DATABASE SCHEMA OR DATA STRUCTURE

Federated searching of heterogeneous datastores using a federated datastore object

6263342

Abstract

A computer method and system capable of searching multiple heterogeneous datastores with heterogeneous data types by employing an object oriented data model to define a federated datastore object. The federated query object translates a generic query into the appropriate queries for each datastore, the federated datastore object acts as a virtual datastore for multiple heterogeneous datastores with the ability to map concepts between datastores, and the federated collection object represents results from a federated query in a hierarchy that maintains sub-grouping information from each datastore to allow accessing of results by datastore or as a single collection of results. The federated objects thus provide user applications with enhanced accessibility of different hierarchies of information, as well as more robust search capabilities.


Claims

We claim:

1. A method of managing information in a computer system having multiple heterogeneous datastores, comprising:

representing at least two of said heterogeneous datastores each as a logical datastore object of an object-oriented data model; and

representing said at least two datastore objects together as a federated datastore object of said data model wherein said federated datastore object provides access to said two heterogeneous datastores through said two datastore objects.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said federated datastore object includes sufficient information regarding the architecture of said heterogeneous datastores to perform transactions with each of said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to send queries to said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to send parametric, text, and image queries.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to map data from a first datastore to corresponding data from a second datastore.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein said first datastore employs a different query language than said second datastore.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein said mapping enables a user to merge data from multiple datastores.

8. A method according to claim 5, wherein said federated datastore's mapping capability enables a user to access data retrieved from said second datastore by selecting corresponding data retrieved from said first datastore.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein said representing of said two datastore objects together provides a user with a consistent and unified conceptual view of both of said two datastores.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to map user information from said federated datastore object to corresponding user information formats of said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

registering information of said multiple heterogeneous datastores into said federated datastore object to enable said federated datastore object to subsequently access additional information from said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein said mapping allows a user-id and password for the federated datastore to be respectively mapped into a user-id and password for each said heterogeneous datastores.

13. A method according to claim 10, wherein said mapping is expressed in a persistent mapping definition language.

14. A method according to claim 10, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of an attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

15. A method according to claim 10, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogenous datastores.

16. A method according to claim 10, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

17. A method according to claim 13, wherein said mapping definition language provides for the mapping of:

one attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores;

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogenous datastores; and

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

18. A method according to claim 1, further comprising translating a query into native queries that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

19. A method according to claim 1, further comprising converting data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

20. A method according to claim 18, further comprising filtering out data which is irrelevant to one of said native queries.

21. A method according to claim 20, further comprising converting data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

22. A method according to claim 1, further comprising converting data from said heterogenous datastores into a different format.

23. A method according to claim 1, further comprising filtering results of a query from said heterogenous datastores to exclude data.

24. A method according to claim 1, further comprising merging results of a query of said heterogenous datastores into a federated collection object, said federated collection object being defined by a federated collection class in said object-oriented data model and representing a collection of collections of results from said query.

25. An object-oriented computer software package for managing information in a computer system having multiple heterogeneous datastores, said software comprising;

a datastore class defining methods and attributes used by a datastore object to represent a heterogeneous datastore; and

a federated datastore defining methods and attributes used by a federated datastore object to represent a plurality of said datastore objects together as a federated datastore object wherein said federated datastore object provides access to said heterogeneous datastore through said datastore object.

26. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object includes sufficient information regarding the architecture of said heterogeneous datastores to perform transactions with each of said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

27. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to send queries to said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

28. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to send parametric, text, and image queries.

29. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to map data from a first datastore to corresponding data from a second datastore.

30. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 29, wherein said first datastore employs a different query language than said second datastore.

31. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 29, wherein said mapping enables a user to merge data from multiple datastores.

32. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 29, wherein said federated datastore's mapping capability enables a user to access data retrieved from said second datastore by selecting corresponding data retrieved from said first datastore.

33. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said representing of said two datastore objects together provides a user with a consistent and unified conceptual view of both of said two datastores.

34. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to map user information from said federated datastore object to corresponding user information formats of said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

35. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, further comprising:

registering information of said multiple heterogeneous datastores into said federated datastore object to enable said federated datastore object to subsequently access additional information from said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

36. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 34, wherein said mapping allows a user-id and password for the federated datastore to be respectively mapped into a user-id and password for each said heterogeneous datastores.

37. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 34, wherein said mapping is expressed in a persistent mapping definition language.

38. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 34, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of an attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

39. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 34, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogenous datastores.

40. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 34, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

41. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 37, wherein said mapping definition language provides for the mapping of:

one attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores;

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogenous datastores; and

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogenous datastores.

42. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to translate a query into native queries that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

43. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to convert data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

44. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 42, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to filter out data from said query which is irrelevant to one of said native queries.

45. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 44, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to convert data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogenous datastores.

46. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to converting data from said heterogenous datastores into a different format.

47. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore object is operable to filter results of a query from said heterogenous datastores to exclude data.

48. An object-oriented computer software package according to claim 25, wherein said federated datastore is operable to merge results of a query of said heterogenous datastores into a federated collection object, said federated collection object being defined by a federated collection class in an object-oriented data model and representing a collection of collections of results from said query.

49. A computer system capable of managing information from multiple heterogeneous datastores, comprising:

a memory system storing instructions;

a CPU operable to read said instructions from said memory system and operate according to said instructions, said instructions enabling said CPU to represent at least two of said heterogeneous datastores each as a logical datastore object of an object-oriented data model, and represent said at least two datastore objects together as a federated datastore object of said data model wherein said federated datastore object provides access to said two heterogeneous datastores through said two datastore objects.

50. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said federated datastore object includes sufficient information regarding the architecture of said heterogeneous datastores to enable said CPU to perform transactions with each of said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

51. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said federated datastore object enables said CPU to send queries to said heterogeneous datastores through said datastore objects.

52. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said federated datastore object enables said CPU to send parametric, text, and image queries.

53. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said federated datastore object enables said CPU to map data from a first datastore to corresponding data from a second datastore.

54. A computer system according to claim 53, wherein said first datastore employs a different query language than said second datastore.

55. A computer system according to claim 53, wherein said mapping enables a user to merge data from multiple datastores.

56. A computer system according to claim 53, wherein said federated datastores mapping capability enables a user to access data retrieved from said second datastore by selecting corresponding data retrieved from said first datastore.

57. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said representing of said two datastore objects together provides a user with a consistent and unified conceptual view of both of said two datastores.

58. A computer system according to claim 49, wherein said federated datastore object enables said CPU to map user information from said federated datastore object to corresponding user information formats of said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

59. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising:

instructions which enable said CPU to register information of said multiple heterogeneous datastores into said federated datastore object to enable said federated datastore object to subsequently cause said CPU to access additional information from said multiple heterogeneous datastores.

60. A computer system according to claim 58, wherein said mapping allows a user-id and password for the federated datastore to be respectively mapped into a user-id and password for each said heterogeneous datastores.

61. A computer system according to claim 58, wherein said mapping is expressed in a persistent mapping definition language.

62. A computer system according to claim 58, wherein said mapping enables said CPU to map an attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogeneous datastores.

63. A computer system according to claim 58, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogeneous datastores.

64. A computer system according to claim 58, wherein said mapping provides for the mapping of multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogeneous datastores.

65. A computer system according to claim 61, wherein said mapping definition language enables said CPU to map:

one attribute from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogeneous datastores;

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to an attribute in one of said heterogeneous datastores; and

multiple attributes from said federated datastore object to multiple attributes in said heterogeneous datastores.

66. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to translate a query into native queries that respectively correspond to said heterogeneous datastores.

67. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to convert data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogeneous datastores.

68. A computer system according to claim 66, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to filter out data which is irrelevant to one of said native queries.

69. A computer system according to claim 68, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to convert data in a query into data types that respectively correspond to said heterogeneous datastores.

70. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to convert data from said heterogeneous datastores into a different format.

71. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to filter results of a query from said heterogeneous datastores to exclude data.

72. A computer system according to claim 49, further comprising instructions enabling said CPU to merge results of a query of said heterogeneous datastores into a federated collection object, said federated collection object being defined by a federated collection class in said object-oriented data model and representing a collection of collections of results from said query.


Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for representing and searching multiple heterogeneous datastores (datastore is a term used to refer to a generic data storage facility, such as a relational data base, flat-file, hierarchical data base, etc.) and managing the results of such searches.

For nearly half a century computers have been used by businesses to manage information such as numbers and text, mainly in the form of coded data. However, business data represents only a small part of the world's information. As storage, communication and information processing technologies advance, and as their costs come down, it becomes more feasible to digitize other various types of data, store large volumes of it, and be able to distribute it on demand to users at their place of business or home.

New digitization technologies have emerged in the last decade to digitize images, audio, and video, giving birth to a new type of digital multimedia information. These multimedia objects are quite different from the business data that computers managed in the past, and often require more advanced information management system infrastructures with new capabilities. Such systems are often called "digital libraries."

Bringing new digital technologies can do much more than just replace physical objects with their electronic representation. It enables instant access to information; supports fast, accurate, and powerful search mechanisms; provides, new "experiential" (i.e. virtual reality) user interfaces; and implements new ways of protecting the rights of information owners. These properties make digital library solutions even more attractive and acceptable not only to corporate IS organizations, but to the information owners, publishers and service providers.

Creating and Capturing Data

Generally, business data is created by a business process (an airline ticket reservation, a deposit at the bank, and a claim processing at an insurance company are examples). Most of these processes have been automated by computers and produce business data in digital form (text and numbers). Therefore it is usually structured coded data. Multimedia data, on the contrary, cannot be fully pre-structured (its use is not fully predictable) because it is the result of the creation of a human being or the digitization of an object of the real world (x-rays, geophysical mapping, etc.) rather than a computer algorithm.

The average size of business data in digital form is relatively small. A banking record--including a customers name, address, phone number, account number, balance, etc.--represents at most a few hundred characters, i.e. few hundreds/thousands of bits. The digitization of multimedia information (image, audio, video) produces a large set of bits called an "object" or "blobs" (Binary Large Objects). For example, a digitized image of the parchments from the Vatican Library takes as much as the equivalent of 30 million characters (30 MB) to be stored. The digitization of a movie, even after compression, may take as much as the equivalent of several billions of characters (3--4 GB) to be stored.

Multimedia information is typically stored as much larger objects, ever increasing in quantity and therefore requiring special storage mechanisms. Classical business computer systems have not been designed to directly store such large objects. Specialized storage technologies may be required for certain types of information, e.g. media streamers for video or music. Because certain multimedia information needs to be preserved "forever" it also requires special storage management functions providing automated back-up and migration to new storage technologies as they become available and as old technologies become obsolete.

