Method and apparatus for managing relational data in an object cache

In an object-oriented application being executed in a digital computing system comprising a processor, a method for managing information, said information comprising a plurality of object instances, each object instance in said plurality comprising a unique object ID, attributes, and relationships retrieved from a structured database, said method comprising the steps of:

• executing instructions on said processor to construct a plurality of object instances based on information retrieved from queries to said structured database, said structured database comprising foreign keys, primary keys, tables, rows and columns;
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a unique object ID for each of said object instances, said object ID comprising information extracted from said keys associated with the object instance, in order to provide a mapping between said object instance and at least one row in said structured database;
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a single cohesive object cache comprising all object instances of said plurality of object instances and at least one relationship between two objects, by executing instructions on said processor to assign to each said object instance a state, said state having a value indicating whether at least one row in said structured database which corresponds to the information contained in said object instance is currently locked;
• and
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a cache dictionary, said cache dictionary containing said object ID and location of every object instance in said object cache.

In a system comprising a plurality of object-oriented applications and at least one processor, a method for managing information retrieved from a structured database, said method comprising the steps of:

• executing instructions on said processor to construct a plurality of object instances based on information retrieved from queries to said structured database, said structured database comprising foreign keys, primary keys, tables, rows and columns;
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a unique object ID for each of said object instances, said object ID comprising information extracted from said keys associated with the object instance, in order to provide a mapping between said object instance and at least one row in said structured database;
• and
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a single cohesive object cache comprising all object instances of said plurality of object instances and at least one relationship between two object instances of said plurality, said object cache being shared by said object-oriented applications.

In a system comprising an object-oriented application and at least one processor, a method for managing information retrieved from a plurality of structured databases, said method comprising the steps of:

• executing instructions on said processor to construct a plurality of object instances based on information retrieved from queries to said structured database, said structured database comprising foreign keys, primary keys, tables, rows and columns;
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a unique object ID for each of said object instances in order to provide a mapping between said object instance and at least one row in at least one structured database of said plurality of structured databases;
• and
• executing instructions on said processor to construct a single cohesive object cache comprising all object instances of said plurality of object instances and at least one relationship between two objects.

An apparatus for an object cache comprising a processor, memory coupled to said processor, a storage device coupled to said processor, an application being executed by said processor, and a structured database coupled to said application, and:

• means associated with said processor for constructing a plurality of object instances based on information comprising at least one column retrieved from said structured database, said structured database comprising foreign keys, primary keys, tables, rows and columns, each of said object instances having its own unique object ID in order to provide a mapping between said object instance and at least one row in said structured database;
• means associated with said processor for constructing a single cohesive object cache comprising all object instances of said plurality and at least one relationship between two object instances;
• and
• means for storing said object cache.