Database Systems 

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Chapter 6 :

The Relational Data Model

and Relational Database Constraints.

 
 Outline:
• 6.1 Relational Model Concepts
• Informal Definitions
• Formal Definitions
• Characteristics of Relations

• 6.2 Keys' Types

• Super key
• Key
• Primary Key
• Alternative Key

• 6.3 Relational Integrity Constraints

• Domain constraints
• Key constraints
• Entity integrity constraints
• Referential integrity constraints
• Semantic Integrity Constraints

• 6.4 Update Operations and Dealing with Constraint Violations

• Insert Operation
• Delete Operation
• Update Operation
 6.1 Relational Model Concepts

• The relational Model of Data is based on the concept of a Relation.

• A Relation is a mathematical concept based on the ideas of sets.
• The model was first introduced by Tod Codd of IBM Research in
1970 in the following paper: "A Relational Model for Large Shared
Data Banks," Communications of the ACM, June 1970.
• Informal Definitions
• Informally, a relation looks like a table of values.
• A relation typically contains a set of rows.
• The data elements in each row represent certain facts that
correspond to a real-world entity or relationship
– In the formal model, rows are called tuples
• Each column has a column header that gives an indication of the
meaning of the data items in that column
– In the formal model, the column header is called an attribute
 Example of a Relation

• Formal Definitions
• Schema
– The Schema (or description) of a Relation:
• Denoted by R(A1, A2, .....An)
• R is the name of the relation
• The attributes of the relation are A1, A2, ..., An
 –Example:
• CUSTOMER (Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#)
•CUSTOMER is the relation name
•Defined over the four attributes: Cust-id, Cust-name, Address, Phone#
• 
–Each attribute has a domain or a set of valid values.
–For example, the domain of Cust-id is 6 digit numbers.
–The data domain may have a data-type and/or format.

•Tuple
• A tuple is an ordered set of values (enclosed in angled brackets ‘< … >’)
–Each value is derived from an appropriate domain.
–A tuple can be considered as a set of (<attribute>, <value>) pairs. Thus the following two tuples are
identical:
• t1 = <(Name, B. Bayer),(SSN, 305-61-2435),(HPhone, 3731616),(Address, 291 Blue Lane),(WPhone, null),
(Age, 23),(GPA, 3.25)> t2 = <(HPhone, 3731616),(WPhone, null),(Name, B. Bayer),(Age, 23),(Address, 291
Blue Lane),(SSN, 305-61-2435),(GPA, 3.25)>  
• State
–The relation state is a subset of the Cartesian product of the domains of its attributes
–Each domain contains the set of all possible values the attribute can take.
–Example: attribute Cust-name is defined over the domain of character strings of maximum length 25
• dom(Cust-name) is varchar(25)
Summary
Table 6.1: Formal /
Informal Summary

• Characteristics of Relations: 
• Ordering of tuples in a relation r(R): The tuples are not considered to be
ordered, even though they appear to be in the tabular form.
• Ordering of attributes in a relation schema R (and of values within each
tuple): We will consider the attributes in R(A1, A2, ...,An) and the values
in t=<v1, v2, ..., vn> to be ordered.
• Values in a tuple:
– All values are considered atomic (indivisible).
– Each value in a tuple must be from the domain of the attribute for that column
• If tuple t = <v1, v2, …, vn> is a tuple (row) in the relation state r of R(A1, A2, …, An)
• Then each vi must be a value from dom(Ai)
– A special null value is used to represent values that are unknown or unapplicable
to certain tuples.
 6.2 Keys' Types
• In order to understand the Relational Integrity Constraints we need to understand the Types of
keys before
• Superkey of R (SK)
– SK is a set of attributes of R with the following condition:
• No two tuples in any valid relation state r(R) will have the same value for SK
• That is, for any distinct tuples t1 and t2 in r(R), t1[SK] ≠ t2[SK]
• Key of R
– A "minimal" superkey
– That is, a key is a superkey K such that removal of any attribute from K results in a set of
attributes that is not a superkey (does not possess the superkey uniqueness property)
– Each of the keys is called candidate key
• Primary key (PK)
– Choice one of the candidate key
– It is usually better to choose a primary key with a single attribute or a small number of
attributes.
• Alterative key
– all candidate keys except primary key
 Example (1):
Consider the EMPLOYEE relation schema:
Employee (SSN,Empid,Fname,Mname,Lname,Add,Age)
[Link] of R:
{SSN},{Empid},{SSN,Empid},{SSN,Fname},{SSN,Mname},{SSN,Lname},{SSN,Add} , {SSN,Age},
{ SSN,Empid,Fname},{ SSN,Empid,Lname},{ SSN,Empid,Mname},{ SSN,Empid,Add},{ SSN,Empid,Age},{Fname,
Mname, Lname},…etc.
[Link] of R:
{SSN}, {Empid},{Fname,Mname,Lname}
[Link] key:
{SSN}
[Link] key:
{Empid},{Fname,Mname,Lname}