Finally, for performance reasons, the multimedia data is often placed in the proximity of the users with the system supporting multiple distributed object servers. This often requires a logical separation between applications, indices, and data to ensure independence from any changes in the location of the data.

Searching and Accessing Data

The indexing of business data is often imbedded into the data itself. When the automated business process stores a person's name in the column "NAME," it actually indexes that information. Multimedia information objects usually do not contain indexing information. This "meta data" needs to be created in addition by developers or librarians. The indexing information for multimedia information is often kept in "business like" databases separated from the physical object.

In a Digital Library (DL), the multimedia object can be linked with the associated indexing information, since both are available in digital form. Integration of this legacy catalog information with the digitized object is crucial and is one of the great advantages of DL technology. Different types of objects can be categorized differently as appropriate for each object type. Existing standards like MARC records for libraries, Finding Aids for archiving of special collections, etc... can be used when appropriate.

The indexing information used for catalog searches in physical libraries is mostly what one can read on the covers of the books: authors name, title, publisher, ISBN, . . . enriched by other information created by librarians based on the content of the books (abstracts, subjects, keywords, . . .). In digital libraries, the entire content of books, images, music, films, etc. . are available and "new content" technologies are needed; technologies for full text searching, image content searching (searching based on color, texture, shape, etc. . .), video content searching, and audio content searching. The integrated combination of catalog searches (e.g. SQL) with content searches will provide more powerful search and access functions. These technologies can also be used to partially automate further indexing, classification, and abstracting of objects based on content.

To harness the massive amounts of information spread throughout these networks, it has become necessary for a user to search numerous storage facilities at the same time without having to consider the particular implementation of each storage facility. Many approaches have been made to provide effective tools for performing "federated" searches of multiple heterogeneous storage facilities, each having diverse data types, and for managing the results of these searches. A comprehensive survey on the federation of heterogeneous database systems can be found in Sheth, A. P. and Larson, J. A., "Federated Database Systems for Managing Distributed, Heterogeneous, and Autonomous Databases," ACM Computing Surveys, vol. 22, No. 3, Sept 1990, pp. 183-236.

Some particular approaches include, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,596,744 (Dao et al.), and 5,634,053 (Noble et al.) which disclose Federated Information Management (FIM) architectures for providing users with transparent access to heterogeneous database systems with multimedia information. However, these architectures rely on complex application software for translation and interaction between various entities in the system.

Object-oriented approaches are generally better suited for such complex data management. The term "object-oriented" refers to a software design method which uses "classes" and "objects" to model abstract or real objects. An "object" is the main building block of object-oriented programming, and is a programming unit which has both data and functionality (i.e., "methods"). A "class" defines the implementation of a particular kind of object, the variables and methods it uses, and the parent class it belongs to.

An example of a known object-oriented approach to managing heterogeneous data from heterogeneous data bases is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,785 (Lacquit et al.). Lacquit provides for the searching of multiple heterogeneous data managers, such as Global Information Service (GIS), Relational DataBase Management Service (RDBMS), and Visual Data (VD). This approach utilizes a first object-oriented class which describes properties common to all objects manipulated by the information system. A second class defines the properties relative to the use of functions of the various data managers. Lacquit also models particular databases as specific instantiations of a generic data manager class, to enhance their accessibility. However, the Lacquit approach does not provide a federated datastore object which can represent multiple heterogeneous datastores at any given time, or which is directly manipulatable by a user/application to provide a user/application with the ability to `see` or directly access different datastores and features of them through the federated datastore object.

Other known programming tools that can be used for developing search and result-management frameworks include IBM VisualAge C++, Microsoft Visual C++, Microsoft Visual J++, and Java. These systems provide tools such as collection objects and iterators, however, these systems only employ flat collections which do not provide users with useful access to sub-units within the collections.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide multi-searching and updating capabilities across a combination of heterogeneous datastores.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible mechanism which can employ a combination of different types of search engines selectable by users, e.g., SearchManager/TextMiner, QBIC, etc., and allow users to formulate and submit parametric, text, and/or image queries against heterogeneous datastores and get back the results in a consistent, uniform format.

It is an object of the present invention to allow an application program to manipulate data objects as a group or collection and at the same time preserve the sub-grouping relationship that exists between the objects. Such a collection can be used to represent the results of a query against heterogeneous datastores so that the combined results constitute a collection of collections of results from each datastore. The client application/user then has a choice to iterate over the whole combination of results as a flat collection or to iterate over each subcollection individually, while preserving the sub-grouping information and relationships.

It is an object of the present invention to allow a user/application to combine several datastores in a digital library domain to form a unified conceptual view in which multi-search queries can be formulated, executed, and coordinated to produce results in a consistent format.

It is an object of the present invention to provide these and other capabilities in a common object model for Digital Library types of data access.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a common object model in an object-oriented environment which includes a federated query object, a federated collection object, and a federated datastore object. These three objects separately and together provide client applications/users with capabilities to efficiently and powerfully search, and manage the search results from heterogeneous datastores. The present invention thereby relieves the user/application with the burden of having to directly manipulate each of the heterogeneous datastores, without removing the user's/application's ability to directly manipulate features of particular datastores if desired.

For example, the federated query object can coordinate query processing functions such as translation, filtering, merging, and data conversion for multiple heterogeneous datastores in a single query. Subqueries managed by a federated query object include parametric, text, image, SQL, and combined queries, even if the various subqueries are for different datastores (e.g., DB2, Visual Info, On Demand, Digital Library, etc. . .). The federated query object can even have another federated query object as a subquery.

The federated collection object returns the query results in a uniform and datastore-neutral format, which can be processed as a flat collection or as sub-collections according to the source datastores.

The federated datastore object can provide a unified conceptual view of all of the included datastores. The federated datastore can combine the participating datastores in two levels: without mapping to reflect the results as a single union; and with mapping of concepts in each datastore to relate/equate data in one datastore to another. The concept mapping enables a user to follow links and join tables as part of a query where the result of a first datastore links to data in another, for example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail a preferred embodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of collection and query evaluator classes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of query classes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of data object classes according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the evaluation of queries according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the execution of queries according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram representing folders, documents, and rows using Dynamic Data Objects (DDOs) and Extended Data Objects (XDOs) according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a client/server model according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows the structure of a federated collection according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows the architecture of a federated search for content management according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is a diagram of federated query processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of a method and architecture according to the present invention is described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention is described herein by way of example and is not intended to be limited to the described embodiment. The description of the preferred embodiment is based on, but certainly not limited to, the IBM design of Java Grand Portal, the Digital Library Java Application Programming Interface (API), which is herein incorporated by reference.

Java Grand Portal is a set of Java classes which provides access and manipulation of local or remote data stored in Digital Library storage facilities. It uses a Java Class Library API based on OMG-Object Query Services (OQS) and a Dynamic Data Object protocol, which is a part of OMG/Persistence Object Services.

The Java API provides multi-search capabilities such as:

Searching within a given datastore using one or a combination of supported query types, i.e.

Parametric query--Queries requiring an exact match on the condition specified in the query predicate and the data values stored in the datastore.

Text query--Queries on the content of text fields for approximate match with the given text search expression, e.g. the existence (or non-existence) of certain phrases or word-stems.

Image query--Queries on the content of image fields for approximate match with the given image search expression, e.g. image with certain degree of similarity based on color percentages, layout, or texture.

Each search type is supported by one or more search-engines.

Searching on the results of a previous search.

Searching involving heterogeneous datastores.

1. Architecture

FIG. 7 shows the overall client/server architecture of the preferred embodiment. The Digital Library Java Grand Portal classes provide a convenient API for Java application users; the applications can be located at local or remote sites. Java classes will typically reside on both server and client sides; both sides providing preferably the same interface. The client side of Java classes communicates with the server side to access data in the Digital Library through the network. Communication between client and server sides is done by Java classes; it is not necessary to add any additional programs.

The Digital Library Java Grand Portal classes are grouped in three packages, client, server, and common. The client and server packages provide the same API, but have different implementations.

The server classes connect directly to Digital Library facilities and expose most of the functionalities provided by the datastore

The client classes are not directly connected to Digital Library, but communicate with the server classes through the network by invoking the server classes to execute and retrieve results

The common classes are shared by both the client and server classes

The server components of the preferred embodiment are written in Java, except the portions that provide data access and manipulation using the underlying datastore facilities. These portions are implemented in native C methods, which in turn, call the API provided by the given datastore. The Java code is portable to any platform, except the one which contains native methods. For that reason, the size of the native C code is kept minimal.

The number of client components in the preferred embodiment is the same as the number of server components. Their public methods also correspond to one and another. However, since the implementation for the client components is different from the server, local classes and functions might also be different. The client components package name is COM.ibm.mm.sdk.client.

2. Packaging for the Java Environment

Java provides the concept of a package which is a grouping of classes. Typically, the classes in a package have strong inter-relationships among them. Class members that are not explicitly declared as public, private, or protected can only be seen by classes in the same package. The package environment provides a convenient means to associate the classes within the package. The Java compiler associates a directory structure matching the full package names.

Package Hierarchy

The following is an example package structure: ##STR1##

The above digital library package hierarchy starts with COM followed by ibm to distinguish it from the products of other companies. The subdirectory mm under ibm directory indicates that these classes are for handling multi-media data, which is the main form of content of Digital Library repositories. The subdirectory sdk under mm directory indicates that this is the software developer kit's package. There are three packages: client, server, and common. The server package is implemented for access and manipulation of Digital Library information. The client package is implemented for communication with server package, network control, and data transformation between server and client sites. A user installs one of these packages: the server package for local applications, or the client package for applications that access the remote server. As mentioned before, the common package contains shared classes that are used by both the client and server packages.

3. Class Overview

With reference primarily to FIGS. 1 and 2, the preferred embodiments' main classes, their descriptions, and hierarchies are described below.

Query Evaluator Classes

As shown in FIG. 1, the query evaluator class 11 and its subclasses include a method to evaluate a query. The result of this evaluation is a queryable collection 5, which is an object subclass of both collection 1 and query evaluator 11, i.e. it is a collection of objects which can further evaluate queries against its members. A query manager 10 is a special query evaluator which can create query objects. A datastore 9 is also a special query evaluator that can create and evaluate queries on the collection of objects stored in its physical storage (i.e. Digital Library repositories). Various classes are described below.

    Class Name         Description
    Collection 1       represents a collection of objects
    Iterator 36        to iterate over collection members. It has subclasses to
     match each
                       collection type.
    SequentialCollection 2 a collection which supports sorting and provides
     sequential access to its
                       member, forward and backward.
    QueryableCollection 5 a sequential collection to store the result or scope
     of a query, which, in
                       turn, can be queried further
    Results 6          a sequential collection to store the result or scope of
     a query
    FederatedCollection 8 a nested collection that contains the result of a
     federated query
    QueryEvaluator 11  to evaluate queries
    QueryManager 10    to create and evaluate queries
    Datastore 9        represents a data storage facility. In general, it
     supports query creation
                       and processing, connection, transaction, CRUD operations
     (add, retrieve,
                       update, and delete), etc.


