Transactions in ORM

Abstract

Languages for specifying information systems should not only contain a data definition (sub)language (DDL), i.e., a part for specifying data structures, but also a data retrieval (sub)language (DRL), i.e., a part for specifying queries, and a data manipulation (sub)language (DML), i.e., a part for specifying transactions. The language ORM contains a DDL and a DRL (ConQuer), but it does not contain a sufficient DML as yet. We therefore propose an extension of ORM with a DML, for specifying transactions to be easily validated by domain experts. We introduce the following set of standard classes of specifiable transactions: add an instance, add a query result, remove a subset, and change a subset. We also treat compound transactions in ORM. In ORM there are usually several ways to specify something. For all transactions we therefore propose syntaxes, verbalizations, and diagrams as well. They allow for type-checking and easy validation by domain experts. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.