Back to results
US 7,024,434 B2Granted
Method and system for modifying schema definitions
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsBilly J. Fuller, Donald J. Hacherl
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Loading patent…
Loading patent…
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorsBilly J. Fuller, Donald J. Hacherl
Estimating the term…
A new schema implementation enables reversible changes to be made to definitions in a schema. The definitions of attributes and classes are in the form of schema objects. Each schema object has an internal ID in addition to its unique name and object ID (OID), and a deactivation flag for indicating whether the schema object has been deactivated. To modify an attribute or class, the corresponding schema object is deactivated by setting its deactivation flag to “TRUE,” and a new schema object is created to contain the changes. The new schema object has the same unique name and OID as the old schema object but is given a different internal ID. When a client wants to access instances of the schema object by its unique name or OID, a translation is made to provide the internal ID of the new schema object such that instances of the new schema object are located instead of the old schema object. The changes to the schema can be reversed by reactivating the first schema object and deactivating the second schema object.
A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps for modifying a schema for a database, comprising:
A method of modifying a schema for a database, comprising:
A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure containing data representing a plurality of schema objects of a schema for a database, said plurality of schema objects including a first schema object and a second schema object each having a primary identifier, an internal identifier, and a deactivation flag attribute, the primary identifier of the first schema object being the same as the primary identifier of the second schema object, the internal identifier of the first schema object being different from the internal identifier of the second schema object, the deactivation flag attribute of the first schema object being set to indicate that the first schema object is deactivated, and the deactivation flag attribute of the second schema object being set to indicate that the second schema object being active.
A method of modifying a schema for a database, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.