Appendix 1: DB Project Example

UNIVERSITY POLITEHNICA OF BUCHAREST

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
COMPUTERS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENGLISH STREAM

Databases Project
Design, implementation, and usage of
a Library db

Project coordinator
Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Christian Mancas

Bucharest
201x

Student:

Table of Contents
1. Business Analysis
1.0 Description of the sub-universe of discourse
1.1 Entity-Relationship Diagrams
1.2 Associated Restrictions List
2. Mathematical Scheme
2.0 Initial Mathematical Scheme
2.1 First refinement algorithm: Sets, Functions, and Constraints
Design Assistance
2.1.1 Sets
2.1.2 Functions
2.1.3 Constraints
2.2 Second refinement algorithm: Keys Discovery Assistance
2.3 Third refinement algorithm: E-RD Cycles Analysis
2.4 Final Mathematical Scheme
3. Relational Scheme and Associated Non-relational Constraints List
3.1 Relational db scheme
3.2 Non-relational constraints list
4. Database Implementation
4.0 Technology choice
4.1 Access db
4.2 Oracle db
5. Non-relational Constraints Implementation
5.1 Access Solutions
5.2 Oracle Solutions
6. Database Usage
6.1 Access Queries and Reports
6.2 Oracle Views and Stored Procedures
Conclusion
References

1. Business Analysis
1.0

Description of the sub-universe of discourse

The db should store data on books (title, writing year, first author, co-authors, and their order),
people (authors and/or library subscribers) e-mail addresses and first and last names, as well as
books copies borrows by subscribers (borrow, due, and actual return dates).
Books are published by publishing houses, possibly in several editions even by same publishers
(in different years). Each edition may contain several volumes, each having a number, a title, a
price, and an ISBN code. Volumes may contain several books.
The library owns several copies (uniquely identified by an inventory code) of any volume and may
lend several copies for any borrow; not all borrowed copies should be returned at a same date;
maximum lending period is 300 days.
Last names, books titles, first authors, publisher names, editions publishers, first books, and titles,
as well as volumes numbers and prices, copies inventory codes, borrows subscribers, dates, and
due return dates are compulsory; for subscribers, first names and e-mail addresses are compulsory
too.
People are uniquely identified by their first and last names, plus e-mail address, books by their
first author, title, and writing year, publishers by their names, editions by their first book, publisher,
title, and year, volumes by corresponding edition and volume number.
There may be at most:
-

1,000,000 persons, books, and editions,

2,000,000 co-authoring and volumes,
10,000 publishers,
4,000,000 book editions,
32,000,000 copies,
100,000,000,000 borrows, and
1,000,000,000,000 borrows of interest.

1.1

Entity-Relationship Diagrams
Fname

LName

e-mail

PERSONS

BTitle

BOOKS

PERSONS

BYear

CO-AUTHORS

BOOKS

PosInList
PUBLISHERS

ETitle

PubName

EDITIONS
ISBN

Number

BOOKS

EYear
Title

VOLUMES

VOLUMES_CONTENTS

BookPos

InvNo

COPIES
BORROWS

BorrowDate

Price

VOLUMES

COPIES

BORROWS_LISTS

DueReturnDate

BORROWS

ActualReturnDate

FirstAuthor
PERSONS
Subscriber

BOOKS
CO-AUTHORS

BORROWS

VOLUMES_CONTENTS
FirstBook

BORROWS_LISTS

Volume
Publisher

COPIES

PUBLISHERS

VOLUMES
Edition
EDITIONS

Figure A1.1 Structural E-RD

1.2

Associated Restrictions List

1. PERSONS (The set of books (co-)authors and subscribers of interest to the library.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(PERSONS)) = 1,000,000
(RP0)
b. Data ranges:
FName: ASCII(128)
(RP1)
LName: ASCII(64)
(RP2)
e-mail:
ASCII(255)
(RP3)
c. Compulsory data: LName
(RP4)
d. Unicity: e-mail FName LName (there may not
be two persons having same first and last name,
as well as same e-mail address)
(RP5)
e. Other types restrictions:
FName and e-mail should be compulsory for subscribers(RP6)
2. BOOKS (The set of written works of interest to the library.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(BOOKS)) = 1,000,000
(RB0)
b. Data ranges:
BTitle:
ASCII(255)
(RB1)
BYear:
[-2500, current year]
(RB2)
c. Compulsory data: BTitle, FirstAuthor
(RB3)
d. Unicity: FirstAuthor BTitle BYear (no author writes
4

two books with a same title in a same year)

(RB4)

3. CO-AUTHORS = (PERSONS, BOOKS) (The set of pairs

<b, p> storing the fact that book b was (also) written by
person p.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(CO-AUTHORS)) = 2,000,000 (RCA0)
b. Data ranges: PosInList: [2, 16] (ps position in bs
co-authors list)
(RCA1)
c. Compulsory data: Person, Book, PosInList
(RCA2)
d. Unicity: Person Book (no author should appear more
than once in any book co-authors list)
(RCA3)
4. PUBLISHERS (The set of publishers of interest to the library.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(PUBLISHERS)) = 10,000
(RPB0)
b. Data ranges: PubName: ASCII(128)
(RPB1)
c. Compulsory data: PubName
(RPB2)
d. Unicity: PubName (there may not be two publishers
having same name)
(RPB3)
5. EDITIONS (The set of books editions of interest to the library.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(EDITIONS)) = 1,000,000
(RE0)
b. Data ranges:
ETitle:
ASCII(255)
(RE1)
EYear:
[-2500, current year]
(RE2)
c. Compulsory data: Publisher, FirstBook, ETitle
(RE3)
d. Unicity: Publisher FirstBook EYear (no publisher publishes more than one edition with any given
book in any given year)
(RE4)
6. VOLUMES (The set of editions volumes of interest to the library.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(VOLUMES)) = 2,000,000
(RV0)
b. Data ranges:
ISBN:
ASCII(16)
(RV1)
VTitle:
ASCII(255)
(RV2)
VNo:
[1, 255]
(RV3)
VPrice: CURRENCY(8)
(RV4)
c. Compulsory data: Edition, VNo, VPrice
(RV5)
d. Unicity: ISBN (by definition, ISBNs are unique for any volume) (RV6)

7. VOLUMES_CONTENTS = (BOOKS, VOLUMES) (The set of pairs <b, v> storing the fact
that book b is (also) included in volume v.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(VOLUMES_ CONTENTS)) = 4,000,000
(RVC0)
b. Data ranges: BookPos: [1, 16] (bs position in vs table
of contents)
(RVC1)
c. Compulsory data: Book, Volume, BookPos
(RVC2)
d. Unicity: Volume Book (no book should be included
more than once in any volume)
(RVC3)
e. Other types restrictions:
For any edition, its first book should be the first one
published in its first volume.
(RVC4)
No edition may contain same book more than once.
(RVC5)
8. COPIES (The set of editions volumes copies that the
library possessed.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(COPIES)) = 32,000,000
b. Data ranges: InvNo: ASCII(32)
c. Compulsory data: InvNo, Volume
d. Unicity: InvNo: (by definition, inventory numbers are
unique for any copy)
9. BORROWS (The set of editions volumes copies borrows
by subscribers.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(BORROWS)) =
100,000,000,000
b. Data ranges: BorrowDate: [6/1/2011, SysDate()]
(assuming, for example, that first borrow date of
interest is June 1st, 2011)
c. Compulsory data: BorrowDate, Subscriber
d. Unicity: BorrowDate Subscriber (no subscriber may
simultaneously borrow several times)

(RC0)
(RC1)
(RC2)
(RC3)

(RBR0)

(RBR1)
(RBR2)
(RBR3)

10. BORROWS_LISTS = (BORROWS, COPIES) (The set of

pairs <b, c> storing the fact that volume copy c was
(also) borrowed in borrow b.)
a. Cardinality: max(card(BORROWS_ LISTS)) =
1,000,000,000,000
(RBL0)
b. Data ranges:
DueReturnDate: [6/1/2011, SysDate() + 300] (assuming,
for example, that maximum borrow period is 300 days)(RBL1)
6

ActualReturnDate: [6/1/2011, SysDate()]

(RBL2)
c. Compulsory data: Borrow, Copy, DueReturnDate
(RBL3)
d. Unicity: Borrow Copy (no copy may be simultaneously
borrowed more than once)
(RBL4)
e. Other types restrictions:
No copy may be borrowed less than 0 days or more
than 300 days.
(RBL5)
No copy may be simultaneously borrowed to more than
one subscriber.
(RBL6)
No copy may be returned before it was borrowed and
after 100 years since corresponding borrow date.
(RBL7)

2. Mathematical Scheme
2.0

Initial Mathematical Scheme

By applying the algorithm for translating E-RDDs and restriction lists to mathematical schemes,
the following initial scheme results:
PERSONS
x NAT(6), total
FName ASCII(128)
LName ASCII(64), total
e-mail ASCII(255)
CP5: e-mail FName LName key
BOOKS
x NAT(6), total
BTitle ASCII(255), total
BYear [-2500, Year(SysDate())]
FirstAuthor : BOOKS PERSONS, total
CB4: FirstAuthor BTitle BYear key
CO-AUTHORS = (PERSONS, BOOKS)
x NAT(7), total
PosInList [2, 16], total
PUBLISHERS
x NAT(4), total
PubName ASCII(128), total
EDITIONS
x NAT(6), total
7