Query Classes

FIG. 2 shows the class hierarchy for query classes. Query classes have query processing capabilities, such as preparing, executing, and monitoring the status of query executions. There is a query class for each type of query. The query classes work with a query manager 10 or datastore class 9 in processing a query. The results are returned in the form of a Collection 1 of objects, e.g. Results 6 (FIG. 1). For federated queries 19, the result is returned in a federated collection 8, that is a nested collection of results of each query's components. A user may then create a federated iterator 38 (FIG. 8) to iterate over the results across collection boundaries. Alternatively, the user may chose to create a sequential iterator 36 to access member collections and process them separately.

    Class Name        Description
    QueryBase 12      the base class for query objects
    Query 13          the class for a query object which is associated with a
     specific datastore.
    ParametricQuery 14 represents a parametric query which can be prepared,
     executed, and
                      queried on the status of query processing
    TextQuery 15      similar to parametric query objects, except for text
    ImageQuery 16     similar to parametric query objects, except for images
    SQLQuery 17       similar to parametric query objects, except for SQL
     queries
    CombinedQuery 18  represents combined queries; a combination of parametric,
     text, and image
                      queries, which can be executed together
    FederatedQuery 19 represents an aggregation of heterogeneous queries, e.g.
     DL Parametric
                      query, OnDemand, and other queries to heterogeneous
     datastores


Data-Object classes

FIG. 3 shows the class hierarchy for Data Object classes. The objects stored in and manipulated by the datastore 9 and query operations belong to data object classes. These objects are returned as the result of a query, or created and used in CRUD (add, retrieve, update, delete) operations.

    Class Name        Description
    DataObjectBase 20 the abstract base class for all data objects known by
     datastores. It has a
                      protocol attribute, that indicates to the datastore which
     interface can be
                      used to operate on this object.
    XDOBase 21        the base class to represent user-defined-types (UDT) or
     large objects.
    XDO 22            represents complex UDTs or large objects (LOB). This
     object can exist
                      stand-alone or as a part of a DDO 28. Therefore, it has a
     persistent object
                      id and CRUD operations capabilities.
    Blob 23           a base class for BLOBs as a placeholder to share all
     generic operations
                      pertaining to BLOBs.
    Clob 26           a base class for CLOBs (Character Large Objects) as a
     placeholder to
                      share all generic operations pertaining to CLOBs.
    DBClob 27         a base class for DBCLOBs (database character large
     object) as a
                      placeholder to share all generic operations pertaining to
     DBCLOBs.
    BlobDL 25         represents a BLOB specific to DL
    ClobDL            represents a CLOB specific to DL
    DBClobDL          represents a DBCLOB specific to DL
    PersistentObject 30 represents a specific object whose code is statically
     generated and
                      compiled. This type of object will not be covered in this
     document.
    DDO 28            (Dynamic Data Object) represent generic data objects
     which are
                      constructed dynamically at runtime. This object fits well
     with query and
                      browsing activities in Portal where objects are only
     known and generated
                      at runtime. It supports the CRUD operations (add,
     retrieve, update, and
                      delete), therefore, with the help of its associated
     datastore DDO 28 can put
                      itself in and out of the datastore.
    DDOBase 29        the base class for DDO 28, without the CRUD methods


4 Class Dynamics

This section provides an overview on how the above classes interact with one another. To get a better understanding of the scenario presented, refer to the particular class descriptions in the next sections and Section 12, "Sample Programs".

As shown in FIG. 4, when a user wants to submit a query, he/she can start by creating a specific datastore object 9 to give him/her access to the query processing functions provided by that datastore 9. Such a datastore 9 could be DatastoreDL, for example.

The next step would be to call the "evaluate" method on the datastore 9 and supply a query string and other parameters, or a query object 13. The result of the "evaluate" method 39 is a queryable collection object 5, which also includes the "evaluate" method 39, so that it can evaluate the next query, and so on. In the preferred embodiment, the subsequent query evaluated by a queryable collection must match or be consistent with the member of the queryable collection. Otherwise, an exception is thrown.

Usually the result of a query evaluation is a subset of the present collection, i.e. it could be the proper subset or even an empty collection. In addition to the query evaluation capability, a queryable collection object can be used as an input scope for the execute method in query objects.

It is recommended that users create a queryable collection object 5 using the "evaluate" method 39, either in the datastore 9 or in the source queryable collection 5. However, a user can create a queryable collection 5 and fill it up with elements he/she created. Since a queryable collection may need help from a datastore object 9 in its query processing tasks, the user may need to associate it with the corresponding datastore object 9. This is done by passing a datastore object 9 as an input to the constructor.

As shown in FIG. 5, another way to process a query is by creating a query object specific to the type of query language. Query objects 13 are created using the createQuery () method 40 in the datastore 9. This method of creation is preferable to ensure that the created query object 14-19 will have all the necessary information and can always get help from the datastore 9 in processing the query. A query object 14-19 can prepare and execute the query. As mentioned before, the execute method 41 may take a queryable collection 5 as an input parameter to limit the scope of the query 14-19.

As shown in FIG. 6, the result of a query is a collection 1 of objects containing Dynamic Data Objects (DDOs) 28 inside. A DDO 28 has attributes, with type, value, and properties. The value of an attribute can be a reference to another DDO 28 or XDO 22, or a collection of DDOs 28 or XDO 22s, thus it may form a tree structure. This structure is quite general and flexible enough to represent folder and document data models in DL, as well as an object-oriented view of relational databases.

As shown in FIG. 6, the user creates a datastore 9 (DL or DB2) then executes a proper query. The result is a collection of DDOs 28, which can be iterated over using an iterator 36 (FIG. 8).

Representing DL Folders and Documents

Depending on the query, each element in the resulting collection 1 can be a combination of documents, documents with parts, folders, or folders containing other folders and documents. All of these results are represented as DDOs 28. Parts 4 within a document becomes a data-item in the DDO 28 with the name "Parts", and its value is a pointer to a collection of XDOs 22 representing DL parts. A folder DDO 28 has attributes and properties of the corresponding DL folder. It has a data-item with the name "Folder", which is a pointer to a collection of DDOs 28 representing the content of the folder. Each DDO 28 in the folder, in turn, can be another folder or simply a document. DDOs associated with DL datastores have several standard fields of information, described as follows:

    Name      Description
    ItemType  a property of the whole DDO 28 (not to a particular data-item)
     taking the value of
              DOCUMENT or FOLDER
    ItemId    ItemId is not represented directly as a data_item (DDO 28
     attribute) but kept in
              Pid as a data member Id. The user can access it via method
              ddo.getPid( ).getId( ). This scheme avoids duplication and is
     consistent
              with the underlying representation inside DL datastore.
    Rank      an integer number representing the computed ranking of this
     result. Rank is stored
              as a DDO 28 data-item (attribute) with the reserved name "Rank".
     This DDO 28
              data-item has a transient property (not persistent), since it
     does not actually exist
              as a DL item attribute. Ranking is only appropriate for query
     results coming from
              a non-parametric query, such as text, image query, or combined
     query.


5 Object Collection classes

5.1 Collection

Collection 1 defines a base public interface for the collection of objects. In the preferred embodiment, collection 1 can not evaluate a query. A collection I may have a name (the default name is an empty string), but it could be set to anything, for example the name of the DL index class or table where the members belong. It functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. A sample definition of the collection class is defined below.

                         Collection.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface Collection
    {
        public int cardinality( );
        public Object retrieveElementAt(Iterator where);
        public Iterator createIterator( );
        public void addElement(Object element);
        public void addAllElements(Collection elements);
        public void insertElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void replaceElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void removeElementAt(Iterator where);
        public void removeAllElements( );
        public String getName( );
        public void setName(String collName);
    };


5.2 SequentialCollection

SequentialCollection 2 is a subclass of collection 1, which supports sorting and sequential accessing, in forward and backward directions. It functions as the SimpleCollection described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programmimg Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. A sample sequential collection is defined below.

                    SequentialCollection.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class SequentialCollection extends Collection
    {
        public SequentialCollection( );
        public int cardinality( );
        public Iterator createIterator( );
        public Object retrieveElementAt(Iterator where);
        public void addElement(Object element);
        public void addAllElements(Collection elements);
        public void insertElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void replaceElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void removeElementAt (Iterator where);
        public void removeAllElements( );
        public int sort (Object SortFunction, int SortOrder);
    };


5.3 Folder

Folder 3 is a subclass of sequential collection 2. Its purpose is to hold document DDOs 28 and folder DDOs 28 as members of a DL folder. The DDO 28 representing a DL folder has an attribute with a reserved name Folder as a reference to a Folder 3 collection. The public interface of Folder 3 is the same as of sequential collection 2, but internally, it keeps track of member addition and deletion to be reflected when the object is saved to the DL datastore 9.

In addition to the methods inherited from the sequential collection class 2, Folder 3 has two additional methods:

public void addMember(DDO folder, DDO member) throws Exception;

Adds the member item into the folder and reflects the results immediately in the datastore. At the end of the operation the member item will be in the Folder 3 collection in memory as well as in the folder in the datastore.

public void removeMember(DDO folder, DDO member) throws Exception;

Removes the member item from the folder and reflects the results immediately in the datastore. At the end of the operation the member item will not be in the Folder 3 collection in memory and also removed from the folder in the datastore.

5.4 Parts

Parts 4 is a subclass of sequential collection 2. Its purpose is to hold Part XDO 22 members of a DL document. The DDO 28 representing a DL document has an attribute with a reserved name Parts as a reference to a Parts 4 collection. The public interface of Parts 4 is the same as of sequential collection 2, but internally it keeps track of member addition and deletion to be reflected when the object is saved to the DL datastore. In addition to the methods inherited from the sequential collection class 2, Parts 4 has two additional methods:

public void addMember(DDO item, XDO member) throws Exception;

Adds the member part into the parts collection and reflects the results immediately in the datastore. At the end of the operation, the member item will be in the part collection in memory as well as inside the item in the datastore 9. This operation has the same effect as the sequence of member.add() and parts.addElement (member) where member is the part xdo and parts is the collection of parts in this item.

public void removeMember(DDO item, XDO member) throws Exception;

Removes the member part from the parts collection and reflects the results immediately in the datastore 9. At the end of the operation the member part will not be in the Folder 3 collection in memory and also deleted from the item in the datastore 9. This operation has the same effect as the sequence of parts. removeElement (member) and member. del () where member is the part xdo and parts is the collection of parts in this item.