Example (2):
Consider the following relation:
[Link] of R:
X Y Z
{Z},{X,Y},{X,Z},{Y,Z},[X,Y,Z} 1 A 20
[Link] of R:
{Z}, {X, Y}
3 B 21
[Link] key: 4 A 15
{Z}
[Link] key: 1 C 30
{X, Y}
• Find superkeys, candidate keys, primary keys, alternative keys
in the following CAR relation schema?

• CAR (State, Reg#, SerialNo, Model, Year)

• Find superkeys, candidate keys, primary keys,

alternative keys in the following relation?
A B C D E
A1 Hh 101 D10 10
A2 Mm 200 D30 20
A3 Ff 50 D90 30
A4 Ll 60 D53 30
A1 Ff 70 D6 10
6.3 Relational Integrity Constraints
• Constraints are conditions that must hold on
all valid relation states.

• There are five types of constraints in the relational model:

[Link] constraints
[Link] constraints
[Link] integrity constraints
[Link] integrity constraints
[Link] Integrity Constraints

• Domain Constraints
• Every value in a tuple must be from the domain of its attribute (or
it could be null, if allowed for that attribute). A data type or
format is also specified for each domain.
• Special case of this constraint Constraints on Null (not allowed
null values for attribute)
• Key Constraints
• For any two distinct tuples t1 and t2   in a relation state r
of R we have t1SK  t2SK   (the subset of attributes
SK is called a superkey of the relation schema R).
• A superkey SK specifies a uniqueness constraint.
 
• Entity Integrity
• The primary key attributes PK of each relation schema R
in S cannot have null values in any tuple of r(R). t[PK] ≠
null for any tuple t in r(R)
– This is because primary key values are used to
identify the individual tuples.
– If PK has several attributes(composite), null is not
allowed in any of these attributes
 Referential Integrity
• A constraint involving two relations (the previous constraints
involve a single relation).  Used to specify a relationship
among tuples in two relations: the referencing relation and the
referenced relation. 
• Referential Integrity is used to maintain the consistency among
tuples of the two relations.
• The referential integrity constraint states that a tuple in one
relation that refers to another relation must refer to an existing
tuple in that relation.
• Tuples in the referencing relation R1 have attributes FK (called
foreign key attributes) that reference the primary key
attributes PK of the referenced relation R2. A tuple t1 in R1 is
said to reference a tuple t2 in R2 if
•   t1[FK] = t2[PK] 
• A referential integrity constraint can be displayed in a relational
database schema as a directed arc from R1 FK to R2 PK.
• The value in the foreign key column (or columns) FK of the referencing
relation R1 can be either:
1. A value of an existing primary key value of
acorresponding primary key PK in the referenced relation
R2, or
2. A null (if it is not part of its own primary key)
• Semantic Integrity Constraints
• Based on application semantics and cannot be
expressed by the model.
• Example1: the max. no. of hours per employee for all
projects he or she works on is 56 hrs per week.
• Example2: the salary of an employee should not exceed
the salary of the employee’s supervisor.
• 6.4- Update Operations and Dealing with
Constraint Violations
• Operations of the relational model:
• Updates:
– Insert - to insert a new tuple or tuples in a relation,
– Delete - to delete tuples from a relation, and
– Update (or Modify) - to change the values of some
attributes in existing tuples.
• Retrievals - these operations do not change the
current state of the databases.
• Integrity constraints should not be violated by the update
operations: INSERT, DELETE, MODIFY
• In case of integrity violation, several actions can be taken,
such as:
– Cancel the operation that causes the violation (RESTRICT or REJECT
option)
– Trigger additional updates so the violation is corrected (CASCADE
option, SET NULL option 