ETitle ASCII(255), total

EYear [-2500, Year(SysDate())]
Publisher : EDITIONS PUBLISHERS, total
FirstBook : EDITIONS BOOKS, total
CE4: Publisher FirstBook EYear key
VOLUMES
x NAT(7), total
ISBN ASCII(16)
VTitle ASCII(255)
VNo [1, 255], total
VPrice CURRENCY(8), total
Edition : VOLUMES EDITIONS, total
VOLUMES_CONTENTS = (BOOKS, VOLUMES)
x NAT(7), total
BookPos [1, 16], total
COPIES
x NAT(8), total
InvNo ASCII(32), total
Volume : COPIES VOLUMES, total
BORROWS
x NAT(11), total
BorrowDate [6/1/2011, SysDate()], total
Subscriber : BORROWS PERSONS, total
CBR3: BorrowDate Subscriber key
BORROWS_LISTS = (BORROWS, COPIES)
x NAT(12), total
DueReturnDate [6/1/2011, SysDate() + 300], total
ActualReturnDate [6/1/2011, SysDate()]
CBL4: Borrow Copy key

2.1

First refinement algorithm: Sets, Functions, and Constraints Design Assistance

Here are the results of applying the design assistance algorithm for:
2.1.1 Sets

a.1 No set is semantically overloaded (so no structural refinements are needed from this point of
view). Please review chapter 2, where this sub-universe modeling is discussed too contrastively,
as compared to several poorer solutions!
a.2 No set is a subset of another set (so no inclusion constraints need to be added to the scheme).
8

a.3 No association-type set has arity greater than two (so none has to be replaced by its equivalent
entity-type set and explicit structural keys and functions corresponding to its canonical Cartesian
projections).
a.4 All binary associations are non-functional:
-

CO-AUTHORS is not functional, because there are persons that wrote several books, as
well as books that were written by several persons.
VOLUMES_CONTENTS is not functional, because there are volumes that contain several
books, as well as books that span across several volumes.
BORROWS_LISTS is not functional, because there are borrows including several copies,
as well as copies borrowed several times.

a.5 No association-type object set is ill-defined:

-

CO-AUTHORS is well defined according to restriction RCA3;

VOLUMES_CONTENTS is well defined according to restriction RVC3;
BORROWS_LISTS is well defined according to restriction RBL4.

a.6 No association is homogeneous (so that we need not investigate reflexivity, irreflexivity,
symmetry, anti-symmetry, etc.).
2.1.2 Functions

b.1 All functions are well defined:

- people (be them authors or subscribers) have only one e-mail address (of interest to the library),
first, and last name;
- books, editions, and volumes have only one respective title;
- books and editions have only one respective year ();
- co-authors and volumes contents entries have only one associated respective position;
- publishers have only one name;
- volumes have at most one ISBN value and price, as well as one number;
- copies have only one inventory number;
- borrows have only one associated calendar date;
- borrows lists entries have only one due and actual return dates;
- books have only one first author;
- editions have only one publisher and first book;
9

- volumes belong to only one edition;

- copies are instances of only one volume;
- finally, borrows are made by only one subscriber.
b.2 No other function (except for the unique ones) is one-to-one:
- FName : there may be several persons having same first name;
- LName : there may be several persons having same last name;
- e-mail : there may be several persons having same e-mail address (for example children and
parents, spouses, etc.);
- BTitle: there may be several books having same title (even wrote by same authors);
- FirstAuthor: there may be several books having a same first author;
- PosInList: there may be several authors in the same co-authors list position (in different coauthors lists)
- ETitle: there may be several editions having same title (even published by same publishers);
- EYear: there may be several editions published in a same year (even from a same publisher);
- Publisher: there may be several editions published by a same publisher;
- FirstBook: there may be several editions having same first book (even from a same publisher);
- VTitle: there may be several volumes having same title (in different editions);
- VNo: there may be several volumes having same number (in different editions);
- VPrice: there may be several volumes having same price (even in same editions);
- Edition: there may be several volumes for a same edition;
- BookPos: there may be several books having same position within volumes (in different editions);
- Volume: there may be several copies of a same volume;
- BorrowDate: there may be several borrows in a same day (by different subscribers);
- DueReturnDate: there may be several borrowed books having same due return day (even for a
same borrow);
- ActualReturnDate: there may be several borrowed books having same actual return day (even for
a same borrow).
10

On the contrary, all those declared as one-to-one are really one-to-one:

- PubName: there may not be two publishers having same name;
- ISBN: there may not be two volumes having same ISBN;
- InvNo: there may not be two copies having same inventory number.
b.3 No function is onto, except for Edition:
-

Edition is onto, because for any edition there should be at least one corresponding volume.
Consequently, the following constraint has to be added to this db scheme:
Edition: VOLUMES EDITIONS, total, onto

Obviously, FName, LastName, e-mail, BTitle, PubName, ETitle, ISBN, VTitle, and InvNo
are not, as not all possible ASCII character combinations (of maximum 255/128/64/32/16
characters) should be first or last person, publisher, or ISBN actual values;
just as no calendar dates (between June 1st 2011 and up to today or next year) or years
(between -2500 and the current one) should (so BYear, EYear, BorrowDate,
DueReturnDate, and ActualReturnDate are not onto either);
just like no naturals (between 1/2 and 16/255) or rationals (between 0 and 99,999,999.99)
should (so PosInList, VNo, VPrice, and BookPos are not onto either).
FirstAuthor is not either, as not only that not all subscribers are authors too (in fact, most
of them are not), but not even all authors are first authors.
Publisher and FirstBook are not either, as it is not compulsory that all possible
publishers/books be editing (to the current db instance knowledge) / edited, respectively.
Volume is not either, as there might be volumes (in the current db instance) for which there
are no copies.
Subscriber is not either, as not all known (to the db instance) persons should have borrowed
books from the library (e.g. Homer, Shakespeare, etc.).

b.4 There are no bijective functions.

b.5 There are no auto-functions (so that we need not investigate reflexivity, irreflexivity,
symmetry, anti-symmetry, etc.).
b.6 There are no canonical surjections (representative systems).
b.7 There are no object sets having no totally defined functions.
2.1.3 Constraints

c.1 There are six not formalized constraints; here are their corresponding formalizations:
- RP6: FName and e-mail should be compulsory for subscribers.
CP6: (bBORROWS)(FName(Subscriber(b)) NULLS
11

e-mail(Subscriber(b)) NULLS)
- RVC4: For any edition, its first book should be the first one published in its first volume.
CVC4: (eEDITIONS)(vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(e = Edition(Volume(vc)) FirstBook(e) = Book(vc) BookPos(vc) = 1)
- RVC5: No edition may contain same book more than once.
CVC5: (eEDITIONS)(vc,vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(Edition(Volume(vc)) = Edition(Volume(vc)) Book(vc) Book(vc))
- RBL5: No copy may be borrowed less than 0 days or more than 300 days.
CBL5: (blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 DueReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 300)
- RBL6: No copy may be simultaneously borrowed to more than one subscriber.
CBL6: (bl, blBORROWS_LISTS) (Copy(bl) = Copy(bl))
(ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl)
ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl))
- RBL7: No copy may be returned before it was borrowed and after 100 years since corresponding
borrow date.
CBL7: (blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 ActualReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 36,500)
c.2 There are no other constraints that apply in this sub-universe too, but are missing from this
model.

2.2

Second refinement algorithm: Keys Discovery Assistance

Applying the assistance algorithm for keys discovery yields the following:
PERSONS and BOOKS
n = 3, as there are three not one-to-one mappings defined on both of them (FName, LName, and
e-mail for PERSONS, and BTitle, BYear, and FirstAuthor for BOOKS), all being prime in
this context and forming a (semantic) key for each of these two object sets (according to
CP5 and CB4, respectively) no other (semantic) keys may exist for either of these sets.
PUBLISHERS
n = 0 no other semantic key exist.
COPIES
n = 1 (nothing to do, as according to b.2 above, Volume is not one-to-one) no other semantic
key exist.
BORROWS
n = 2 (nothing to do, as according to CBR3 above, BorrowDate Subscriber is minimally one-toone) no other semantic key exist.
12

CO-AUTHORS
n = 3, as there are three not one-to-one mappings defined on it, all of them being prime: the two
canonical Cartesian projections Author and Book, plus PosInList. Obviously, K = {Author
Book}, as CO-AUTHORS is a well-defined binary association (see restriction RCA3).
i = 2:
- Author PosInList key? No, because several authors (and even same ones) may occupy a same
position in different co-author lists.
- Book PosInList key? YES, because in any position of any co-author list only one co-author
may appear.
Consequently, K = {Author Book, Book PosInList}.
EDITIONS
n = 4, as there are four not one-to-one mappings defined on it, all being prime: ETitle, Publisher,
FirstBook, and EYear. According to CE4, K = {Publisher FirstBook EYear}, as this
product is minimally one-to-one.
i=2
- ETitle Publisher key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions, even
of a same book (although not necessarily), having same title.
- ETitle FirstBook key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions, even
of a same book (although not necessarily), having same title and first book.
- ETitle EYear key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions (of different
books, generally) in a same year.
i=3
- ETitle Publisher FirstBook key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several
editions, even of a same book (although not necessarily), having same title and same first
book (in different years).
- ETitle FirstBook EYear key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions
(of different books) having same first book, in a same year.
- ETitle EYear Publisher key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions
(of different books, generally) in a same year, having same title.
Consequently, EDITIONS does not have any other (semantic) key.
VOLUMES
n = 3, as there are four not one-to-one mappings defined on it: VPrice, VTitle, VNo, and Edition,
but, obviously, VPrice is not prime: prices of volumes might never contribute to their
unique identification in this context. According to RV4, K = {ISBN}.