5.5 OuervEvaluator

A query evaluator 11 is an abstract class which has the capability of evaluating queries over an implicit or explicit collection of objects 1. Its subclass includes QueryableCollection 5, which maintains an explicit collection, and Datastore 9, which has an implicit collection (i.e. the database). Since Java does not allow multiple inheritance, QueryEvaluator 11 is defined as an interface so that QueryableCollection 5 can inherit from both SequentialCollection 2 and this interface. A sample QueryEvaluator class is defined below.

                       QueryEvaluator.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface QueryEvaluator
    {
        public Object evaluate(String query,
                               short ql_type,
                               NVPair params []);
    };


5.6 OueryableCollection

A queryable collection 5 is a subclass of both query evaluator 11 and sequential collection 2 classes, therefore it can evaluate queries on its members. It can be used to store the result or scope of a query, which, in turn, can be queried further. For example, the result of the Datastore. evaluate() method is a QueryableCollection object 5 which also implements the evaluate () method 39, so it can evaluate a query using its current collection of members as the scope. Queryable collection 5 functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC268868-00. A sample QueryableCollection is defined below.

                           QueryableCollection.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public abstract class QueryableCollection extends SequentialCollection
                               implements QueryEvaluator
    {
        public QueryableCollection( );
        public QueryableCollection(Datastore ds);
        public QueryableCollection(QueryableCollection fromCollect);
        public abstract int cardinality( );
        public abstract Iterator createIterator( );
        public abstract Object retrieveElementAt(Iterator where);
        public abstract void addElement(Object element);
        public abstract void addAllElements(QueryableCollection elements);
        public abstract void insertElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public abstract void replaceElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public abstract void removeElementAt(Iterator where);
        public abstract void removeAllElements( );
        public abstract Object evaluate(String query, short ql_type,
                NVPair params []);
    };


5.7 FederatedCollection

The structure and behavior of a preferred embodiment of a FederatedCollection 8 is illustrated in FIG. 8. In the preferred embodiment, a FederatedCollection 8 allows an application program to process data objects resulting from a query as a group or collection and at the same time preserves the sub-grouping relationships that exist between them. It provides the user with a mechanism:

to aggregate several collections of data objects while preserving each individual collection's information

to treat these collections as one whole unit of collection, ignoring collection boundaries

A federated collection 8 is a collection containing Results objects 6; it is created to hold the results of a FederatedQuery 19, which may come from several heterogeneous datastores 9. Each Results 6 contains the results of a subquery of the FederatedQuery 19 submitted to a specific native datastore 9 associated with the federated datastore 37.

As shown in FIG. 8, the biggest oval represents the FederatedCollection 8 containing several smaller ovals which are collection objects 1. A FederatedCollection 8 can also contain individual Results objects 6. The FederatedIterator 38 traverses through the whole contents of FederatedCollection 8, across collection 1 boundaries, each time returning a DDO 28 (a non-collection object). The first Iterator 36 is a regular iterator for FederatedCollection 8, thus each time returning a collection object 1. The second Iterator 42 is an iterator for a collection object 1, therefore it returns DDOs 28 as members of the collection 1. The method setToFirstCollection() in the FederatedIterator 38 will set the iterator position to the first non-collection element of the FederatedCollection 8; in this case, it would be the first element of the first collection object 1. At this point, if the method setToNextCollection ) is invoked, it will set the iterator position to the first non-collection element of the second collection 1.

The method setToLastCollection () in the FederatedIterator 38 will set the iterator position to the last non-collection element of the FederatedCollection 8; in this case, it would be the last element of the last collection object 1. As the opposite of setToNextcollection (), at this point, if the method setToPreviousCollection() is invoked, it will set the iterator position to the last non-collection element of the previous collection 1.

Thus to iterate over a FederatedCollection 8, a user/application has a number of tools or approaches. A user can create and use Iterator 36 or a Sequentialiterator (not shown) to pull each collection object 1. Then he/she could create another Iterator 36 on this collection 1 to iterate over it and to process the result according to its datastore origin. Alternatively, the user can create a federated iterator, Federatediterator 38, and use it to iterate over all element members across collection boundaries, regardless of which datastore 9 the result came from.

A FederatedCollection public class interface is set forth below. A federated collection object 8 can contain other nested collections up to any arbitrary depth. In the preferred embodiment shown below, a federated collection object is not queryable, however, this capability could be added if desired by changing "SequentialCollection" in the second line to "QueryableCollection." See also 5.11, "FederatedIterator", 5.9, "Iterator", 5.10, "Seguentiallterator" .

                     FederatedCollection.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class FederatedCollection extends sequentialCollection
    {
        public FederatedCollection( );
        public int cardinality( );
        public int memberCardinality( );
        public Iterator createIterator( );
        public Iterator createMemberIterator( );
        public Object retrieveElementAt(Iterator where);
        public void addElement(Object element);
        public void addAllElements (QueryableCollection elements);
        public void insertElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void replaceElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void removeElementAt(Iterator where);
        public void removeAllElements( );
    };


5.7.1 Methods

public int cardinality(); /*Returns the number of all individual (leaf) elements (non-collection) across the collection boundaries. This is the total of all elements in each of the sub-collections.*/

public int membercardinality(); /*Returns the number of elements in the collection. The element could be a collection object, i.e. a Results object 6, not necessarily a leaf element (non-collection). */

public Iterator createiterator(); /*Creates a new FederatedIterator for this federated collection. This iterator can be used to iterate over the federated collection, across collection boundaries, returning a (non-collection) member one at a time. */

public Iterator createMemberIterator(); /*Creates a new iterator for this federated collection. The new iterator would be supporting Sequentiallterator interface. That is, the method next of this iterator would return a collection, such as Results object 6. A user can then create an iterator on the Results 6 to iterate over its members. */

5.8 Results

Results 6 is a subclass of QueryableCollection 5, therefore it supports sorting and bi-directional iterators, and is queryable. Element members of Results 6 are objects, instances of DDO 28, which represent hits from a query. The iterator created by this class is SequentialIterator or Bidirectionallterator. Besides being queryable, Results 6 functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. Below is an example of a Results 6 definition.

                                 Results.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class Results extends QueryableCollection
    {
        public Results(Datastore ds);
        public Results(Results fromResults);
        public int cardinality( );
        public Iterator createIterator( );
        public Object retrieveElementAt(Iterator where);
        public void addElement(Object element);
        public void addAllElements(QueryableCollection elements);
        public void insertElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void replaceElementAt(Object element, Iterator where);
        public void removeElementAt (Iterator where);
        public void removeAllElements( );
        public Object evaluate(String query, short ql_type, NVPair params[]);
    };


5.9 Iterator

Iterator is a base abstract class of iterators. Iterators, such as those shown in FIG. 8 (36, 42) are used to iterate over collections of members. The Iterator class has subclasses to match each collection type. It functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. Below is an example of an iterator definition.

                          Iterator.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface Iterator
    {
        public Object next( ) throws Exception;
        public void reset( );
        public boolean more( );
    };


5.10 Seguentiallterator

A sequential iterator is bi-directional, it can go forward and backward over members of SequentialCollection 2. It functions as does the Simplelterator described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. Below is an example of a Sequential Iterator definition.

                     SequentialIterator.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface SequentialIterator extends Iterator
    {
        public Object previous( ) throws Exception;
        public Object at( ) throws Exception;
        public boolean setToFirst( );
        public boolean setToLast( );
        public boolean setToNext( );
        public boolean setToPrevious( );
    };


5.11 FederatedIterator

A federated iterator 38 is used to iterate over the collective members of FederatedCollection 8 across collection boundaries. The next() method will return DDOs 28 until all collections 1 are iterated over. This iterator is created by involing the method createIterator () in the FederatedCollection object 8. See also 5.9 "Iterator" and 5.10, "Seguentiallterator".

                      FederatedIterator.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface FederatedIterator extends SequentialIterator
    {
        // from Iterator
        public Object next( ) throws Exception;
        public void reset( );
        public boolean more( );
        // from SequentialIterator
        public Object previous( ) throws Exception;
        public Object at( ) throws Exception;
        public boolean setToFirst( );
        public boolean setToLast( );
        public boolean setToNext( );
        public boolean setToPrevious( );
        // new methods
        public boolean setToFirstCollection( );
        public boolean setToLastCollection( );
        public boolean setToNextCollection( );
        public boolean setToPreviousCollection( );
    };


In the preferred embodiment, the federated iterator methods always return or point to an element which is not a collection. If the element is a collection, it goes inside the collection to find the proper element of this collection, and so forth until it finds an element which is not a collection.

5.11.1 Methods

public Object next() throws Exception; /* Returns the current element in the collection 1 and advances the iterator to the next position. In case the element is a collection 1, it goes inside that collection 1 and retrieves the first element recursively, until it finds an element which is not a collection 1. When the current collection 1 is exhausted, this iterator will find the next collection 1 and extract the first element (non-collection) from it.*/

public void reset(); /*Resets the iterator to the beginning of FederatedCollection 8.*/

public boolean more(); /*Returns true if there are more elements in the FederatedCollection 8. In this case, an element implicitly means a collection member which is not a collection 1 (a leaf).*/

public Object previous() throws Exception; /*Returns the current element in the collection 1 and moves the iterator backward one position. In case the element is a collection 1, it goes inside that collection land retrieves the last element, until it finds an element which is not a collection 1. When the current collection 1 is exhausted, this iterator will find the previous collection 1 and extract the last element (non-collection) from it. */

public Object at() throws Exception; /*Returns the current element in the collection 1 without moving the iterator position. The returned element is not a collection 1.*/

public boolean setToFirst(); /*Set the iterator to the first element in this federated collection 8. The first element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successfull, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToLast(); /*Set the iterator to the last element in this federated collection 8. The last element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToNext(); /*Set the iterator to the next element in this federated collection 8. The next element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToPrevious(); /*Set the iterator to the previous element in this federated collection 8. The previous element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToFirstCollection(); /* Set the iterator to the first element in the first collection in this federated collection 8. The first element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToLastCollection(); /*Set the iterator to the last element in the last collection 1 in this federated collection 8. The last element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToNextCollection();/*Set the iterator to the first element in the next collection 1 in this federated collection 8. The first element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

public boolean setToPreviousCollection(); /*Set the iterator to the last element in the previous collection 1 in this federated collection 8. The first element is not a collection 1. Returns true if the operation is successful, otherwise it returns false.*/

6 Object Query classes

6.1 OueryManager

A query manager 10 is a more powerful subclass of query evaluator 11, it can evaluate queries, as well as create query objects 13. It assists query objects 13 in query processing and in monitoring query execution. It functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00.

