Metadata management for a data abstraction model

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor, performs operations for generating metadata describing objects of a data abstraction model with logical fields that define abstract views of physical data in a database, the operations comprising:

• traversing a logical tree structure representing the data abstraction model, the logical tree structure having a plurality of nodes;
• determining a node type for each node of the plurality of nodes, wherein the node type specifies whether the node is a logical field and a category;
• identifying metadata from the data abstraction model describing the plurality of nodes;
• storing, for each node of the plurality of nodes, the node type and the identified metadata in a queryable database;
• and
• processing a query issued against the queryable database to identify objects in the data abstraction model available to be used to construct an abstract query;
• wherein:
• traversing the logical tree structure comprises traversing the logical tree structure according to a standard prefix traversal;
• and
• the identified metadata comprises standard prefix information for corresponding nodes.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed by a processor, performs operations for identifying an object in a data abstraction model defining an abstract view of physical data in a database, the operations comprising:

• providing the data abstraction model, wherein the data abstraction model includes a plurality of objects comprising one or more category specifications and a plurality of logical fields, each logical field defining an abstract view of a specific set of the physical data;
• receiving a query against one or more database tables containing metadata describing at least some of the plurality of objects, the query configured to identify one or more of the objects by specifying one or more conditions based on the metadata;
• executing the query, by a processor, to produce a query result identifying one or more of the objects that satisfy the one or more conditions, comprising:
• accessing a first database table configured to allow unique identification of each logical field and each category specification contained in the data abstraction model;
• for each of the one or more objects, determining whether the object is a logical field or a category specification;
• for each object being a logical field:
• accessing a second database table configured to provide detail information for each logical field of the data abstraction model;
• and
• retrieving detail information for the object;
• and
• for each object being a category specification:
• accessing a third database table configured to provide detail information for each category specification of the data abstraction model;
• and
• retrieving detail information for the object;
• and
• wherein the retrieved detail information defines the query result;
• and
• returning the query result.

A system, comprising:

• a processor communicatively coupled to a storage medium;
• a database;
• a data abstraction model defining an abstract view of physical data in the database and including a plurality of objects comprising one or more category specifications and a plurality of logical fields, each logical field defining an abstract view of a specific set of the physical data;
• one or more database tables containing metadata describing at least some of the plurality of objects, wherein the database tables are resident on the storage medium;
• and
• a data abstraction model metadata manager configured to:
• receive a query against the one or more database tables, the query configured to identify one or more of the objects by specifying one or more conditions based on the metadata;
• execute the query to produce a query result identifying one or more of the objects that satisfy the one or more conditions, comprising:
• accessing a first database table configured to allow unique identification of each logical field and each category specification contained in the data abstraction model;
• for each of the one or more objects, determining whether the object is a logical field or a category specification;
• for each object being a logical field:
• accessing a second database table configured to provide detail information for each logical field of the data abstraction model;
• and
• retrieving detail information for the object;
• and
• for each object being a category specification:
• accessing a third database table configured to provide detail information for each category specification of the data abstraction model;
• and
• retrieving detail information for the object;
• and
• wherein the retrieved detail information defines the query result;
• and
• return the query result.