13

i=2
- VTitle VNo key? No, because even a same publisher may publish several editions including
volumes having same title and number.
- VTitle Edition key? YES, because no edition may contain several volumes having same
title.
- VNo Edition key? YES, because no edition may contain several volumes having same
number.
Consequently, K = {ISBN, VTitle Edition, VNo Edition}.
VOLUMES_CONTENTS
n = 3, as there are three not one-to-one mappings defined on it, all of them being prime: the two
canonical Cartesian projections Volume and Book, plus BookPos. Obviously, K = {Volume
Book}, as VOLUMES_CONTENTS is a well-defined binary association (see restriction
RVC3).
i = 2:
- Book BookPos key? No, because same book may occupy a same position in different volumes
(of different editions).
- Volume BookPos key? YES, because in any position of any volume only one book may
appear.
Consequently, K = {Volume Book, Volume BookPos}.
BORROWS_LISTS
n = 4, as there are four not one-to-one mappings defined on it, all of them being prime: the two
canonical Cartesian projections Copy and Borrow, plus DueReturnDate and
ActualReturnDate. Obviously, K = {Copy Borrow}, as BORROWS_LISTS is a welldefined binary association (see restriction RBL4).
i = 2:
- Borrow DueReturnDate key? No, because there may be for a same borrow several books that
need to be returned at a same date.
- Borrow ActualReturnDate key? No, because there may be for a same borrow several books that
are returned at a same date.
- Copy DueReturnDate key? No, because, for example, a same copy may be borrowed several
times within a same day for only some hours (i.e 0 days).1

Note that, obviously, if DueReturnDate is implemented as a time stamp (i.e. also storing the corresponding time, not
only the date), then this product is a key, but obviously, this should not happen as it does not make that much sense to
also ask for a time deadline in this context.

14

- Copy ActualReturnDate key? No, because, for example, a same copy may be borrowed several
times within a same day for only some hours (i.e 0 days) and actually being returned the
same day at least twice.2
- DueReturnDate ActualReturnDate key? No, because there may be, even for a same borrow,
several books that are both returned at a same date and due to be returned at a same date.
i = 3:
- Borrow DueReturnDate ActualReturnDate key? No, because there may be for a same borrow
several books that need to be returned at a same date and are returned at a same date.
- Copy DueReturnDate ActualReturnDate key? No, because, for example, a same copy may be
borrowed several times within a same day for only some hours (i.e 0 days) and actually
being returned the same day at least twice.
Consequently, BORROWS_LISTS does not have any other (semantic) key.

2.3

Third refinement algorithm: E-RD Cycles Analysis

By applying the initial step of the algorithm for E-RD cycles analysis, the following 6 cycles are
discovered in the structural E-RD shown in figure A.1.1, out of which 3 are of the commutative
type and other 3 are of the generalized commutative type (see figures A.1.2 to A.1.7 below):
2.3.1 First commutative-type cycle

FirstAuthor
PERSONS

BOOKS
CO-AUTHORS
Figure A.1.2 First commutative-type cycle from A.1.1

Obviously, the corresponding commutativity question is: Coauthor ?= FirstAuthor Book (should,
for any book, any coauthor be its first author?); trivially, the answer is no (as there may be several
coauthors for a book, but there is only one first coauthor for each book, and first authors should
appear only once in the coauthors lists, on the corresponding first position).
Dually, the corresponding anti-commutativity question is: (x CO-AUTHORS) (Coauthor(x) ?
FirstAuthor Book(x)) (should, for any book, any coauthor be distinct than its first author?);
obviously, the answer is yes (as first authors should appear only once in the coauthors lists, on
the corresponding first position). Consequently, the following constraint should be added to the
db scheme:

Note that, obviously, similar to DueReturnDate above, if ActualReturnDate is implemented as a time stamp (i.e. also
storing the corresponding time, not only the date, which would make sense), then this product is a key.

15

ACC1: (xCO-AUTHORS) (Coauthor(x) FirstAuthor Book(x))

2.3.2 First generalized commutative-type cycle

PERSONS
Subscriber

BOOKS
CO-AUTHORS

BORROWS

BORROWS_LISTS

VOLUMES_CONTENTS

Volume

VOLUMES

COPIES
Figure A.1.3 First generalized commutative-type cycle from A.1.1
This cycle has three sources (CO-AUTHORS, VOLUMES_CONTENTS, and BORROWS_ LISTS)
and three destinations (PERSONS, BOOKS, and VOLUMES).
Let us consider any elements from the three source nodes: co from CO-AUTHORS, vc from VOLUMES_CONTENTS, and bl from BORROWS_ LISTS; the corresponding three equality questions
(associated to the destination nodes) are the following:
1. Author(co) ?= Subscriber(Borrow(bl)) (are there cases when co-authors of books should
also be borrowers?)
2. Book(co) ?= Book(vc)) (are there cases when co-authored books should also be published
in edition volumes?)
3. Volume(vc) ?= Volume(Copy(bl)) (are there cases when published in edition volumes
should also have borrowed copies?).
Corresponding answers are the following:
1. No: co-authors may be borrowers too, but this is never mandatory.
2. No: on one hand, co-authored (just like any other) books may not be published; on the
other, published volumes need not to be co-authored.
3. On one hand, no: published volumes need not even to be in the librarys possession; on the
other, YES: all borrowed copies have to have been previously published.
Consequently, at a first glance, the following constraint has to be added to the db too:
CBL8:(blBORROWS_LISTS)(vVOLUMES)(Volume(Copy(bl)) = v).
Thinking deeper, this constraint is implied by the following stronger one:

16

CC4: (cCOPIES)(vVOLUMES)(Volume(c) = v) (in order for a volume copy to exist, that

volume should have been published),
which is obviously equivalent to the second half of RC2: Volume should be totally defined; as this
constraint is already present in the db scheme, no other implied constraint has to be added to it.
2.3.3 Second generalized commutative-type cycle

This cycle has two sources (VOLUMES_CONTENTS and BORROWS_ LISTS), as well as two
destinations (PERSONS and VOLUMES).
FirstAuthor
PERSONS

BOOKS

Subscriber
BORROWS

BORROWS_LISTS

VOLUMES_CONTENTS

Volume

VOLUMES

COPIES
Figure A.1.4 Second generalized commutative-type cycle from A.1.1
Let us consider any elements from the two source nodes: vc from VOLUMES CONTENTS and bl
from BORROWS_ LISTS; the corresponding two equality questions (associated to the destination
nodes) are the following:
1. FirstAuthor(Book(vc)) ?= Subscriber(Borrow(bl)) (are there cases when first authors of
books should also be borrowers?)
2. Volume(vc) ?= Volume(Copy(bl)) (are there cases when published in edition volumes
should also have borrowed copies?).
Corresponding answers are the following:
1. No: first authors may be borrowers too, but this is never mandatory.
2. On one hand, no: published volumes need not even to be in the librarys possession; on the
other, YES: all borrowed copies have to have been previously published.
Consequently, as per 2.3.2 above, no additional constraint should be added to the db scheme.

17

2.3.4 Second commutative-type cycle

BOOKS

VOLUMES_CONTENTS
FirstBook
VOLUMES
Edition
EDITIONS
Figure A.1.5 Second commutative-type cycle from A.1.1
Obviously, there is one source (VOLUMES_CONTENTS), one destination (BOOKS), and the
corresponding commutativity question is: Book ?= FirstBook Edition Volume (should, for any
volume, any included book be its first one?); trivially, the answer is no (as there may be several
books for a volume, but there is only one such first book per volume).
Dually, the corresponding anti-commutativity question is: ( x VOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(Book(x) ? FirstBook Edition Volume(x)) (should, for any volume, any included book be
distinct from its first one?); obviously, the answer is no, as the first book is always equal to itself,
so no supplementary constraint should be added to the db scheme in connection with this cycle
(which is an uninteresting one).
2.3.5 Third generalized commutative-type cycle
This cycle has two sources (CO-AUTHORS and BORROWS_ LISTS), as well as two destinations
(PERSONS and BOOKS).

Let us consider any elements from the two source nodes: ca from CO-AUTHORS and bl from
BORROWS_ LISTS; the corresponding two equality questions (associated to the destination nodes)
are the following:
1. Author(ca) ?= Subscriber(Borrow(bl)) (are there cases when co-authors of books should
also be borrowers?)
2. Book(ca) ?= FirstBook(Edition(Volume(Copy(bl))) (are there cases when co-authored
books should also have borrowed copies of volumes of their editions?).
Corresponding answers are the following:
1. No: co-authors may be borrowers too, but this is never mandatory (also see 2.3.2 above).

18

2. On one hand, no: co-authored books need not even to be in the librarys possession; on the
other, no again: not all borrowed copies have to have been co-authored (some might only
have one author).
PERSONS
Subscriber

BOOKS
CO-AUTHORS

BORROWS
FirstBook
BORROWS_LISTS

Volume

VOLUMES
Edition

COPIES

EDITIONS

Figure A.1.6 Third generalized commutative-type cycle from A.1.1

Consequently, no supplementary constraint should be added to the db scheme in connection with
this cycle (which is an uninteresting one).
2.3.6 Third commutative-type cycle

Obviously, there is one source (BORROWS_LISTS), one destination (PERSONS), and the
corresponding commutativity question is: Subscriber Borrow ?= FirstAuthor FirstBook
Edition Volume Copy (should subscribers borrowing copies be first authors of first books of
the editions to which that volume copies belongs?); trivially, the answer is no (as any subscriber
may borrow books without being either the first or any other co-other of the corresponding book).
Dually, the corresponding anti-commutativity question is: (x BORROWS_LISTS) (Subscriber
Borrow(x) ? FirstAuthor FirstBook Edition Volume Copy(x)) (should subscribers
borrowing copies never be first authors of first books of the editions to which that volume copies
belongs?); obviously, the answer is no (as any first author of a book may borrow that book too),
so no supplementary constraint should be added to the db scheme in connection with this cycle
(which is an uninteresting one too).

