Updating relational databases through object-based views

The view-object model provides a formal basis for representing and manipulating object-based views on relational databases. In this paper, we present a scheme for handling update operations on view objects. Because a typical view object encompasses multiple relations, a view-object update request must be translated into valid operations on the underlying relational database. Building on an existing approach to update relational views, we introduce algorithms to enumerate all valid translations of the various update operations on view objects. The process of choosing a translator for view-object update occurs at view-object generation time. Once chosen, the translator can handle any update request on the view object.