- 期刊
Reverse Data Engineering Technology for Visual, Database Design: An Ingelligent E-R-extracting re-design Tool, ReTro-ERDDS'
Submitted for資訊縮影管理期刊
並列摘要
We consider the data engineer's inverse mapping problem: form a relational database schema (RDBS) to construct a corresponding entity-relationship diagram (ERD). In the direction from extended ERDs to RDBS, there is a well-known translation algorithm. The inverse direction is more difficult because to one RDBS there may correspond many ERDs, so it is not clear how to choose a most representative ERD. Nonetheless, it would be desirable to the able to do so whenever possible, so that the benefits of E-R-based visual design can be applied to any RDBS. This paper presents an experimental first approach to the inversion problem, for the case of an RDBS that was originally designed by an E-R-based tool and then was altered. Our reverse translator (ReTro-ERDDS) tracks each atomic change in the RDBS and determines, via its E-R knowledge base, the corresponding changes in the original ERD, while preserving well-formedness.