19

FirstAuthor
PERSONS

BOOKS

Subscriber
BORROWS
FirstBook
BORROWS_LISTS

Volume

VOLUMES
Edition

COPIES

EDITIONS
Figure A.1.7 Third commutative-type cycle from A.1.1

2.4

Final Mathematical Scheme

By merging all above refinements with the initial scheme from section 2.0 above, the following
final mathematical scheme results:
PERSONS
x NAT(6), total
FName ASCII(128)
LName ASCII(64), total
e-mail ASCII(255)
CP5: e-mail FName LName key
BOOKS
x NAT(6), total
BTitle ASCII(255), total
BYear [-2500, Year(SysDate())]
FirstAuthor : BOOKS PERSONS, total
CB4: FirstAuthor BTitle BYear key
CO-AUTHORS = (PERSONS, BOOKS)
x NAT(7), total
PosInList [2, 16], total
CAK2: Book PosInList key
PUBLISHERS
x NAT(4), total
PubName ASCII(128), total
EDITIONS
x NAT(6), total
20

ETitle ASCII(255), total

EYear [-2500, Year(SysDate())]
Publisher : EDITIONS PUBLISHERS, total
FirstBook : EDITIONS BOOKS, total
CE4: Publisher FirstBook EYear key
VOLUMES
x NAT(7), total
ISBN ASCII(16)
VTitle ASCII(255)
VNo [1, 255], total
VPrice CURRENCY(8), total
Edition : VOLUMES EDITIONS, total, onto
VK1: VTitle Edition key
VK2: VNo Edition key
VOLUMES_CONTENTS = (BOOKS, VOLUMES)
x NAT(7), total
BookPos [1, 16], total
VCK2: Volume BookPos key
COPIES
x NAT(8), total
InvNo ASCII(32), total
Volume : COPIES VOLUMES, total
BORROWS
x NAT(11), total
BorrowDate [6/1/2011, SysDate()], total
Subscriber : BORROWS PERSONS, total
CBR3: BorrowDate Subscriber key
BORROWS_LISTS = (BORROWS, COPIES)
x NAT(12), total
DueReturnDate [6/1/2011, SysDate() + 300], total
ActualReturnDate [6/1/2011, SysDate()]
CBL4: Borrow Copy key
CP6: (bBORROWS)(FName(Subscriber(b)) NULLS
e-mail(Subscriber(b)) NULLS)
CVC4: (eEDITIONS)(vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(e = Edition(Volume(vc)) FirstBook(e) = Book(vc) BookPos(vc) = 1)

21

CVC5: (eEDITIONS)(vc,vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(Edition(Volume(vc)) = Edition(Volume(vc)) Book(vc) Book(vc))
CBL5: (blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 DueReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 300)
CBL6: (bl, blBORROWS_LISTS) (Copy(bl) = Copy(bl))
(ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl)
ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl))
CBL7: (blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 ActualReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 36,500)
ACC1: (xCO-AUTHORS) (Coauthor(x) FirstAuthor Book(x))
Note that, as compared to the initial one, 11 more constraints (out of which there are four keys and
seven non-relational ones) have been added to this final one, namely: CAK2; Edition : VOLUMES
EDITIONS, onto; VK1; VK2; VCK2; CVC4; CVC5; CBL5; CBL6; CBL7; and ACC1.

3. Relational Scheme and Associated Non-relational Constraints List

3.0

Relational db scheme

By applying the algorithm for translating mathematical schemes into relational ones and nonrelational constraint lists, the following output is obtained (with an example instance having at
least two tuples per table):
PERSONS (x, e-mail FName LName)
x

FName

LName

e-mail

NAT(6)

ASCII(128)

ASCII(64)

ASCII(255)

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

Homer

William

Shakespeare

Peter

Buneman

Serge

Abiteboul

Dan

Suciu

22

opb@inf.ed.ac.uk

suciu@cs.washington.edu

BOOKS (x, FirstAuthor BTitle BYear)

x

FirstAuthor

BTitle

BYear

NAT(6)

Im(PERSONS.x)

ASCII(255)

[-2500,
Year(SysDate())]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

Odyssey

-700

As You Like It

1600

Data on the Web: From Relations to

Semistructured Data and XML

1999

CO-AUTHORS (x, Person Book, Book PosInList)

x

Book

Person

PosInList

NAT(7)

Im(BOOKS.x)

Im(PERSONS.x)

[2, 16]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

PUBLISHERS (x, PubName)

x

PubName

NAT(4)

ASCII(128)

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

Apple Academic Press

Springer Verlag

Morgan Kaufmann

Penguin Books

23

Washington Square Press

EDITIONS (x, Publisher FirstBook EYear)

x

Publisher

FirstBook

ETitle

EYear

NAT(6)

Im(PUBLISHERS.x)

Im(BOOKS.x)

ASCII(255)

[-2500,
Year(SysDate())]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

The Odyssey
translated by
Robert Fagles

2012

As You Like It

2011

Data on the
Web: From
Relations to
Semistructured
Data and XML

1999

VOLUMES (x, ISBN, Edition VNo, Edition VTitle)

x

Edition

VNo

VTitle

ISBN

Price

NAT(7)

Im(EDITIONS.x)

[1,
255]

ASCII(255)

ASCII(16)

CURRENCY(8)

NOT
NULL

NOT
NULL

NOT
NULL

0-670-82162-4

$12.95

9781613821114

$9.99

9781558606227

$74.95

NOT NULL

24

VOLUMES_CONTENTS (x, Volume Book, Volume BookPos)

x

Volume

Book

BookPos

NAT(7)

Im(VOLUMES.x)

Im(BOOKS.x)

[1, 255]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

BORROWS (x, BorrowDate Subscriber)

x

Subscriber

BorrowDate

NAT(11)

Im(PERSONS.x)

[6/1/2011, SysDate()]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

10/29/2012

COPIES (x, InvNo)

x

InvNo

Volume

NAT(8)

ASCII(32)

Im(VOLUMES.x)

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

H-O-1

H-O-2

S-AYLI-1

ABS-DW-1

ABS-DW-2

25

BORROWS_LISTS (x, Borrow Copy)

x

Borrow

Copy

DueReturnDate

ActualReturnDate

NAT(12)

Im(BORROWS.x)

Im(COPIES.x)

[6/1/2011,
SysDate() + 300]

[6/1/2011,
SysDate()]

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

NOT NULL

11/29/2012

12/29/2012

3.1

11/23/2012

Non-relational constraints list

The following 8 constraints are non-relational:

Edition : VOLUMES EDITIONS, onto;

CP6:
(bBORROWS)(FName(Subscriber(b)) NULLS
e-mail(Subscriber(b)) NULLS)
CVC4:
(eEDITIONS)(vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(e = Edition(Volume(vc)) FirstBook(e) = Book(vc) BookPos(vc) = 1)
CVC5:

(eEDITIONS)(vc,vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(Edition(Volume(vc)) = Edition(Volume(vc)) Book(vc) Book(vc))
CBL5:

(blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 DueReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 300)
CBL6:

(bl, blBORROWS_LISTS) (Copy(bl) = Copy(bl))

(ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl)
ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl))
CBL7:

(blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 ActualReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 36,500)
26

 ACC1:

(xCO-AUTHORS) (Coauthor(x) FirstAuthor Book(x)).

4. Database Implementation
4.0

Technology choice

I have chosen MS Access because of the following reasons:

-

being the only RDBMS installed on the faculty labs PCs, we did our DB labs in Access;
I have a copy of MS Office 2010, including Access 2010, installed on my PC;
Access is a fine choice for small and medium (up to 2 GB) dbs;
any RDBMS is just a tool: you should exploit it at maximum, do not use its non-sense
facilities, and concentrate on the correctness and optimality of your solution.

I have chosen Oracle Database because of the following reasons:

-

being the favorite RDBMS used in western universities DB labs, the DB Labs Notes by
Prof. Christian Mancas and Drd. Alina Dicu also include Oracle solutions, in parallel with
the Access ones;
I have a freely downloadable copy of Oracle Xy installed on my PC;
Oracle is a fine choice for medium and large dbs;
any RDBMS is just a tool: you should exploit it at maximum, do not use its non-sense
facilities, and concentrate on the correctness and optimality of your solution.

