Enhanced Entity Relationship Modelling
EER Model Concepts
Includes all basic ER modeling concepts
Additional concepts:
subclasses/superclasses
specialization/generalization
IS-A relationships
categories (Union types)
attribute and relationship inheritance
These are fundamental to conceptual modeling
The additional EER concepts are used to model applications more completely
and more accurately
EER includes some object-oriented concepts, such as inheritance
1
Subclasses and Superclasses
An entity type may have additional meaningful subgroupings of its
entities
Figure 4.1: EMPLOYEE may be further grouped into:
SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN, …
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s Job
MANAGER
Some EMPLOYEEs are managers
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s method of pay
EER diagrams extend ER diagrams to represent these additional
subgroupings, called subclasses or subtypes
2
Subclasses and Superclasses
3
Subclasses and Superclasses
Each of these subgroupings is a subset of EMPLOYEE entities
A secretary is an employee
A technician is an employee
A manager is an employee
Each is called a subclass of EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE is the superclass for each of these subclasses
These are called superclass/subclass (or class/subclass) relationships:
EMPLOYEE/SECRETARY
EMPLOYEE/TECHNICIAN What’s the cardinality?
EMPLOYEE/MANAGER
…
4
Subclasses and Superclasses
The class/subclass relationship is also called an IS-A relationship
SECRETARY IS-A EMPLOYEE, TECHNICIAN IS-A
EMPLOYEE, ….
An entity cannot exist in the database merely by being a
member of a subclass; it must also be a member of the
superclass
5
Subclasses and Superclasses
Examples:
A salaried employee who is also an engineer belongs to the two subclasses:
ENGINEER, and
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
A salaried employee who is also an engineering manager belongs to the
three subclasses:
MANAGER,
ENGINEER, and
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
6
Subclasses and Superclasses
If the relationship is not Total, then it is not necessary that every entity in a
superclass be a member of some subclass
If the relationship is Total, then every entity in a superclass must be a member
of some subclass
Superclass Superclass
Sub1 Sub2 Sub1 Sub2
optional Total, or mandatory
7
Representing Specialization in EER Diagrams
8
Inheritance in Class / Subclass Relationships
An entity that is member of a subclass inherits
All attributes of the entity as a member of the superclass
All relationships of the entity as a member of the superclass
Example:
In the previous slide, SECRETARY (as well as TECHNICIAN
and ENGINEER) inherit the attributes Name, SSN, …, from
EMPLOYEE
Every SECRETARY entity will have values for the inherited
attributes
9
Specialization
Specialization is the process of defining a set of subclasses of a
superclass
The set of subclasses is based upon some distinguishing
characteristics of the entities in the superclass
Example: {SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN} is a
specialization of EMPLOYEE based upon job type.
May have several specializations of the same superclass
Specialization is also used to refer to a collection of subclasses
10
Specialization
Example: Another specialization of EMPLOYEE based on method
of pay is {SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE}.
class/subclass relationships can be represented in EER
diagrams
Attributes of a subclass are called specific or local attributes.
For example, the attribute TypingSpeed of SECRETARY
The subclass can also participate in specific relationship types.
For example, a relationship BELONGS_TO of
HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
11
Specialization
12
Generalization
Generalization is the reverse of the specialization process
Several classes with common features are generalized into a
superclass
original classes become its subclasses
Example: CAR, TRUCK generalized into VEHICLE;
both CAR, TRUCK become subclasses of the superclass
VEHICLE.
We can view {CAR, TRUCK} as a specialization of VEHICLE
Alternatively, we can view VEHICLE as a generalization of
CAR and TRUCK
The term Generalization is also used to refer to the superclass
13
Generalization
14
Classes
We call all entity types (and their corresponding collections)
classes, whether they are entity types, superclasses, or subclasses
15
Membership Constraint
If we can determine exactly those entities that will become
members of each subclass by a condition, the subclasses are called
predicate-defined (or condition-defined) subclasses
Condition is a constraint that determines subclass members
We can display a predicate-defined subclass by writing the
predicate condition next to the line attaching the subclass to its
superclass
16
Membership Constraint
If all subclasses in a specialization have membership condition on same
attribute of the superclass, specialization is called an Attribute-Defined
specialization
Attribute is called the defining attribute of the specialization
Example: JobType is the defining attribute of the specialization
{SECRETARY, TECHNICIAN, ENGINEER} of EMPLOYEE
If no condition determines membership, the subclass is called User-Defined
Membership in a subclass is determined by the database users by applying
an operation to add an entity to the subclass
Membership in the subclass is specified individually for each entity in the
superclass by the user
17
Membership Constraint
18
Disjointness Constraint
Disjointness Constraint:
Specifies that the subclasses of the specialization must be
disjoint:
an entity can be a member of at most one of the subclasses
of the specialization
Specified by d in EER diagram
If not disjoint, specialization is overlapping:
that is the same entity may be a member of more than one
subclass of the specialization
Specified by o in EER diagram
19
Completeness Constraint
Completeness Constraint:
Total (mandatory) specifies that every entity in the superclass
must be a member of some subclass in the
specialization/generalization
Shown in EER diagrams by a double line
Partial (optional) allows an entity not to belong to any of the
subclasses
Shown in EER diagrams by a single line
20
Example of disjoint partial Specialization
21
Example of overlapping total Specialization
22
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies, Lattices, Shared Subclasses
A subclass may itself have further subclasses specified on it
forms a hierarchy or a lattice
Hierarchy has a constraint that every subclass has only one
superclass (called single inheritance); this is basically a tree
structure
In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of more than one superclass
(called multiple inheritance)
23
Shared Subclass “Engineering_Manager”
24
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies, Lattices & Shared
Subclasses
In a lattice or hierarchy, a subclass inherits attributes not only of its direct
superclass, but also of all its predecessor superclasses
A subclass with more than one superclass is called a shared subclass (multiple
inheritance)
25
Lattice Example (UNIVERSITY)
26
Categories (Union Types)
The superclass/subclass relationships we have seen so far have a
single superclass
A shared subclass is a subclass in:
more than one distinct superclass/subclass relationships
each relationships has a single superclass
shared subclass leads to multiple inheritance
In some cases, we need to model a single superclass/subclass
relationship with more than one superclass
Superclasses can represent different entity types
Such a subclass is called a category or Union Type
27
Categories
Example: In a database for vehicle registration, a vehicle owner
can be a PERSON, a BANK (holding a lien on a vehicle) or a
COMPANY.
A category called OWNER is created to represent a subset of
the union of the three superclasses COMPANY, BANK, and
PERSON
A category member must exist in at least one of its
superclasses
Difference from shared subclass, which is a:
subset of the intersection of its superclasses
shared subclass member must exist in all of its superclasses
28
Two categories: OWNER, REGISTERED_VEHICLE
29