• Insert Operation  
• INSERT may violate any of the constraints:
– Domain constraint: if one of the attribute values provided for the new
tuple is not of the specified attribute domain.
– Key constraint: if the value of a key attribute in the new tuple already
exists in another tuple in the relation
– Entity integrity: if the primary key value is null in the new tuple
– Referential integrity: if a foreign key value in the new tuple references
a primary key value that does not exist in the referenced relation
• Delete Operation
• DELETE may violate only referential integrity: If the
primary key value of the tuple being deleted is
referenced from other tuples in the database
• Can be remedied by several actions: RESTRICT,
CASCADE ,SET NULL
– RESTRICT option: reject the deletion
– CASCADE option: delete the tuples that reference the tuple
that is being deleted
– SET NULL option: set the foreign keys of the referencing tuples
to NULL
• One of the above options must be specified during
database design for each foreign key constraint
• Update Operation
• It may violate any of the constraints.
 Insert
• Which relational constraints 1. Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani', 321, 3/9/1982,
would be violated if the 3000, NULL, 30> into EMPLOYEE.
following operation were 2.  Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani', 923, 3/19/1980,
'3000JD', NULL, 30> into EMPLOYEE.
applied to the COMPANY 3.  Insert <123456, 'Rani', 321, 3/9/1985,
database snapshot illustrated '3000$', 432, 10> into EMPLOYEE.
bellow? 4.  Insert <400,'Planning'> into
DEPARTMENT.
5.  Insert <123456, 'Rani', 123, 3/9/1985,
FName LName SSN BDate Salary SuperSSN DNo '3500JD', 432, 10> into EMPLOYEE.
1/2/197 6. Insert <30,'Planning'> into DEPARTMENT.
Smith Jone 123 2100JD NULL 10
9 7.  Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani',NULL, 30/9/1977,
3/6/198 '4000JD', 587, 10> into EMPLOYEE.
Susan 432 1547JD 123 10
2
20/9/19 8.  Insert <NULL,'Planning'> into
James Ford 587 3650JD 983 20
80 DEPARTMENT.
1/12/19 9.  Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani',222, 3/2/1980,
Sali Miller 983 890JD 123 30
70
3000, 587, 50> into EMPLOYEE .
10.  Insert < 'Alice', 'Rani',222, 30/2/1976,
Department 3000, 687, 10> into EMPLOYEE.
11.  Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani',NULL, 3/22/1976,
DNo DName '1000JD', 587, 50> into EMPLOYEE.
10 Headquarter 12.  Insert < 'Sali', 'Rani', 'NULL', 3/2/1969,
20 Accounting '6000JD', 587, 40> into EMPLOYEE.
30 IT 13.  Insert < 'Jasmine', 'Rani', 123, 3/2/76,
'3200JD', 587, 60> into EMPLOYEE.
 Delete
• Which relational 1. Delete the DEPARTMENT tuple with
constraints would be DNo =20
violated if the following 2. Delete the EMPLOYEE tuple with
FName ='Smith'
operation were applied 3. Delete the EMPLOYEE tuple with
to the COMPANY database SSN=432
snapshot illustrated bellow?
Modify
4. Update the SALARY of the EMPLOYEE
tuple with SSN=432 to 2800.
FName LName SSN BDate Salary SuperSSN DNo 5.  Update the DNO of the EMPLOYEE
Smith Jone 123
1/2/197
9
2100JD NULL 10 tuple with SSN=432 to 70.
Susan 432
3/6/198
1547JD 123 10
6.  Update the DNO of the
2
20/9/19
DEPARTMENT tuple with DName ='IT'
James Ford 587
80
3650JD 983 20 to 40.
Sali Miller 983
1/12/19
70
890JD 123 30 7.  Update the DNO of the
DEPARTMENT tuple with DName ='IT'
to 10.
Department 8.  Update the SSN of the EMPLOYEE
tuples with FName ='Smith' to NULL.
DNo DName
10 Headquarter
9.  Update the SSN of the EMPLOYEE
20 Accounting tuples to 566.
30 IT