4.1

Access db

By applying the algorithm for translating rdb schemes into Access 2010 dbs, the following db was
obtained (note that a Boolean Author? column was added to PERSONS, for easing both nonrelational constraint enforcement and users interaction with the db):
4.1.0

DDL statements for creating and populating the db

CREATE TABLE PERSONS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,

FName VARCHAR(128), LName VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
[e-mail] VARCHAR(255), [Author?] BIT,
CONSTRAINT PKey UNIQUE ([e-mail], LName, FName));
CREATE TABLE BOOKS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
FirstAuthor LONG NOT NULL, BTitle VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
BYear INT,
CONSTRAINT fkFA FOREIGN KEY (FirstAuthor) REFERENCES
PERSONS,
CONSTRAINT BKey UNIQUE (BTitle, FirstAuthor, BYear));
CREATE TABLE [CO-AUTHORS] (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Person LONG NOT NULL, Book LONG NOT NULL,
PosInList BYTE NOT NULL,

27

CONSTRAINT fkP FOREIGN KEY (Person) REFERENCES

PERSONS,
CONSTRAINT fkB FOREIGN KEY (Book) REFERENCES
BOOKS,
CONSTRAINT CAAKey UNIQUE (Book, Person),
CONSTRAINT CAPKey UNIQUE (Book, PosInList));
CREATE TABLE PUBLISHERS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
PubName VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL UNIQUE);
CREATE TABLE EDITIONS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Publisher LONG NOT NULL, FirstBook LONG NOT NULL,
ETitle VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, EYear INT,
CONSTRAINT fkPub FOREIGN KEY (Publisher) REFERENCES
PUBLISHERS,
CONSTRAINT fkBk FOREIGN KEY (FirstBook) REFERENCES
BOOKS,
CONSTRAINT EKey UNIQUE (FirstBook, Publisher, EYear));
CREATE TABLE VOLUMES (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Edition LONG NOT NULL, VNo BYTE NOT NULL,
VTitle VARCHAR(255), ISBN VARCHAR(16) UNIQUE,
Price CURRENCY NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT fkE FOREIGN KEY (Edition) REFERENCES
EDITIONS,
CONSTRAINT VNKey UNIQUE (Edition, VNo),
CONSTRAINT VTKey UNIQUE (Edition, VTitle));
CREATE TABLE VOLUMES_CONTENTS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Volume LONG NOT NULL, Book LONG NOT NULL,
BookPos BYTE NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT fkV FOREIGN KEY (Volume) REFERENCES
VOLUMES,
CONSTRAINT fkVB FOREIGN KEY (Book) REFERENCES
BOOKS,
CONSTRAINT VCBKey UNIQUE (Volume, Book),
CONSTRAINT VCPKey UNIQUE (Volume, BookPos));
CREATE TABLE BORROWS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Subscriber LONG NOT NULL, BorrowDate DATE NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT fkS FOREIGN KEY (Subscriber) REFERENCES
PERSONS,
CONSTRAINT BRKey UNIQUE (BorrowDate, Subscriber));
CREATE TABLE COPIES (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Volume LONG NOT NULL, InvNo VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
CONSTRAINT fkS FOREIGN KEY (Volume) REFERENCES VOLUMES);
CREATE TABLE BORROWS_LISTS (x COUNTER PRIMARY KEY,
Borrow LONG NOT NULL, Copy LONG NOT NULL,
DueReturnDate DATE NOT NULL, ActualReturnDate DATE,
CONSTRAINT fkBw FOREIGN KEY (Borrow) REFERENCES
BORROWS,
CONSTRAINT fkCy FOREIGN KEY (Copy) REFERENCES
COPIES,
CONSTRAINT BLKey UNIQUE (Copy, Borrow));

28

4.1.1

Tables Relationships

Figure A.1.8 Relationships between LibraryDB.accdb tables

4.1.2

Table Lookups SQL statements

4.1.2.1 PERSONS

Foreign keys BOOKS.FirstAuthor and CO_AUTHORS.Co-Author are using the following query:
SELECT x, IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName] &
IIf(IsNull([e-mail]),""," " & [e-mail])
FROM PERSONS
WHERE [Author?]
ORDER BY IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName] &
IIf(IsNull([e-mail]),""," " & [e-mail]);

Foreign key BORROWS.Subscriber is using the following query:

SELECT x, [e-mail] & " " & [FName] & " " & [LName]
AS [e-mail First and Last Names]
FROM PERSONS
ORDER BY [e-mail] & " " & [FName] & " " & [LName];

4.1.2.2 BOOKS

Foreign keys CO_AUTHORS.Book, EDITIONS.FirstBook, and VOLUMES_CONTENTS.Book are

using the following query:
SELECT BOOKS.x, IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") &
[LName] & ", " & [BTitle] & ", " & [BYear]
AS [FirstAuthor, Book Title, Year]
FROM PERSONS INNER JOIN BOOKS
ON PERSONS.x = BOOKS.FirstAuthor
ORDER BY IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName] &
", " & [BTitle] & ", " & [BYear];

29

4.1.2.3 PUBLISHERS

Foreign key EDITIONS.Publisher is using the following query:

SELECT x, PubName FROM PUBLISHERS ORDER BY PubName;

4.1.2.4 EDITIONS

Foreign key VOLUMES.Edition is using the following query:

SELECT EDITIONS.x, IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") &
[LName] & ", " & [ETitle] & IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",", " &
[EYear]) & ", " & IIf(IsNull([Publisher]),"",[PubName]) &
", " & [BTitle]
AS [First Author, Title, Year, Publisher, First Book] FROM PUBLISHERS RIGHT
JOIN (PERSONS INNER JOIN (BOOKS
INNER JOIN EDITIONS ON BOOKS.x = EDITIONS.FirstBook)
ON PERSONS.x = BOOKS.FirstAuthor)
ON PUBLISHERS.x = EDITIONS.Publisher
ORDER BY IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName] &
", " & [ETitle] & IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",", " & [EYear])
& ", " & IIf(IsNull([Publisher]),"",[PubName]) & ", " &
[BTitle];

4.1.2.5 VOLUMES

Foreign key COPIES.Volume is using the following query:

SELECT VOLUMES.x, IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") &
[LName] & ", " & [etitle] & ", " &
IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",[eyear]) & ", " & [PubName] &
", v." & [VNo]
AS [First Author, EdTitle, EdYear, Publisher, VolNo],
VOLUMES.ISBN
FROM PUBLISHERS RIGHT JOIN (PERSONS RIGHT JOIN ((BOOKS
RIGHT JOIN EDITIONS ON BOOKS.x = EDITIONS.FirstBook)
RIGHT JOIN VOLUMES ON EDITIONS.x = VOLUMES.Edition)
ON PERSONS.x = BOOKS.FirstAuthor)
ON PUBLISHERS.x = EDITIONS.Publisher
ORDER BY IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName] &
", " & [etitle] & ", " & IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",[eyear])
& ", " & [PubName] & ", v." & [VNo];

4.1.2.6 COPIES

Foreign key BORROWS_LISTS.Copy is using the following query:

SELECT COPIES.x, "Inv.No. " & [InvNo] & ", " &
IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName]
& ", " & [etitle] & ", " &
IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",[eyear]) & ", " &
[PubName] & ", v." & [VNo]
AS [InvNo, First Author, EdTitle, EdYear,
Publisher, VolNo]
FROM (PUBLISHERS RIGHT JOIN (PERSONS INNER JOIN
((BOOKS INNER JOIN EDITIONS
30

ON BOOKS.x = EDITIONS.FirstBook) INNER JOIN

VOLUMES ON EDITIONS.x = VOLUMES.Edition)
ON PERSONS.x = BOOKS.FirstAuthor)
ON PUBLISHERS.x = EDITIONS.Publisher)
INNER JOIN COPIES ON VOLUMES.x = COPIES.Volume ORDER BY
"Inv.No. " & [InvNo] & ", " &
IIf(IsNull([FName]),"",[FName] & " ") & [LName]
& ", " & [etitle] & ", " &
IIf(IsNull([eyear]),"",[eyear]) & ", " &
[PubName] & ", v." & [VNo];
4.1.2.7 BORROWS

Foreign key BORROWS_LISTS.Borrow is using the following query:

SELECT BORROWS.x, [FName] & " " & [LName] & ", "
& [e-mail] & ", " & [BorrowDate]
AS [Subscriber, e-mail, Borrow Date]
FROM PERSONS INNER JOIN BORROWS
ON PERSONS.x = BORROWS.Subscriber
ORDER BY [FName] & " " & [LName] & ", " &
[e-mail] & ", " & [BorrowDate];
4.1.3

Validation rules, Comments, and Default values

4.1.3.1 Enforcing (co-)domain (range) and tuple (check) constraints

Unfortunately, Access SQL does not provide means for enforcing either (co-)domain (range) or
tuple (check) constraints. Fortunately, both of them can be enforced through its GUI3 by using
validation rules (and associated validation texts).
Figure A.1.9 shows the result of enforcing restriction RB2, the co-domain of BYear : BOOKS
[-2500, current year].
Figure A.1.10 shows the result of enforcing restriction RBR1, the co-domain of BorrowDate :
BORROWS [6/1/2011, SysDate()].
Figure A.1.11 shows the result of enforcing restriction RBL1, the co-domain of DueReturnDate :
BORROWS_LISTS [6/1/2011, SysDate() + 300].
Figure A.1.12 shows the result of enforcing restriction RBL2, the co-domain of ActualReturnDate
: BORROWS_LISTS [6/1/2011, SysDate() + 900].
Figure A.1.13 shows the result of enforcing restriction RCA1, the co-domain of PosInList : COAUTHORS [1, 16].

They can also be manipulated programmatically, through VBA, DAO, and ADO.

31

Figure A.1.9 Enforcing restriction RB2

Figure A.1.10 Enforcing restriction RBR1 and adding default value to BorrowDate

32

Figure A.1.11 Enforcing restriction RBL1

Figure A.1.12 Enforcing restriction RBL2

33

Figure A.1.13 Enforcing restriction RCA1 and adding default value to PosInList
Figure A.1.14 shows the result of enforcing restriction RE2, the co-domain of EYear : EDITIONS
[-2500, current year].