A more specific version of query manager 10 is Datastore 9, which represents a data storage facility and provides the functionalities of the underlying datastore (i.e. a relational data base, Digital Library, etc). An example of a QueryManager interface is set forth below.

                        QueryManager.java
          package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
          public interface QueryManager extends QueryEvaluator
          {
                public abstract Query createQuery(String query,
                                            short ql_type,
                                            NVPair params []);
          };


6.2 QueryBase

Querybase 12 is an interface for a query object 13 which can be associated with zero or more datastores 9. With the help of its datastores, query objects 13 perform query processing tasks, such as preparing and executing a query, monitoring the status of query execution, and storing the results. The result of a query is usually a Results object 6. It functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. A sample QueryBase interface is defined below.

                          QueryBase.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface QueryBase
    {
        public void   prepare(NVPair params[])  throws Exception;
        public void   execute(NVPair params[])  throws Exception;
        public int    status();
        public Object result();
    };


6.3 Query

Query 13 is an interface for a query object associated with one specific datastore. Objects which implement this interface are created by datastore classes 9. The result of a query is usually a Results object 6. Examples of concrete implementations of Query 13 interfaces are ParametricQuery 14, TextQuery 15, ImageQuery 16, etc, which are created by their associated datastore. An example of a Query 13 interface definition is set forth below.

                            Query.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface Query extends QueryBase
    {
        public short      qlType();
        public String     queryString();
        public Datastore datastore();
    };


6.4 ParametricQuery

ParametricQuery 14 is a concrete implementation of Query 13, created by a datastore object 9, to represent and execute a query involving parametric data. Parametric queries refer to a class of queries requiring an exact match of the query predicate with the values stored in the datastore 9. They function as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. An example of a ParametricQuery class definition is set forth below.

                       ParametricQuery.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class ParametricQuery implements Query
    {
        public ParametricQuery(Datastore creator, string queryString);
        public ParametricQuery(ParametricQuery fromQuery);
        public void prepare(NVPair params[]);
        public void execute(NVPair params[]);
        public int         status( );
        public Object      result( );
        public short       qlType( );
        public String      queryString( );
        public Datastore datastore( );
    };


6.5 TextQuery

TextQuery 15 is a concrete implementation of Query 13, created by a datastore object 9, to represent and execute a query involving textual data. Text queries refer to a class of queries on the content of text fields for an approximate match with the given text search expression, i.e. the existence (or non-existence) of certain phrases or word-stems.

The text query object 15 performs the necessary data format conversion internally (e.g. datastream conversion for Text Miner), so the methods relevant to these conversions do not need to be exposed to public. With that exception, a text query object functions as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Programming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00.

                          TextQuery.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class TextQuery implements Query
    {
        public TextQuery Datastore creator, String queryString);
        public TextQuery(TextQuery fromQuery);
        public void prepare(NVPair params[]);
        public void execute(NVPair params[]);
        public int         status();
        public Object      result();
        public short       qlType();
        public String      queryString();
        public Datastore datastore();
    };


6.6 Imagequery

ImageQuery 16 is a concrete implementation of Query 13, created by a datastore object 9, to represent and execute a query involving image data. Image queries refer to a class of queries on the visual content of images for an approximate match with the given image search expression, i.e. the existence (or non-existence) of certain color percentages, layout, and textures. An example of an ImageQuery 16 class definition is set forth below.

                         ImageQuery.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class ImageQuery implements Query
    {
        public ImageQuery Datastore creator, String queryString);
        public ImageQuery(TextQuery fromQuery);
        public void prepare(NVPair params[]);
        public void execute(NVPair params[]);
        public int         status();
        public Object      result();
        public short       qlType();
        public String      queryString();
        public Datastore datastore();
    };


6.7 CombinedQuery

CombinedQuery 18 is a concrete implementation of QueryBase 12, to represent and execute a combination of parametric, text, and image queries. Combined queries provide multi-search capability on the specified datastore by coordinating the execution of their subqueries. They function as described in IBM manual, Digital Library Application Progranming Guide and Reference for the Internet Connection, Doc. No. SC26-8868-00. An example of a CombinedQuery 18 class definition is set forth below.

                        CombinedQuery.java
        package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
        public class CombinedQuery implements QueryBase
        {
            public CombinedQuery();
            public CombinedQuery (CombinedQuery fromQuery);
            public void prepare(NVPair params[]) throws Exception;
            public void execute(NVPair params[]) throws Exception;
            public int  status();
            public Object result();
        };


6.8 OnDemandQuery

OnDemandQuery (not shown) is a concrete implementation of Query 13, created by a datastore object 9, to represent and execute a query involving parametric data in OnDemand datastores. See also parametric query above. An example of an OnDemandQuery class is set forth below.

                        OnDemandQuery.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class OnDemandQuery implements Query
    {
        public OnDemandQuery(Datastore creator, String queryString);
        public OnDemandQuery(OnDemandQuery fromQuery);
        public void prepare(NVPair params[]);
        public void execute(NVPair params[]);
        public int         status( );
        public Object      result( );
        public short       qlType( );
        public String      queryString( );
        public Datastore datastore( );
    };


6.9 FederatedQuery

A FederatedQuery 19 is a concrete implementation of Query 13 which can be associated with more than one physical datastore. Its purpose is to represent and execute queries across heterogeneous datastores. This query can be a combination of a DL parametric query, OnDemand query, and other query types involving supported datastores.

The FederatedQuery object 19 delegates the query processing task to each of the native datastores or to its associated federated datastore 37. The latter will translate the query into several native queries, one for each of the native datastores, submit them for processing and collect the result back. See 9.6.3, "Federated query processing" for further details.

The result is a FederatedCollection object 8, a collection of collection objects 1, which in turn contains data objects in a consistent and uniform structure as represented by dynamic data objects, DDOs 28. The federated collection 8 gives the user a choice to process the results regardless of the datastore origin or to process them according to each native datastore where the results came from. See 5.7, "FederatedCollection". See also 5.11, "Federatediterator", 5.9, "Iterator", 5.10, "Sequentiallterator", 9.6, "DatastoreFederated", and 9.6.2, "Federated query string". An example of a FederatedQuery 19 class definition is set forth below.

                       FederatedQuery.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class FederatedQuery implements Query
    {
        public FederatedQuery(Datastore creator, String queryString);
        public FederatedQuery(FederatedQuery fromQuery);
        public void prepare(NVPair params[]);
        public void execute(NVPair params[]);
        public int         status( );
        public Object      result( )
        public short       qlType( );
        public String      queryString( );
        public Datastore datastore( );
    };


7 Data Object classes

7.1 DataObjectBase

DataObjectBase 20 is an abstract base class for data objects, data value objects (UDTs), and extender data objects defined in CDO. These are the objects known by datastores 9.

                       DataObjectBase.java
              package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
              public abstract class DataObjectBase
              {
                    public abstract short protocol();
                    public abstract String getObjectType();
              };


DataObjectBase 20 has a protocol method, which indicates what protocol to use to store and retrieve the persistent data to/from a datastore 9. Objects with the same protocol are handled in a similar manner by the datastore 9. The preferred embodiment supports the DDO, Data value, XDO, PO, and PDDO protocols. Potentially, the data access class library can be extended to support additional subclasses and their associated protocols, for example, stream data objects and protocols.

7.1.1 Methods

public abstract short protocol(); /*Gets the protocol type associated with this data object.*/

public abstract String getObjectType(); /*Gets the type of this object.*/

7.2 DataObject

DataObject 31 is an abstract class, and a subclass of DataObjectBase 20. DataObject 31 is used to represent objects which can have persistent data. DataObject 31 must be subclassed in order to implement a real object. A subclass of DataObject 31 is DDO 28--dynamic data object.

                         DataObject.java
          package COM.ibm.sdk.server;
          public abstract class DataObject extends DataObjectBase
          {
                public DataObject();
                public Pid getPid();
                public void  setpid(Pid aPid);
          };


DataObject 31 has a Pid--persistent object identifier. Pid identifies the location of the persistent data of this data object in the datastore. If the Pid is not set, it will be created automatically after the first data manipulation operation. DataObject 31 inherits protocol from its parent DataObjectBase 20, and supports the DDO, PO, and PDDO protocols.

Methods

public Pid getPid(); Gets the Pid of this DataObject.

public void setpid(Pid apid); Sets the Pid of this Dataobject.

7.3 DDO Base--Dynamic Data Object Base

DDO 28 provides a representation and a protocol to define and access object's data, independent of objects type. The DDO 28 protocol is implemented as a set of generic methods to define, add, and access each data items of an object. This protocol allows a client to create an object dynamically and get its persistent data in and out of the datastore, independent of datastore's type. The implementation may utilize schema mapping information, registered in the datastore class. The schema maps each individual persistent data items to its underlying representation in the datastore. A DDO 28 has a set of attributes, each having a type, value, and properties associated with it. The DDO 28 itself may have properties which belong to the whole DDO 28 instead of to a particular attribute. DDO 28 is a subclass of DataObject 31.

                                           DDOBase.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class DDOBase extends DataObject
    {
        public DDOBase( );
        public DDOBase(short initialSize);
        public DDOBase(DDOBase ddo);
        public DDOBase(String objectType, short initialSize);
        public DDOBase(Pid pid, short initialSize);
        public short protocol( );
        public String getObjectType( );
        public void setObjectType(String toObjectType);
        public boolean updatable( );
        public short addData( ) throws Exception;
        public short addData(String dataName) throws Exception;
        public short addDataProperty(short data_id, String property_name)
     throws Exception;
        public short addDataProperty(short data_id, String property_name,
     Object property_value) throws Exception;
        public short dataCount( );
        public short dataPropertyCount(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public void setDataProperty(short data_id, short property_id, Object
     property_value) throws Exception;
        public Object getDataProperty(short data_id, short property_id) throws
     Exception;
        public void setDataPropertyName(short data_id short property_id, String
     property_name) throws Exception;
        public String getDataPropertyName(short data_id short property_id)
     throws Exception;
        public void setData(short data_id, Object data_value) throws Exception;
        public Object getData(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public void setDataName(short data_id String data_name) throws
     Exception;
        public String getDataName(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public short dataId(String data_name ) throws Exception;
        public short dataPropertyId(short data_id, String property_name) throws
     Exception;
        public void setNull(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public boolean isNull(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public boolean isDataSet(short data_id) throws Exception;
        public boolean isDataPropertySet(short data_id, short property_id)
     throws Exception;
        public Object getDataByName(String data_name) throws Exception;
        public Object getDataPropertyByName(String data_name, String
     property_name) throws Exception;
        public Object getDataPropertyByName(short data_id, String
     property_name) throws Exception;
        // properties of this DDO
        public short addProperty( ) throws Exception;
        public short addProperty(String property_name) throws Exception;
        public short addProperty(String property_name, Object property_value)
     throws Exception;
        public short propertyCount( ) throws Exception;
        public void setProperty(short property_id, Object property_value)
     throws Exception;
        public Object getProperty(short property_id) throws Exception;
        public void setPropertyName(short property_id, String property_name)
     throws Exception;
        public String getPropertyName(short property_id) throws Exception;
        public short propertyId(String property_name) throws Exception;
        public Object getPropertyByName(String property_name) throws Exception;
        public boolean isPropertySet(short property_id) throws Exception;
    };


