Intelligent annotation of entity-relationship data models

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12229171-B2
Application number	US-202117180498-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2021
Priority date	Feb 19, 2021
Publication date	Feb 18, 2025
Grant date	Feb 18, 2025

Abstract

Intelligent annotation of data models can be implemented. In one embodiment, the method can receive a data model including entities and relationships between the entities. An entity can include a set of attributes. The method can annotate the data model by defining a logical entity including one or more of the entities, validate the logical entity, and automatically generate a message structure corresponding to the logical entity. The message structure can include properties mapped to at least some of the attributes of entities contained in the logical entity. The properties can be defined in one or more database tables represented by the logical entity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving an entity-relationship data model representing a data schema in a graphical form, the entity-relationship model comprising entities and relationships between the entities, wherein an entity comprises a set of attributes;
annotating the entity-relationship data model, wherein the annotating comprises grouping a plurality of entities into a logical entity;
validating the logical entity;
responsive to finding the logical entity is valid, automatically generating a message structure corresponding to the logical entity, wherein the message structure is represented in a data exchange format expressed in property and value pairs, wherein the message structure comprises properties mapped to at least some of the attributes of entities contained in the logical entity, wherein the properties are defined in one or more database tables represented by the logical entity;
generating a message containing the message structure, wherein generating the message comprises extracting values from the one or more database tables, and pairing the extracted values with corresponding properties; and
generating a translation operator code,
wherein the translation operator code is configured to translate messages between the logical entity and the one or more database tables based on the message structure,
wherein automatically generating the message structure comprises creating an object array when a first database table and a second database table represented by the logical entity have a one-to-many cardinality relationship or many-to-many cardinality relationship, wherein the object array comprises an array of objects containing properties defined in the second database table, wherein the array of objects are nested within another object representing a property defined in the first database table.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically generating the message structure further comprises excluding a property from the object array if the property defined in the second database table is a foreign key linked to a primary key defined in the first database table.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically generating an application programming interface document at least partially based on the message structure.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises selecting which attributes of the entities contained in the logical entity to be mapped to corresponding properties in the message structure.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises defining a root within the logical entity, wherein the root is one of the one or more entities contained in the logical entity.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises designating one or more of the relationships between entities as follow relationships.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein validating the logical entity comprises traversing from the root to another entity contained in the logical entity through one or more of the follow relationships.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein validating the logical entity comprises detecting an invalid logical entity when the plurality of entities contained in the logical entity can form a loop through some of the follow relationships.

9. A system comprising:
memory;
one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory; and
one or more computer readable storage media storing instructions that, when loaded into the memory, cause the one or more hardware processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving an entity-relationship data model representing a data schema in a graphical form, the entity-relationship model comprising entities and relationships between the entities, wherein an entity comprises a set of attributes;
annotating the entity-relationship data model, wherein the annotating comprises grouping a plurality of entities into a logical entity;
validating the logical entity;
responsive to finding the logical entity is valid, automatically generating a message structure corresponding to the logical entity, wherein the message structure is represented in a data exchange format expressed in property and value pairs, wherein the message structure comprises properties mapped to at least some of the attributes of entities contained in the logical entity, wherein the properties are defined in one or more database tables represented by the logical entity;
generating a message containing the message structure, wherein generating the message comprises extracting values from the one or more database tables, and pairing the extracted values with corresponding properties; and
generating a translation operator code,
wherein the translation operator code is configured to translate messages between the logical entity and the one or more database tables based on the message structure,
wherein automatically generating the message structure comprises creating an object array when a first database table and a second database table represented by the logical entity have a one-to-many cardinality relationship or many-to-many cardinality relationship, wherein the object array comprises an array of objects containing properties defined in the second database table, wherein the array of objects are nested within another object representing a property defined in the first database table.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein automatically generating the message structure further comprises excluding a property from the object array if the property defined in the second database table is a foreign key linked to a primary key defined in the first database table.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise automatically generating an application programming interface document at least partially based on the message structure.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises selecting which attributes of the entities contained in the logical entity to be mapped to corresponding properties in the message structure.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises defining a root within the logical entity, wherein the root is one of the plurality of entities contained in the logical entity.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein annotating the entity-relationship data model further comprises designating one or more of the relationships between entities as follow relationships.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein validating the logical entity comprises detecting an invalid logical entity when the one or more entities contained in the logical entity can form a loop through some of the follow relationships.

16. A computer-implemented method for data model annotation, the method comprising:
receiving an entity-relationship data model representing a data schema in a graphical form, the entity-relationship model comprising entities and relationships between the entities, wherein an entity comprises a set of attributes;
annotating the entity-relationship data model, wherein the annotating comprises grouping a plurality of entities into a logical entity;
validating the logical entity;
responsive to finding the logical entity is valid, automatically generating a message structure corresponding to the logical entity, wherein the message structure is represented in a data exchange format expressed in property and value pairs, wherein the message structure comprises properties ma

Assignees

• Sap Se

Inventors

• Portisch Jan
• Schub Stephan

Classifications

• G06F16/212

  with details for data modelling support · CPC title

• G06F16/24573

  using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata · CPC title

• G06F16/2264

  Multidimensional index structures · CPC title

• G06F16/288 Primary

  Entity relationship models · CPC title