Figure A.1.14 Enforcing restriction RE2 and adding EYears default value
Figure A.1.15 shows the result of enforcing restriction RV4, the co-domain of VNo : VOLUMES
[1, 255].

34

Figure A.1.15 Enforcing restriction RV3 and adding VNos default value
Figure A.1.16 shows the result of enforcing restriction RVC1, the co-domain of BookPos :
VOLUMES_CONTENTS [1, 16].

Figure A.1.16 Enforcing restriction RVC1 and adding BookPos default value
There are no tuple (check) constraints in this db; figure A.1.17 shows the properties of a table,
where, through its Validation rule (and associated text) such constraints may be enforced.

35

Figure A.1.17 Enforcing tuple (check) constraints

1.1.3.2 Adding comments

Comments describing sets (tables) semantics are stored in the tables Description property (see
figure A.1.17). Those on functions (columns), in the homonym one of columns (fields, see figures
A.1.9 to A.1.16).
4.1.3.2 Adding default values

Access too provides a Default Value property for functions (columns, fields), which should always
be used when appropriate to spare users repeatedely entering same most frequent values.
Figures A.1.10 and A.1.13 to A.1.16 show the default values added to this db scheme. No other
default values are appropriate.

4.2

Oracle db

5. Non-relational constraints enforcement

1.1 Access solutions
In order to enforce non-relational constraints in Access, forms have to be created for all involved
tables, in order to associate to them VBA classes that host corresponding trigger-type event-driven
methods. These forms will then have to make part of a db application that should hide corresponding db tables and only allow data manipulation through forms.
Obviously, for this db, forms are needed to this end for tables: EDITIONS, BORROWS,
VOLUMES_CONTENTS, BORROWS_LISTS, and CO-AUTHORS.
5.1.1 Edition : VOLUMES EDITIONS, onto

(y EDITIONS)( x VOLUMES)(Edition(x) = y) (Any edition should have at least one

volume.)

36

Ontoness is very easy to enforce: in this case, for example, each time a new edition is inserted, a
corresponding (first) volume should automatically be inserted too and, dually, each time deletion
of the last remaining volume of an edition is successfully committed, the corresponding edition
should be automatically deleted too.
Consequently, this constraint has to be enforced both in the Form_EDITIONS class, by using the
Form_AfterUpdate event (so that the new edition be already saved in the corresponding table) and
in the Form_VOLUMES class, by using the Form_AfterDelConfirm event (so that the last volume
be actually deleted from the corresponding table).
Note that automatically adding a first volume for each new edition, as well as of the first book of
this first volume in its content (see constraint CVC4 below) is also an ergonomic feature of the
application.
Also note that volumes cannot be deleted unless their content is previously deleted too.4 Not only
as the the first book of the first volume of any edition is automatically added, but especially for
ergonomical reasons, the application is also automatically deleting volume contents of any deletable volume, if users agree with it.
Note too that for deleting an edition left without any volume there are two possible solutions:
a tougher one, consisting in deletion of any edition having no volumes (for which no
edition key is necessary)
a softer one, consisting in deleting only the edition just left without any volume (for
which its id should be previously stored in a variable, as, after successful deletion of its last
volume, it cannot be anymore retrieved from the db)
Although it is a little bit more complicated, we chose the second approach mainly because,
anyhow, in order to establish whether or not a volume is deletable and then to also automatically
delete its content, programming of the Form_Delete method is required.
Finally, note that, for ergonomical reasons, after successful automatical deletions and insertions of
both volumes and editions, all involved forms and combo-boxes are requeried, in order for users
not having to close and re-open them for refreshing their data sources.
Here is, first, the code of class Form_VOLUMES:
'Form_VOLUMES class
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Private currEdition As Long

Obviously, volume cannot be deleted either if there are copies of them.

37

'*****************************************
Private Sub Form_Delete(Cancel As Integer)
'*****************************************
'Initializes global variable currEdition
'that is then used by Form_AfterDelConfirm.
'Moreover, prevents deletion when there are copies of the
'volume and deletes corresponding volume content if there
'are no copies of the volume and the user agrees with it, 'in order for
deletion to succeed.
On Error GoTo err_point
If vbCancel = MsgBox("Are you sure you want to delete " _
& "the current volume?", _
vbQuestion + vbOKCancel + vbDefaultButton2, _
"Please confirm or cancel your request...") Then
Cancel = True
Else
If Not IsNull(DLookup("x", "COPIES", "Volume=" & Me!x)) Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Request denied!", vbCritical, _
"There are copies of this volume..."
Else
If vbCancel = MsgBox("Are you sure you want to also " _
& "delete the content of this volume?", _
vbQuestion + vbOKCancel + vbDefaultButton2, _
"Please confirm or cancel your request...") Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Request denied!", vbCritical, _
"To delete volumes, their content must be " _
& "deleted too..."
Else
currEdition = Me!Edition
DoCmd.RunSQL "DELETE FROM VOLUMES_CONTENTS WHERE " _
& "Volume=" & Me!x
End If
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, _
"Error in method Form_VOLUMES.Form_Delete..."
Cancel = True
End Sub
'**********************************************************
Private Sub Form_BeforeDelConfirm(Cancel As Integer,
Response As Integer)
'**********************************************************
'prevents Access from displaying its standard deletion 'confirmation message
Response = acDataErrContinue
End Sub
'**************************************************
Private Sub Form_AfterDelConfirm(Status As Integer)
'**************************************************

38

'enforces ontoness of Edition : VOLUMES -> EDITIONS

'(immediately after deletion of a last volume of an
'edition, also deletes corresponding edition)
On Error GoTo err_point
If Status = acDeleteOK Then
If IsNull(DLookup("x", "VOLUMES", "Edition=" _
& currEdition)) Then
DoCmd.RunSQL "DELETE FROM EDITIONS WHERE x=" _
& currEdition
MsgBox "Successfully deleted corresponding edition " _
& "too!", vbInformation, _
"Deleted volume was the only one of its edition..."
On Error Resume Next
Forms!EDITIONS.Requery
Forms!VOLUMES_CONTENTS.Requery
Forms!VOLUMES_CONTENTS!Volume.Requery
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_VOLUMES. " _
& "Form_AfterDelConfirm..."
End Sub

Secondly, here is the code of class Form_EDITIONS (obviously, not all of it enforces this
constraint, but, as during its enforcement the values of the variables v, b, and p are needed to,
corresponding code could not be understood without their definitions and initializations):
'Form_EDITIONS class
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Dim v, b, p As Long
Dim switchPos As Boolean
'*************************
Private Sub Form_Current()
'*************************
On Error GoTo err_point
switchPos = False
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_EDITIONS.Form_Current..."
End Sub
'****************************************************
Private Sub FirstBook_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)
'****************************************************
'enforces constraints CVC4 (for any edition, its first book should be
'the first one published in its first volume) and CVC5
'(no edition should include a book more than once)
Dim w, x As Variant

39

On Error GoTo err_point

If Me!FirstBook <> Me!FirstBook.OldValue Then
'CVC4: first book of any edition should be the first one
'
of the edition first volume
If IsNull(Me!FirstBook) Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please choose a not null value for First " _
& "Book!", vbCritical, _
"First book of any edition is compulsory..."
Me!FirstBook.Undo
Else
v = DLookup("VNo", "VOLUMES", "Edition = " & Me!x & _
" AND VNo=1")
If IsNull(v) Then
insertFirstVolume
Else
'CVC5: no edition should include a book more than once
w = DLookup("x", "VOLUMES_CONTENTS", "Book=" & _
Me!FirstBook & " AND Volume IN (SELECT x " _
& "FROM VOLUMES WHERE Edition=" & Me!x & ")")
If IsNull(w) Then
DoCmd.RunSQL "UPDATE VOLUMES_CONTENTS SET Book=" _
& Me!FirstBook & " WHERE Volume=" & v _
& " AND BookPos=1"
Else
x = DLookup("VNo", "VOLUMES", "x=" & _
DLookup("Volume", "VOLUMES_CONTENTS", _
"x=" & w))
If vbOK = MsgBox("Would you like to switch " & _
"positions between the previous and the " & _
"current books for this edition?", _
vbQuestion + vbOKCancel + vbDefaultButton2, _
"This book already exits in volume " & x & _
" of this edition...") Then
switchPos = True
p = DLookup("BookPos", "VOLUMES_CONTENTS", "x=" _
& w)
b = Me!FirstBook.OldValue
DoCmd.RunSQL "DELETE FROM VOLUMES_CONTENTS " &_
"WHERE x=" & w
DoCmd.RunSQL "UPDATE VOLUMES_CONTENTS SET Book" _
& "=" & Me!FirstBook & " WHERE BookPos = 1 " _
& "AND Volume=" & v
Else
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please choose another value for " & _
"FirstBook!", vbCritical, "This book is " & _
"already known as belonging to volume number " _
& x & " of this edition..."
Me!FirstBook.Undo
End If
End If
End If
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _

