional datatype and a nontraditional datatype, said database including a table with rows and columns, cells being defined by intersections of said rows and said columns, one of said rows having a respective cell with said nontraditional datatype, a data access method for an applications program to access and manipulate a respective data value of said cell, comprising: providing to said applications program a persistent locator object having a persistent locator which identifies said cell; creating an instance of an extended data object to represent said cell, said extended data object having type-specific member functions for accessing and manipulating said respective data value; providing said persistent locator object to said extended data object; and sending a message from said applications program to said extended data object to invoke one of said type-specific member functions with respect to said cell.

Claim 3

The data access method according to claim 1, wherein said nontraditional datatype is one of: an image datatype pertaining to image data, a video datatype pertaining to video data, an audio datatype pertaining to audio data, and a large object datatype pertaining to data that has a length greater than 32 Kbytes.

Claim 4

In a computer system having a database under control of a database management system which supports a traditional datatype and a nontraditional datatype, said database including a table with rows and columns, cells being defined by intersections of said rows and said columns, one of said rows having a respective cell with said nontraditional datatype, a data access method for an applications program to access and manipulate a respective data value of said cell, comprising: providing to said applications program an entity object representing said row, said entity object having respective member functions for accessing said row; providing to said entity object an extended data object to represent said cell, said extended data object having type-specific member functions for accessing and manipulating said respective data value; sending a message from said applications program to said extended data object to invoke one of said type-specific member functions with respect to said respective data value; and sending a message from said applications program to said entity object to invoke one of said respective member functions thereof with respect to said respective cells of said row.

Claim 5

In a computer system having a database under control of a database management system which supports a traditional datatype and a nontraditional datatype, said database including a table with rows and columns, cells being defined by intersections of said rows and said columns, one of said rows having a respective cell with said nontraditional datatype, a data access method for an applications program to access and manipulate a respective data value of said cell, comprising: providing to said applications program an entity object representing said row, said entity object having respective member functions for accessing said row; providing to said entity object an extended data object to represent said cell, said extended data object having type-specific member functions for accessing and manipulating said respective data value; sending a message from said applications program to said extended data object to invoke one of said type-specific member functions with respect to said respective data value; and sending a message from said applications program to said entity object to invoke one of said respective member functions thereof with respect to said respective cells of said row.

Claim 6

The data access method according to claim 3, wherein said nontraditional datatype is one of: an image datatype pertaining to image data, a video datatype pertaining to video data, an audio datatype pertaining to audio data, and a large object datatype pertaining to data that has a length greater than 32 Kbytes.

Claim 7

A program product for use with a computer system in which relational tables of a relational database management system are accessed by an applications program, said program product comprising: a computer usable medium bearing computer programming statements for causing said computer system to respond to an access request of said applications program for access to data cells of a row of one of said relational tables by providing (A) an entity object representing said row and having traditional type data values for each of said cells of a traditional datatype, and (B) for each of said data cells that has a nontraditional datatype, an extended data object representing said cell and having a respective nontraditional type data value; said computer programming statements including a class library expressing an inheritance hierarchy and including an EXOB base class for constructing instances of said extended data object; said EXOB base class including, as a respective subclass thereof, an autonomous EXOB class defining core member functions for directly interacting with said only one cell using a persistent locator, said core member functions including an add function, a retrieve function, an update function, and a delete function; said autonomous EXOB class further defining, as additional respective member functions thereof, functions for: creation of said extended data object initially independent of said cell; aggregating said extended data object with said entity object; and removing said extended data object from said aggregation with said entity object.

Claim 8

A program product for use with a computer system in which relational tables of a relational database management system are accessed by an applications program, said program product comprising: a computer usable medium bearing computer programming statements for causing said computer system to respond to an access request of said applications program for access to data cells of a row of one of said relational tables by providing (A) an entity object representing said row and having traditional type data values for each of said cells of a traditional datatype, and (B) for each of said data cells that has a nontraditional datatype, an extended data object representing said cell and having a respective nontraditional type data value; said computer programming statements including a class library expressing an inheritance hierarchy and including an EXOB base class for constructing instances of said extended data object; said EXOB base class including, as a respective subclass thereof, an autonomous EXOB class defining core member functions for directly interacting with said only one cell using a persistent locator, said core member functions including an add function, a retrieve function, an update function, and a delete function; said autonomous EXOB class further defining, as additional respective member functions thereof, functions for: creation of said extended data object initially independent of said cell; aggregating said extended data object with said entity object; and removing said extended data object from said aggregation with said entity object.

Claim 9

The program product according to claim 5, wherein said autonomous EXOB class includes, as a respective subclass thereof, a multimedia class having, an image subclass, a video subclass, and an audio subclass.

Claim 10

A computer system, comprising: a database, including a table with rows and columns, cells being defined by intersections of said rows and said columns, a database management system controlling said database and supporting a traditional datatype and a nontraditional datatype, one of said rows having a respective cell with said nontraditional datatype, an applications program for accessing and manipulating a respective data value of said cell, wherein said applications program is provided by said computer system with a persistent locator object having a persistent locator which identifies said cell; wherein said computer system creates an instance of an extended data object to represent said cell, said extended data object having type-specific member functions for accessing and manipulating said respective data value, said persistent locator object being provided to said extended data object; and wherein said applications program accesses and manipulates said respective data value of said cell by sending a message to said extended data object to invoke one of said type-specific member functions with respect to said cell.

Claim 11

A computer system, comprising: a database, including a table with rows and columns, cells being defined by intersections of said rows and said columns, a database management system controlling said database and supporting a traditional datatype and a nontraditional datatype, one of said rows having a respective cell with said nontraditional datatype, an applications program for accessing and manipulating a respective data value of said cell, wherein said applications program is provided by said computer system with a persistent locator object having a persistent locator which identifies said cell; wherein said computer system creates an instance of an extended data object to represent said cell, said extended data object having type-specific member functions for accessing and manipulating said respective data value, said persistent locator object being provided to said extended data object; and wherein said applications program accesses and manipulates said respective data value of said cell by sending a message to said extended data object to invoke one of said type-specific member functions with respect to said cell.

Claim 12

The computer system according to claim 8, wherein said nontraditional datatype is one of: an image datatype pertaining to image data, a video datatype pertaining to video data, an audio datatype pertaining to audio data, and a large object datatype pertaining to data that has a length greater than 32 Kbytes.