Methods

DDOBase--Constructors

public DDOBase(short initialSize);

public DDOBase(DDOBase ddo);

public DDOBase(String objecttype, short initialSize);

public DDOBase(Pidpid, short initialSize);

DDOBase(DDODefddoDef); /*A DDOBase 29 object can be created by calling the constructor with our without supplying any parameter, or by copying information from another DDOBase 29.*/

public short addData() throws Exception;

public short addData(String data name) throws Exception; /*Adds a new data-item to a DDO 28 and returns the new data-item number (data_id).*/

public short addDataProperty(short data_id) throws Exception;

public short addDataProperty(short data_id Stringproper_name) throws Exception;

public short addDataProperty(short data_id, String property_name, Object property_value) throws Exception; /*Add a new property to a given data-item and returns the new property number.*/

public short dataCount();/*Gets the number of data-items in this DDO 28*/

public short dataPropertyCount (short data_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the number of properties associated with this data-item.*/

public void setDataProperty (short data_id, property_id, propertyValue) throws Exception; /*Sets the value of a given property in a data-item.*/

public Object getDataProperty (short data_id, property_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the value of a given property in a data-item.*/

public void setDataPropertyName (short data_id, short property_id, String property_name) throws Exception; /*Sets the name of a given property-id in a data-item.*/

public String getDataPropertyName(short data_id, short property_id throws Exception; /*Gets the name of a given property-id in a data-item.*/

public void setData (short data_id, Object data Value) throws Exception; /*Sets the value of a given data-item.*/

public Object getData (short data_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the value of a given data-item.*/

public void setDataName(short data_id, data_name) throws Exception; /*Sets the name of a given data-item.*/

public String getDataName (short data_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the name of a given data-item.*/

public short dataid (String data_name) throws Exception; /*Gets the data-id of a given data-item name*/

public short dataPropertyId (short data_id, String property_name) throws Exception; /*Gets the property-id of a given property-name in a data-item.*/

public void setNull(short data_id) throws Exception; /*Sets the value of a data-item to null. The data-item must be nullable and the DDO 28 must be updatable.*/

public boolean is Null(short data_id) throws Exception; /*Returns true if this data-item value is null.*/

public boolean isDataSet (short data_id) throws Exception; /*Returns true if this data-item value is set already.*/

public boolean isDataPropertySet (short data_id, short property_id) throws Exception; /*Returns true if the given property of a data-item is set.*/

public Object getDataByName (String data_name) throws Exception; /*Gets the value of a data-item, given its name.*/

public Object getDataPropertyByName (String data_name, property_name) throws Exception; Object getDataPropertyByName (short data_id, property_name) throws Exception; /*Gets the value of the given property-name of a data-item.*/

public String getObjectType(); /*Gets the object type of this DDO 28.*/

public void setObjectType(String aObjectType); /*Sets the object type of this DDO 28 and synchronize it with the object type of its Pid.*/

public short addProperty() throws Exception;

public short addProperty(String property_name) throws Exception;

public short addProperty(String property_name, Object property_value) throws Exception; /*Add a new property to this DDO 28 and returns the new property number.*/

public short propertyCount() throws Exception; /*Gets the number of properties associated with this DDO 28.*/

public void setProperty(short property_id, Object property_value) throws Exception; /*Sets the value of a given property id in this DDO 28.*/

public Object getProperty(short property_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the value of a given property id in this DDO 28.*/

public void setPropertyName(shortproperty_id Stringproperty_name) throws Exception; /*Sets the name of a given property id in this DDO 28.*/

public String getPropertyName(shortproperty_id) throws Exception; /*Gets the name of a given property id in this DDO 28.*/

public short propertyld(String property_name) throws Exception; /*Gets the property-id of a given property-name in this DDO 28.*/

public Object getPropertyByName(Stringproperty_name) throws Exception; I*Gets the value of the given property-name of this DDO 28.*/

public boolean isPropertySet(short property_id) throws Exception; /*Returns true if the given property id of this DDO 28 is set.*/

7.4 DDO--Dynamic Data Object

A DDO 28 is a special class of DDOBase 29 that keeps the information about its associated datastore 9 and has CRUD methods (add, retrieve, update, delete). So, with the help of the datastore 9, it can send itself in and out of datastore 9. A datastore query returns a collection of DDOs 28. A sample DDO definition is set forth below.

                             DDO.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class DDO extends DDOBase
    {
        public DDO(short initialSize);
        public DDO(DDO ddo);
        public DDO(String objectType, short initialSize);
        public DDO(Datastore ds, String objectType, short initialSize);
        public DDO(Pid pid, short initialSize);
        public DDO(Datastore ds, Pid pid, short initialSize);
        public void setDatastore(Datastore ds);
        public Datastore getDatastore( );
        public short protocol( );
        // CRUD methods
        public void add( );
        public void retrieve( );
        public void update( );
        public void del( );
    };


7A.3 Methods

DDO--Constructors

public DDO(short initialSize);

public DDO(DDO ddo);

public DDO(String objecttype, short initialSize);

public DDO(Datastore ds, String objectType, short initialSize);

public DDO(Pidpid, short initialSize);

public DDO(Datastore ds, Pidpid, short initialSize); /*DDO 28 can be created by calling the constructor with or without supplying any parameter, or by copying information from another DDO 28.*/

public void setDatastore(Datastore ds);/*Sets this datastore as the one associated with this DDO 28, i.e. the datastore to keep the persistent copy of this DDO 28.*/

public Datastore getDatastore(); /*Gets the associated datastore for this DDO 28.*/

public short protocol(); /*Returns the protocol supported by this object. In this case, it is PDDO, which essentially means that this object knows about the datastore it is associated with and, with the help of the datastore, this object can store itself in and out of the datastore.*/

CRUD methods

public void add();

public void retrieve();

public void update();

public void del();

/*Insert, retrieve, update, or delete this object from persistent store. In the preferred embodiment, the add, del, and update operations only affect the object in the persistent store; they do not change the copy in main memory.*/

7.5 Pid

A persistent data identifier (Pid) provides a unique identifier to locate the persistent data of data objects in a set of known datastores. A DataObject 31 needs to have a Pid in order to store its data persistently.

                             Pid.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.common;
    public class Pid
    {
        public Pid( );
        public Pid(String sourcePidString) throws Exception;
        public Pid(Pid pid);
        public String getDatastoreType( );
        public void setDatastoreType(String sourceDatastoreType);
        public String getDatastoreName( );
        public void setDatastoreName(String sourceDatastoreName);
        public String getId( );
        public void setId(String sourceId);
        public String pidString( );
        public String getObjectType( );
        public void setObjectType(String anObjectType);
        public boolean isSet( );
    };


7.5.2 Methods

Pid--Constructors

public Pid();

public Pid(String sourcePidString) throws Exception;

public Pid(Pidpid);

sourcePidString is a String obtained as a return value from calling the pidString() method.

public String getDatastoreType (); /* Gets datastore type.*/

public void setDatastoreType (String aDatastoreType); /*Sets the datastore type to the given string value.*/

public String getDatastoreName ();/* Gets datastore name.*/

public void setDatastoreName (String aDatastoreName); /*Sets the datastore name to the given string value.*/

public String getid ();/* Returns a string consisting of a datastore specific id of this DataObject 31 persistent data. This id contains information to locate the persistent data in the given datastore.*/

public void setid (String sourceld); /*Sets the datastore specific id of the DataObject 31 persistent data to the given string value.*/

public String pidString ();/* Returns a string representation of this Pid. This string can be used as an input parameter to re-construct the Pid using its constructor. The string format may vary between datastore types.*/

public String getOjectType();/*Gets the type of the object owning this Pid.

public void setObjectType(String anObjectType); /*Sets the type of the object owning this Pid.*/

public boolean isSet();/*Returns true if all components of this Pid are set to their intended values.*/

8 XDO Classes

FIG. 3 shows the Data Object Class hierarchy, which includes the Extended Data Object (XDO 22) classes. The base XDO class is XDOBase 21, a subclass of DataObjectBase 20. The purpose of an XDO class is to represent a user defined data type, i.e. a data value(s) with all the methods relevant to it. A subclass of XDOBase 21 is XDO 22, which provides a public interface to support persistency and may exist as a stand-alone object (without the associated DDO 28). Other subclasses of XDOBase 21 may be defined by users to represent a specific user defined type, such as USDollar or shoe-size. However, only subclasses of XDO 22 have persistency.

A more detailed description of XDO 22 classes and their properties is given in Java Grand Portal Design Notes, Lee et al., Dec. 9, 1997, and Doug Hembry.Extended Data Objects (XDO) Class Library High Level Specification and Design, (Aug 7, 1996); IBM's U.S. patent application No., 08/852,051, filed May 6, 1997, entitled OBJECT AGGREGATION REPRESENTATION OF RELATIONAL DATABASE ROWS HAVING NONTRADITIONAL DATATYPES, by Daniel T. CHANG, Douglas M. HEMBRY, Basuki N. SOETARMAN, and Robert N. SUMMERS; IBM's U.S. patent application No., 08/852,062, filed May 6, 1997, entitled CLASS HIERARCHY FOR OBJECT AGGREGATION REPRESENTATION OF RELATIONAL DATABASE ROWS WITH CELLS HAVING NONTRADITIONAL DATATYPES, by Daniel T. CHANG, Douglas M. HEMBRY, Basuki N. SOETARMAN, and Robert N. SUMMERS; IBM's U.S. patent application No., 08/852,055, filed May 6, 1997, entitled FLEXIBLE OBJECT REPRESENTATION OF RELATIONAL DATABASE CELLS HAVING NONTRADITIONAL DATATYPES, by Daniel T. CHANG, Douglas M. HEMBRY, Basuki N. SOETARMAN, and Robert N. SUMMERS; and IBM's U.S. patent application No. 08/852,052, filed May 6, 1997, entitled OBJECT REPRESENTATION OF RELATIONAL DATABASE CELLS HAVING NONTRADITIONAL LARGE OBJECT DATATYPES, by Douglas M. HEMBRY, which are herein incorporated by reference. A sample program to illustrate the use of stand-alone XDO 22 is given in Section 12.4, "Example of Add, Retrieve, Update, Delete and Open from XDO object".