40

vbCritical, "Error in method Form_EDITIONS. " & _

"FirstBook_BeforeUpdate..."
Cancel = True
End Sub
'*****************************
Private Sub Form_AfterUpdate()
'*****************************
'enforces ontoness of Edition : VOLUMES -> EDITIONS
'(immediately after insertion of a new edition,
'inserts a corresponding first volume of it).
'Moreover, it also enforces constraint CVC4:
'for any edition, its first book should be
'the first one published in its first volume.
Dim w As Variant
On Error GoTo err_point
If switchPos Then
'enforces constraint CVC4
switchPos = False
DoCmd.RunSQL "INSERT INTO VOLUMES_CONTENTS (Volume, " _
& "Book, BookPos) VALUES (" & v & ", " & b & ", " _
& p & ")"
Else
'enforces ontoness of Edition : VOLUMES -> EDITIONS
w = DLookup("x", "VOLUMES", "Edition=" & Me!x)
If IsNull(w) Then
insertFirstVolume
End If
End If
On Error Resume Next
Forms!VOLUMES.Requery
Forms!VOLUMES!Edition.Requery
Forms!VOLUMES_CONTENTS.Requery
Forms!VOLUMES_CONTENTS!Volume.Requery
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_EDITIONS." _
& "Form_AfterUpdate..."
End Sub
'******************************
Private Sub insertFirstVolume()
'******************************
'called by Form_AfterUpdate
Dim v As Long
On Error GoTo err_point
DoCmd.RunSQL "INSERT INTO VOLUMES (Edition) VALUES (" _
& Me!x & ")"
v = DLookup("x", "VOLUMES", "Edition=" & Me!x & _
" AND VNo=1")
DoCmd.RunSQL "INSERT INTO VOLUMES_CONTENTS (Volume, Book" _
& ", BookPos) VALUES (" & v & ", " & Me!FirstBook & ", 1)"
Exit Sub

41

err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _

vbCritical, "Error in method Form_EDITIONS." _
& "insertFirstVolume..."
End Sub

5.1.2 CP6
(bBORROWS)(FName(Subscriber(b)) NULLS
e-mail(Subscriber(b)) NULLS) (FName and e-mail should be compulsory for subscribers.)

Obviously, enforcing this constraint needs not VBA code, as it can be simply done by adding a
corresponding filter to the SELECT statement of the Subscriber combo-box from BORROWS (also
see 4.1.2.1 above):
SELECT x, [e-mail] & " " & [FName] & " " & [LName]
AS [e-mail First and Last Names]
FROM PERSONS
WHERE [e-mail] Is Not Null AND FName Is Not Null
ORDER BY [e-mail] & " " & [FName] & " " & [LName];

5.1.3 CVC4

(eEDITIONS)(vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(e = Edition(Volume(vc)) FirstBook(e) = Book(vc) BookPos(vc) = 1) (For any edition, its
first book should be the first one published in its first volume.)
As weve already seen, this constraint is enforced by methods FirstBook_ BeforeUpdate and
Form_AfterUpdate of class Form_EDITIONS (see 5.1.1 above).
5.1.4 CVC5

(eEDITIONS)(vc,vcVOLUMES_CONTENTS)
(Edition(Volume(vc)) = Edition(Volume(vc)) Book(vc) Book(vc))
(No edition may contain same book more than once.)
As weve already seen, this constraint is enforced by method FirstBook_ BeforeUpdate of class
Form_EDITIONS (see 5.1.1 above).
5.1.5 CBL5

(blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 DueReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 300) (No copy may be borrowed less
than 0 days or more than 300 days.)
Obviously, this constraint is best enforceable by the DueReturnDate_BeforeUpdate method of
class Form_ BORROWS_LISTS (Note that the corresponding form should never be used alone, but
only as a sub-form of BORROWS: otherwise, on blank lines Me!Borrow could not be always defined!):
'********************************************************
Private Sub DueReturnDate_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)
'********************************************************
'enforces constraint CBL5: no copy may be borrowed less

42

'than 0 days or more than maxBorrowDays (300) days.

Dim bDate As Date
Dim days As Long
On Error GoTo err_point
If Me!DueReturnDate <> Me!DueReturnDate.OldValue Then
If Not IsNull(Me!DueReturnDate) Then
bDate = DLookup("BorrowDate", "BORROWS", "x = " & _
Me!Borrow)
days = DateDiff("y", bDate, Me!DueReturnDate)
If days < 0 Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please specify a due return date greater " _
& "or equal to " & bDate & "!", vbCritical, _
"DueReturnDate value less than " _
& "the corresponding BorrowDate one..."
Me!DueReturnDate.Undo
ElseIf days > maxBorrowDays Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please specify a due return date less or " _
& "equal to " & bDate + maxBorrowDays & "!", _
vbCritical, "DueReturnDate " & "value greater " _
& "than the corresponding BorrowDate one + " _
& maxBorrowDays & " days..."
Me!DueReturnDate.Undo
End If
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_BORROWS_LISTS." _
& "DueReturnDate_BeforeUpdate..."
Cancel = True
End Sub

5.1.6 CBL6

(bl, bl BORROWS_LISTS) (Copy(bl) = Copy(bl))

(ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl)
ActualReturnDate(bl) NULLS
BorrowDate(Borrow(bl) ActualReturnDate(bl)) (No copy may be simultaneously borrowed
to more than one subscriber.)
Obviously, this is a fine example of non-relational constraint whose logic formula is much more
complicated than the corresponding enforcement code: in fact, each time that a copy is selected
for lending, all we have to do is to check whether or not there is another row in BORROWS_LISTS
for the same copy and having ActualReturnDate null (meaning that it has not been yet returned).
Trivially, the best event for enforcing this constraint is the Copy_BeforeUpdate one of class
Form_BORROWS_LISTS; unfortunately, although this solution works fine, Access is displaying
the following unexpected and unpleasant (both for users and programmers) error message:
43

Figure A.1.18 Unexpected unpleasant Access error message

The workaround for it is to postpone enforcement up to the corresponding Form_BeforeUpdate
event:
'***********************************************
Private Sub Form_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)
'***********************************************
'enforces constraint CBL6: No copy may be simultaneously
'borrowed to more than one subscriber.
Dim v As Variant
On Error GoTo err_point
If Me.NewRecord Or Me!Copy <> Me!Copy.OldValue Then
v = DLookup("DueReturnDate", "BORROWS_LISTS", "Copy=" & _
Me!Copy & " AND ActualReturnDate Is Null AND x <>" _
& Me!x)
If Not IsNull(v) Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "... so it cannot be lend: it is due to be " & _
"returned on " & v, vbCritical, _
"This copy is not yet returned..."
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_BORROWS_LISTS." _
& "Form_BeforeUpdate..."
Cancel = True
End Sub

5.1.7 CBL7

(blBORROWS_LISTS)
(0 ActualReturnDate(bl) BorrowDate(Borrow(bl)) 36,500)
(No copy may be returned before it was borrowed and after 100 years since corresponding borrow
date.)
Obviously, this constraint is best enforceable by the ActualReturnDate_ BeforeUpdate method of
class Form_ BORROWS_LISTS:
'**********************************************************
Private Sub ActualReturnDate_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As
Integer)
'**********************************************************
'enforces constraint CBL7: no copy may be returned before

44

'it was borrowed or after 100 years since corresponding

'borrow date.
Dim bDate As Date
Dim days As Long
On Error GoTo err_point
If Me!ActualReturnDate <> Me!ActualReturnDate.OldValue Then
If Not IsNull(Me!ActualReturnDate) Then
bDate = DLookup("BorrowDate", "BORROWS", "x = " & _
Me!Borrow)
days = DateDiff("y", bDate, Me!ActualReturnDate)
If days < 0 Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please specify a due return date greater " _
& "or equal to " & bDate & "!", vbCritical, _
"ActualReturnDate value less " _
& "than the corresponding BorrowDate one..."
Me!ActualReturnDate.Undo
ElseIf days > maxReturnDays Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Please specify a due return date less or " _
& "equal to " & bDate + maxReturnDays & "!", _
vbCritical, "ActualReturnDate value greater " _
& "than the corresponding " _
& "BorrowDate one + " & maxReturnDays & " days..."
Me!ActualReturnDate.Undo
End If
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_BORROWS_LISTS." _
& "ActualReturnDate_BeforeUpdate..."
Cancel = True
End Sub

5.1.8 ACC1

(xCO-AUTHORS) (Coauthor(x) FirstAuthor Book(x)) (First authors should appear only

once in the coauthors lists, on the corresponding first position.)
Obviously, this constraint is best enforceable by the Co_author_BeforeUpdate method of class
Form_CO_AUTHORS:
'****************************************************
Private Sub Co_author_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)
'****************************************************
'enforces constraint ACC1: First authors should appear only
'once in the co-authors lists, on the corresponding first 'position.
Dim v As Variant
On Error GoTo err_point
If Me![Co-author] <> Me![Co-author].OldValue Then
If IsNull(Me![Co-author]) Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "Choose a non-null value for CoAuthor! ", _

45

vbCritical, "For each book CoAuthors are " _

& "compulsory..."
Me![Co-author].Undo
Else
v = DLookup("x", "Books", "x=" & Me!Book & _
" AND FirstAuthor=" & Me![Co-author])
If Not IsNull(v) Then
Cancel = True
MsgBox "This CoAuthor is already stored in BOOKS " _
& "as the " & "FirstAuthor!", vbCritical, _
"For any book each CoAuthor should appear " _
& " only once in the CoAuthors list..."
Me![Co-author].Undo
End If
End If
End If
Exit Sub
err_point: MsgBox Err.Source & " -> " & Err.Description, _
vbCritical, "Error in method Form_CO_AUTHORS. " _
& "Co_author_BeforeUpdate..."
Cancel = True
End Sub

5.2 Oracle solutions

6. Database Usage
6.1

Access Queries and Reports

6.1.1 Queries
6.1.1.1 Overdue borrows

Compute the set of all copies that should have been returned at least k (natural) days ago, in the
descending order of the overdue period and then ascending on borrowers e-mail addresses, last,
and first names, and, finally, copies inventory numbers.
Solution:
Obviously, data on overdue copies is stored in table BORROWS_LISTS: any copy having a null in
the ActualReturnDate is not yet returned and by subtracting from the current date the
DueReturnDate one and comparing the result to k the requested set is easily computable.
Of course that from the Copy foreign key the corresponding InvNo may be obtained through a join
with table COPIES and that from the Borrow foreign key the corresponding e-mail, FName, and
LName may be obtained through a join with tables BORROWS and then with table PERSONS (on
foreign key Subscriber).
Consequently, the needed query is the following:

46

SELECT DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) AS OverdueDays,

[e-mail], FName, LName, InvNo
FROM PERSONS INNER JOIN (COPIES INNER JOIN (BORROWS
INNER JOIN BORROWS_LISTS
ON BORROWS.x = BORROWS_LISTS.Borrow)
ON COPIES.x = BORROWS_LISTS.Copy)
ON PERSONS.x = BORROWS.Subscriber
WHERE DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date())>=[k]
AND ActualReturnDate Is Null
ORDER BY DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) DESC,
[e-mail], LName, FName, InvNo;

Figure A.1.19 shows the result of running this query for k = 0:

Figure A.1.19 Result of running query OverdueDays for k = 0

6.1.1.2 Worse borrowers

Compute the set of borrowers that were late with at least k (natural) days in returning, at least for
n (natural) borrows, and at least m copies per borrow, in descending order of the sum of number
of late returning copies per borrow, then of the number of borrows, and then ascending on e-mail
addresses, last, and first names.
Solution:
Obviously, all copies that are not yet returned and are overdue already with at least k days (that is
exactly the set computed by the above 6.1.1.1 problem) are satisfying the conditions of this
problem. Consequently, this set may be computed by the following query:
SELECT DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) AS OverdueDays,
Borrow, Copy
FROM BORROWS_LISTS
WHERE DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date())>=[k]
AND ActualReturnDate Is Null;

Moreover, copies that were returned (that is their ActualReturnDate is not null) may have also
been returned with at least k days later than due; this subset is computable by the following query:
47

SELECT DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) AS OverdueDays,

Borrow, Copy
FROM BORROWS_LISTS
WHERE ActualReturnDate Is Not Null AND
ActualReturnDate >= DueReturnDate AND
DateDiff("d", DueReturnDate, ActualReturnDate)>=[k];

The union of these two subsets (save it as OverdueCopies) is the base set for computing the final
result:
SELECT DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) AS OverdueDays,
Borrow, Copy
FROM BORROWS_LISTS
WHERE DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date())>=[k]
AND ActualReturnDate Is Null
UNION
SELECT DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()) AS OverdueDays,
Borrow, Copy
FROM BORROWS_LISTS
WHERE ActualReturnDate Is Not Null AND
ActualReturnDate >= DueReturnDate AND
DateDiff("d", DueReturnDate, ActualReturnDate)>=[k];

Next step is computable directly from the above computed set, by grouping on borrows (save it as
OverdueBorrowsAndCopyNo): borrows containing at least m overdue copies; the corresponding
query is the following (where OverdueCopies is the name of the above query):
OverdueBorrowsAndCopyNo:
SELECT Borrow, Count(Copy) AS OverdueCopiesNo
FROM OverdueCopies
GROUP BY Borrow
HAVING Count(Copy)>=[m];

For computing the number of borrows per subscriber and selecting only those subscribers that
have had at least n borrows, the needed query is:
SELECT Subscriber, Count(x) AS BorrowsNo
FROM BORROWS
GROUP BY Subscriber
HAVING Count(x)>=[n];

For further selecting from this set only those borrows that are computed by
OverdueBorrowsAndCopyNo, a join with it is necessary:
SELECT Subscriber, Count(x) AS BorrowsNo,
Sum(OverdueCopiesNo) AS SumOfOverdueCopiesNo
FROM BORROWS INNER JOIN OverdueBorrowsAndCopyNo
ON BORROWS.x = OverdueBorrowsAndCopyNo.Borrow
GROUP BY Subscriber
HAVING Count(x)>=[n];

48

The final result is obtainable from this one (save it as WorseBorrowers0) by replacing subscriber
with corresponding e-mail address, first, and last name (through a join with PERSONS) and by
ordering it in the requested order:
WorseBorrowers:
SELECT SumOfOverdueCopiesNo, BorrowsNo, [e-mail],
FName, LName
FROM WorseBorrowers0 INNER JOIN PERSONS
ON WorseBorrowers0.Subscriber = PERSONS.x
ORDER BY SumOfOverdueCopiesNo DESC, BorrowsNo DESC,
[e-mail], LName, FName;

Figure A.1.20 shows the result of running this query for k = 0, n = m = 1:

Figure A.1.20 Result of running query WorseBorrowers for k = 0, n = m = 1

6.1.2 Reports

Design and develop a report with the following data: subscribers e-mail addresses, first, and last
names, borrow, due, and actual return dates, number of overdue days, publisher, editions year and
title, volumes number, ISBN, and title, copies inventory number, volumes first books title, and
their first authors first and last names;
Solution:
The corresponding subjacent query is the following:
SELECT PERSONS.[e-mail], PERSONS.FName, PERSONS.LName,
BorrowDate, DueReturnDate, ActualReturnDate,
IIf(IsNull([ActualReturnDate]),
IIf(Date()>[DueReturnDate],
DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],Date()),0),
IIf([ActualReturnDate]>[DueReturnDate],
DateDiff("d",[DueReturnDate],[ActualReturnDate]),
0)) AS OverdueDays, PUBLISHERS.PubName AS Publisher,
EDITIONS.EYear, EDITIONS.ETitle, VOLUMES.VNo, VOLUMES.ISBN,
VOLUMES.VTitle, COPIES.InvNo, BOOKS.BTitle, AUTHORS.FName AS AuthFName,
AUTHORS.LName AS AuthLName
FROM (((EDITIONS INNER JOIN PUBLISHERS
ON EDITIONS.Publisher = PUBLISHERS.x)
INNER JOIN VOLUMES
ON EDITIONS.x = VOLUMES.Edition) INNER JOIN

49

(PERSONS INNER JOIN (COPIES INNER JOIN (BORROWS

INNER JOIN BORROWS_LISTS
ON BORROWS.x = BORROWS_LISTS.Borrow)
ON COPIES.x = BORROWS_LISTS.Copy)
ON PERSONS.x = BORROWS.Subscriber)
ON VOLUMES.x = COPIES.Volume) INNER JOIN
((BOOKS INNER JOIN PERSONS AS AUTHORS
ON BOOKS.FirstAuthor = AUTHORS.x) INNER JOIN
VOLUMES_CONTENTS ON BOOKS.x = VOLUMES_CONTENTS.Book)
ON VOLUMES.x = VOLUMES_CONTENTS.Volume
WHERE BookPos = 1;

The needed groupings are the following, in this order:

-

On e-mail (with FName and LName too), ascendingly

On BorrowDate, ascendingly
On Publisher, ascendingly
On EYear (with ETitle too), ascendingly

Sums of overdue days are computed for both editions, publishers, borrows, subscribers, and
overall.
Figure A.1.21 shows the corresponding report design view; figures A.1.22 and A.1.23 present the
first and last part, respectively, of the results obtained by running this report in preview mode.

Figure A.1.21 Borrows by subscribers report design view

50

Figure A.1.22 Borrows by subscribers report preview start screen

Figure A.1.23 Borrows by subscribers report preview end screen

6.2

Oracle Views and Stored Procedures

51

7. Conclusion
I have chosen the subuniverse of a Library, for which I designed and implemented a db meant to
be the foundation of a db software application for the management of books, subscribers, and
borrowing.
First, I have applied the algorithm for assisting the business analysis of this subuniverse, with
which I have obtained a corresponding informal description of it, a set of entity-relationship
diagrams, and a list of associated restrictions.
After applying the algorithm for translating entity-relationship diagrams and restriction lists into
mathematic schemes, I have refined the obtained mathematical scheme by applying the following
algorithms:
assistance of sets, functions, and constraints design
assistance of keys discovery
analysis of (structural) entity-relationship diagram cycles.
Next, Ive applied the algorithm for translating mathematical schemes into relational ones and nonrelational constraint lists and, finally, the ones for translating relational schemes into MS Access
2010 dbs and for enforcing non-relational constraints in MS Access 2010,
Finally, I have populated the obtained db with plausible demo data, I have designed and developed
two parameterized queries and a report, which would very much help librarians to extract the most
interesting data and information from this db, and I fully documented the whole process, from the
business analysis and design stages, up the implementation and usage ones.

52

8. Bibliography
1. Mancas, C. & Dicu, A. I. Databases Lab Notes, 2014, Bucharest Polytechnic University.
2. Mancas, C. Databases Lecture Notes, 2014, Bucharest Polytechnic University.
3. Mancas, C. Conceptual Data Modeling and Database Design: A Fully Algorithmic Approach, Volume I: The Shortest Advisable Path, 2015, Apple Academic Press, NJ.
4. Microsoft Corp. Access 2010 Help.
5. IT Services. Microsoft Access 2010 An Essential Guide (Level 1), 2011, The University of
Reading
(freely
downloadable
from
http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/its/AccessEssen2010.pdf).
6. IT Services. Microsoft Access 2010 An Intermediate Guide (Level 2), 2011, The University
of
Reading
(freely
downloadable
from
http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/files/its/AccessInter2010.pdf).
7. McDonald, M. Access 2010: The Missing Manual, 2010, OReilly Media (freely
downloadable from http://it-ebooks.info/book/104/).

53