8.1 XDOBase

XDOBase is an abstract class, subclass of DataObjectBase, to represent a data value, ranging from a simple UDT (User Defined Type) to a complex LOB (Large Object). XDOBase provides a set of methods specifically used to communicate with Datastore objects. A user should subclass from XDOBase and provide methods that correspond to their specific UDT or LOB behaviors.

8.2 XDO

The XDO 22 is an abstract class that can represent a complex UDT (User Defined Type) or LOB (Large Object). The user should subclass from XDO 22 and provide methods relevant to the UDT or LOB being represented. This user defined XDO 22 subclass can either work with an associated DDO 28 or as a stand alone-object. XDO 22 extends the public interface of XDOBase 21 mainly by defining independent datastore access CRUD functions (add, retrieve, update, del). These functions enable an application to store and retrieve the object's data to and from a datastore without the existence of an associated DDO 28 class object (stand-alone XDO 22). A stand-alone XDO 22 must have its Pid set in order to be able to locate the position in the datastore where it belongs. If the XDO 22 is used in conjunction with the DDO 28 the pid is set automatically. XDO 22 inherits protocol from its parent DataObjectBase 20.

8.3 BLob

Blob 23 is an abstract class that declares a common public interface for basic binary large object (BLOB) data types in and other datastores. The concrete classes derived from Blob 23 share this common interface, allowing polymorphic processing of collections of blob objects originating from heterogeneous datastores. Blob 23 is a subclass of XDO 22 and supports the XDO 22 protocol.

8.4 BlobDL

The BlobDL 25 class is one of the concrete subclass of Blob 23. BlobDL 25 defines the public interface for BLOB parts in DL. It inherits the public interface of Blob 23 (and therefore from XDO 22 and )DOBase 21) and implements any abstract functions present in the interfaces of those base classes.

8.5 CLob

Clob 26 is an abstract class that declares a common public interface for basic character large object (CLOB) data types in Digital Library datastores. The concrete classes derived from Clob 26 share this common interface, allowing polymorphic processing of collections of character clob objects originating from data stored in heterogeneous datastores. In the preferred embodiment, the interface for CLob is the same as that defined for Blob 23. It is expected that over time, the interfaces would diverge, with more binary oriented function being added to the Blob 23 interface, and function suitable for character data being added to Clob 26.

8.6 ClobDL

The ClobDL class is one of the concrete subclass of Clob 26. ClobDL defines a public interface for CLOB parts in DL. It inherits the public interface of Clob 26 (and therefore from XDO 22 and XDOBase 21) and implements any pure virtual functions present in the interfaces of those base classes.

8.7 PidXDO

Persistent data identifier for XDO 22 provides a unique identifier to locate the persistent data of an XDO 22 in a known datastore. An XDO 22 needs to have an PidXDO in order to store its data persistently. PidXDO is a subclass of Pid.

8.8 PidXDODL

PidXDODL is a specific PidXDO for XDOs stored in Digital Library. This class has information on partld where the data comes from.

8.9 Annotation

Annotation represents the digital library annotation information structure(ANNOTATIONSTRUCT). The data structure provides information about an annotation affiliated with an object.

9 Data Access classes

9.1 Datastore

A Datastore 9 object represents and manages a connection to a datastore, transactions, and the execution of datastore commands. Datastore 9 is a special version of query manager class 10. It supports the evaluate method, so it may be considered as a subclass of query manager 10. Datastore 9 should be subclassed to provide a specific implementation of the target datastore. For example:

DatastoreDL

DatastoreTS

DatastoreQBIC

DatastoreOD

etc.

                                Datastorejava
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public interface Datastore extends QueryManager
    {
        public void connect ( String datastore_name,
                      String user_name,
                      String authentication,
                      String connect_string) throws Exception;
        public void disconnect ( ) throws Exception;
        public Object getOption (int option) throws Exception;
        public void setOption (int option, Object value) throws Exception;
        public Object evaluate(String command, short commandLangType,
                      NVPair params[]);
        public Object evaluate(Query query);
        public Object evaluate(CQExpr queryExpr);
        public ResultSetCursor execute (String command,
                      short commandLangType,
                      NVPair params []) throws Exception;
        public ResultSetCursor execute (Query query ) throws Exception;
        public ResultSetCursor execute (CQExpr queryExpr) throws Exception;
        public Query createQuery (String command,
                      short commandLangType,
                      NVPair params[]) throws Exception;
        public Query createQuery (CQExpr queryExpr) throws Exception;
        public void addObject( DataObject ddo ) throws Exception;
        public void deleteObject( DataObject ddo ) throws Exception;
        public void retrieveObject( DataObject ddo ) throws Exception;
        public void updateObject ( DataObject ddo ) throws Exception;
        public Object listServers( ) throws Exception;
        public Object listEntity( ) throws Exception;
        public Object listEntityAttributes (String entityName)
                      throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError;
        public void commit ( ) throws Exception;
        public void rollback ( ) throws Exception;
        public boolean isConnected ( );
        public String datastoreName( );
        public String datastoreType( );
        public Handle connection( );
        public String userName( );
    };


9.1.2 Methods

public void connect (String datastore_name, String userName, authentication, connect_string) throws Exception; /*Connects to the datastore. Authentication is the password, and datastore_name is the name of the database or library server.*/

public void disconnect () throws Exception; /*Disconnects from the datastore.*/

public void setOption (int option, Object value) throws Exception; /*Sets a datastore option.*/

                 The valid options and values are as follows:
                                 Option Value  Description
    OPT_ACCESS_MODE                            (for DatastoreDL and TS)
                                 READONLY      Indicates that this connection
                                               supports read-only access to the
                                               datastore
                                 READWRITE     Indicates that this connection
                                               supports read and write access
     to
                                               the datastore
    OPT_TYPE_CONVERSION                        (for DatastoreDL and TS)
                                 TRUE          Indicates that base types from a
                                               datastore are to be returned in
     a
                                               retrieved DDO.
                                 FALSE         Indicates that base types from a
                                               datastore are converted to
     strings in
                                               a retrieved DDO.
    OPT_DL_WAKEUPSRV
                                 TRUE          Notify the search program that
     there
                                               is indexing work to be done for
                                               each XDO.
                                 FALSE         Notify the search program that
     there
                                               is indexing work to be done.
    OPT_FORCE_UPDATE
                                 TRUE          If XDO has not changed an update
                                               will be performed.
                                 FALSE         If XDO has not changed an update
                                               will not be performed.
    OPT_DL_ACCESS                              Indicates the type of access to
     DL
                                               requested
                                 SS_CONFIG     Indicates that the current
     access is
                                               an administrative session
                                 SS_NORMAL     Indicates that the current
     access is a
                                               non-configuration session and
                                               prohibits the same userid from
                                               logging in to the datastore
     multiple
                                               times
    OPT_TS_CCSID                               (TS only) Indicates the type of
                                               coded character set identifier.
     See
                                               IBM manual, Digital Library
                                               Application Programming
                                               Reference Volume 2: Text Search
                                               Server, Doc. No. SC26-8653-00,
     for
                                               the details
    OPT_TS_LANG                                (TS only) Indicates the type of
                                               language identifier. See IBM
                                               manual, Digital Library
     Application
                                               Programming Reference Volume 2:
                                               Text Search Server, Doc. No.
     SC26-
                                               8653-00, for the details
    OPT_TRANSACTION_STATE                      (for DatastoreDL)
                                 ACTIVE        Indicates that a user is in a
                                               transaction.
                                 INACTIVE      Indicates that a user is not in
     a
                                               transaction.


public Object getOption (mint option) throws Exception; /*Gets the datastore option. The valid options and values for getting options are the same as for setting options.*/

public Object evaluate(String command, short commandLangType, params[]); public Object evaluate(Query query); public Object evaluate(CQExpr queryExpr); /*Evaluates a query and returns the result as a Object containing QueryableCollection 5. The second form takes a query object. The third form takes a compound query expression as an alternate form of a query string.*/

public ResultSetCursor execute(String command, short commandLangType, params[]) throws Exception; public ResultSetCursor execute (Query query) throws Exception; public ResultSetCursor execute(CQExpr queryExpr) throws Exception; /*Executes a command to the datastore and returns a result set cursor. The second form takes a query object, and the third form takes a compound query expression.*/

public Query createQuery (String command, commandLangType, params[]); public Query createQuery (CQExpr queryExpr); /*Creates a query object using the given parameters. The second form takes a compound query expression as an alternate form of a query string.*/

public void addObject (DataObject do) throws Exception; /*Adds the data object to the datastore.*/

public void deleteObject (DataObject do) throws Exception; /*Deletes the data object from the datastore.*/

public void retrieveObject (DataObject do) throws Exception; /*Retrieve the data object from the datastore.*/

public void updateObject (DataObject do) throws Exception; /*Updates the datastore with this data object.*/

public Object listServerso throws Exception; /*Returns a list of valid servers to connect to. The return value is a sequential collection containing objects describing the server. The object will be specific for each datastore.*/

public Object listEntity() throws Exception; /*Returns a list of entity names accessible in the current server. An entity corresponds to an index-class in DL or a table in a relational database system. A user establishes a connection to the server before calling this method. The return value is a sequential collection containing the entity information that is specific for each datastore.*/

public Object listEntityAttributes(String entityName) throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError; /*Returns a list of attribute information for a given entity. Please refer to the information under the specific datastore implementation.*/

public void commit () throws Exception; /*Commits the current transaction.*/

public void rollback () throws Exception; /*Rolls back the current transaction.*/

public boolean isConnected (); /* Returns true if it is connected to datastore.*/

public String datastoreName(); /*Gets datastore name.*/

public String datastoreType(); /*Gets datastore type.*/

public Handle connection(); /* Returns the connection handle of this datastore.*/

public String userName(); /* Returns the user name of this datastore.*/

9.2 DatastoreDL

This class is a specific version of Datastore 9 to implement a Digital Library (DL) datastore. It provides Documents, Parts 4 and Folders 31 storage and retieval mechanisms, as well as query, search, and other document processing features supported by DL. The execute () and evaluate methods of DatastoreDL take parametric query strings expressed in the parametric query language type. The syntax of this query string is described below. The ParametricQuery object 14 accepts queries in this syntax; in fact the ParametricQuery 14 object delegates the low level query processing tasks to the DatastoreDL.

By itself, DL only supports parametric queries. Integration with other search engines, such as SearchManager/TextMiner, or QBIC, gives DL the capability to index texts and images, and collectively process combined queries. Combined query processing is done by the CombinedQuery 18 class with the help of the associated datastore classes (DatastoreDL, TS, QBIC, etc). In addition to the functions described in Datastore 9, DatastoreDL provides some other functions for accessing catalogs.

                         DatastoreDL.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class DatastoreDL implements Datastore
    {
        . . .
        . . .
        public DatastoreDL ( )
        throws Exception;
        public void connect ( String datastore_name,
                      String user_name,
                      String authentication,
                      String connect_string) throws Exception;
        public void startTransaction ( ) throws Exception;
        public void wakeUpService(String serviceName) throws Exception;
        public Handle transactionConnection( ) throws Exception;
        public Object listServers( ) throws Exception;
        public Object listEntity( ) throws UsageError;
        public Object listEntityAttributes (String entityName)
                         throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError;
        public void checkOut(DataObject dob)
                         throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError;
        public void checkIn(DataObject dob)
                         throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError;
    };


9.2.1 Methods

public void connect (String datastore_name, userName, authentication, connect_string) throws Exception; /*Connects to the datastore. Authentication is the password and datastore_name is the name of the library server. The connect string is optional. It is used to change the password. To change the password of a userid, the user must set the DatastoreDL option OPT_DL_ACCESS to SS_CONFIG and pass in a connect string with the new password.*/

Below is sample of the connect string a user can supply.

                          Connect String
                      NPWD=NEWPASSWORD


public void startTransaction () throws Exception; /*Start a transaction. The user can user commit or rollback methods to end the transaction.*/

public Handle transactionConnection () throws Exception; /*Returns the transaction connection handle of this datastore.*/

public void wakeUpService(String serviceName) throws Exception; /*Notify the search program that there is indexing work to be done.*/

public Object listServers() throws Exception; /*Returns a list of valid servers to connect to. The return value is a sequential collection containing ServerlnfoDL objects describing the server.*/

public class ServerlnfoDL {

public String serverName();

public String serverType(); }

/*The user needs to cast the returned object to SequentialCollection 2 and iterate over it to get ServerlnfoDL objects.*/

public Object listEntity() throws UsageError; /*Returns a list of index class names in the current DL server. The user needs to establish a connection to the server before calling this method. The return value is a sequential collection containing string objects, which are index class names. The user needs to cast the returned object to SequentialCollection 2 and iterate over it to get index class names.*/

public Object listEntityAttributes(String entityName) UsageError, DatastoreAccessError; /*Returns a list of attribute information for a given index class name. The input entityName is the name of the desired index class. The user needs to establish a connection to the server before calling this method. The return value is a sequential collection containing AttributeDef objects, each of which describes attribute information. The user needs to cast the returned object to SequentialCollection 2 and iterate over it to get AttributeDef.*/

public void checkOut(DataObject dob) throws UsageError, DatastoreAccessError; /*Checks out a document or folder item from the datastore. The user will have an exclusive update privilege of the item until he/she checks the item back in. However, other users can still read the item.*/

public void checkin(DataObject dob) UsageError, DatastoreAccessError; /*Checks in a document or folder item previously checked out from the datastore. The user releases his exclusive update privilege of the item.*/

9.2.2 DL parametric query string

The syntax of DL parametric query string is as follows:

                    DL Parametric Query Syntax
        SEARCH=([INDEX_CLASS=index_class_name,]
                [MAX_RESULTS=maximum_results,]
                [COND=(expression)]
                [; . . . ]
              );
        [OPTION=([CONTENT=yes_no,]
                  [TYPE_QUERY=type_of_query,]
                  [TYPE_FILTER=doc_and_or_folder]
              )]


In the above syntax, words in uppercase are keywords. Lowercase words are parameters supplied by users, and are described below:

index_class_name--the name of the index class to be searched. If it is not specified, all available index classes will be searched.

maximum_results--the maximum number of results to be returned. If MAX_RESULTS is 0 or not specified, all items that match the search criteria will be returned.

expression--is a conditional expression composed of attribute_name and attribute_value pairs joined with relational operators, and two subsequent pairs are connected with logical operators. Each pair is enclosed in parenthesis. If a condition is not specified, an index class must be specified and it will return all contents in the index class up to the maximum result. (Similar to SELECT * in relational databases).

Logical operators include NOT or , AND or &, and OR or .vertline.. Relational operators include EQ or=, LEQ or <=, GEQ or >=, LT or <, GT or >, NEQ or <>, IN, NOTIN, LIKE, NOTLIKE, BETWEEN, and NOTBETWEEN. These last two operators take a pair of attribute values as a range.

An example of a conditional expression is:

(DLSEARCH_Date >="1990") AND (DLSEARCH_Date <="1993") AND (DLSEARCH_Volume BETWEEN 1 3)

For information about supported operators and examples of valid expressions refer to the LIBSEARCHCRITERIASTRUCT section of the IBM Manual, Digital Library Application Programming Reference Volume I, Doc. No. SC26-8652-00.

The sequence of INDEX_CLASS, MAX_RESULTS, and COND is terminated by a semicolon and can be repeated for other index classes.

yes_no--YES or NO. If the content is YES, the resulting documents and folders will have their contents retrieved. If the value is NO, only the document or folder ids are set. The default is YES if not specified.

For example, content value YES would cause the resulting document or folder DDOs to have their Pid, object type, properties and all attributes set. If the content is NO, the attributes of the resulting DDOs are not set. Regardless of the content option, the Parts 4 attribute of a document is always set to a collection of parts with NO content. Similarly, the Folder 3 attribute is also set to a collection of DDOs with NO content. The part or DDO 28 content can be retrieved explicitly when needed.

type_of_query--the valid values are:

STATIC process the request using static SQL query. If no static query is available the function uses a dynamic query.

DYNAMIC process request using a dynamic SQL query.

BUILDONLY generates a static SQL query based on the input search expressions and saves it for future searches.

doc_and_or_folder takes the value of FOLDERDOC, to search for folders and documents, DOC to search for documents only, and FOLDER to search for folders only.

9.3 DatastoreTS

This class is a specific version of Datastore 9 to implement Text Search (TS) datastore or Text Miner. Essentially, TS provides text indexing and search mechanisms. It does not really store documents or folders. TS indexes text parts of documents and process search requests using this index. The results of a text query submitted to TS are DL item identifiers, which are keys to retrieve the actual documents from DL datastore.

The execute () and evaluate () methods of DatastoreTS take text query strings expressed in text query language type. The syntax of this query string is described below. TextQuery 15 object accepts queries in this syntax, in fact TextQuery 15 object delegates the low level query processing tasks to DatastoreTS.

                         DatastoreTS.java
    package COM.ibm.mm.sdk.server;
    public class DatastoreTS implements Datastore
    {
     . . .
     . . .
     public DatastoreTS () throws Exception;
     public void connect ( String datastore_name,
                       String user_name,
                       String authentication,
                       String connect_string)  throws Exception;
     public void connect ( String server_name,
                       String port,
                       char communication_type) throws Exception;
     public Object listServers()  throws Exception;
     public Object listEntity()  throws UsageError;
    };


9.3.1 Methods

public void connect (String datastore_name, String userName, String authentication, String connect_string) throws Exception;

Connects to the datastore. Authentication is the password. The userName and authentication are for a digital library server. Datastore 9 name is the name of the search service. The connect string is optional. It is used to provide the communication type and port number as well as a list of library server, userid, authentication groupings. Below is a sample syntax of a connect string a user can supply.

                          Connect String
              [COMMTYPE={T .vertline. P};PORT=portnumber;
              LIBACCESS=(libraryserver,userid,auth; . . . )]


connect string /*addition connect parameters*/

COMMTYPE /*communication type. This can be set to T (TCPIP) or P (PIPES)*/

PORT /*port number. This parameter must be include if the COMMTYPE is specified.*/

LIBACCESS /*Library access group. If this parameter is passed the user should not specify the userName and authentication parameters in the connect method. Each library access group is related to a digital library server. If one library access group is specified the parenthesis are not needed. The user can specify one or more library access groups. Each library access group consist of the library server name (i.e. LIBSRVR2), userid and authentication of a digital library server which is where the text parts are stored.*/

There are different ways to use the connect method. Below is a list of the different ways to connect to Text Search.

connect with datastore_name (search service)

connect with datastore_name (text search server) and specify connect_string with COMMTYPE and PORT.

connect with datastore_name (search service), and specify the connect.sub.13 string with LIBACCESS.

connect with datastore_name (text search server) and specify connect_string with COMMTYPE, PORT and LIBACCESS.

connect with datastore_name (search service) and userName, authentication.

public void connect ( String server name, String port, char communication_type) throws Exception;

/*Connects to the datastore. The server_name is the text search server. The user needs to specify the communication type (_CTYP_TCPIP--TCPIP or CTYP_PIPES--PIPES) and port number.*/

public Object listServers() throws Exception; /*Returns a list of valid servers to connect to. The return value is a sequential collection containing ServerlnfoTS objects describing the server.*/

public class ServerInfoTS {

public String serverName*();

public char serverlocation(); }

/*The user needs to cast the returned object to SequentialCollection 2 and iterate over it to get ServerInfoTS objects.*/

serverLocation will return either (_SRV_LOCAL (local server) or SRV_REMOTE (remote server)).

public Object listEntity() throws UsageError; Returns a list of search index names in the current TS server. The user needs to establish a connection to the server before calling this method.

public class IndexTS {

public String indexName();

public String libraryid(); };

/*The indexName is the search index name and the libraryld is the library identifier of the search index. The return value is a sequential collection containing IndexTS objects. The user needs to cast the returned object to SequentialCollection 2 and iterate over it to get IndexTS objects.*/

9.3.2 TS text query string.

The syntax of text query string is as follows:

                       TS Text Query Syntax
    SEARCH=(COND=(text_search_expression)
            );
    [OPTION=([SEARCH_INDEX={search_index_name .vertline.
              (index_list) };]
              [MAX_RESULTS=maximum_results;]
              [TIME_LIMIT=time_limit;]
              [THES_NAME=thesaurus_index_name;]
              [THES_DEPTH=depth_for_query_expansion;]
            )]


In the above syntax, words in uppercase are keywords. Lowercase words are parameters supplied by users, and are described below:

text_search_expression /*an expression composed of a sequence of text_search_criteria connected by logical operators.*/

[unary_operator] text_search_criteria

[[binary_operator text_search_criteria]. . . ]

/*Binary operators are AND or &, OR or .vertline., NAND and NOR. NOT is the only unary operator.*/

text_search_criteria is:

{search_argument .vertline.

$DOC$ `{`search_argument`}`.vertline.

$PARA$ `{`search_argument`}`.vertline.

$SENT$ `{`search_argument `}`}

/*The dollar sign delimits the keyword/option.*/

$DOC$ reserved word indicating that the search proximity expression in search argument has a scope of the whole document

$PARA$ indicating that the search proximity expression in search argument has a scope of a paragraph