Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B.
CHAPTER 4
Enhanced Entity-
Relationship (EER)
Modeling
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 2
Chapter
Outline
EER stands for Enhanced ER or Extended ER
EER Model Concepts
Includes all modeling concepts of basic ER
Additional concepts:
subclasses/superclasses
specialization/generalization
categories (UNION types)
attribute and relationship inheritance
Constraints on Specialization/Generalization
The additional EER concepts are used to
model
applications more completely and more
accurately
EER includes some object-oriented concepts,
such as inheritance
Knowledge Representation and Ontology
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 3
Subclasses and Superclasses
(1)
An entity type may have additional
meaningful subgroupings of its entities
Example: EMPLOYEE may be further
grouped into:
SECRETARY, ENGINEER, TECHNICIAN, …
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s Job
MANAGER
EMPLOYEEs who are managers (the role
they play)
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE, HOURLY_EMPLOYEE
Based on the EMPLOYEE’s method of pay
EER diagrams extend ER diagrams to represent
these additional subgroupings, called subclasses
or subtypes
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 4
Subclasses and
Superclasses
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 5
Subclasses and Superclasses
(2)
Each of these subgroupings is a subset of
EMPLOYEE entities
Each is called a subclass of EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE is the superclass for each of
these subclasses
These are called superclass/subclass
relationships:
EMPLOYEE/SECRETARY
EMPLOYEE/TECHNICIAN
EMPLOYEE/MANAGER
…
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 6
Subclasses and Superclasses
(3)
These are also called IS-A relationships
SECRETARY IS-A EMPLOYEE, TECHNICIAN IS-A
EMPLOYEE, … .
Note: An entity that is member of a subclass
represents the same real-world entity as some
member of the superclass:
The subclass member is the same entity in a
distinct specific role
An entity cannot exist in the database merely by
being a member of a subclass; it must also be a
member of the superclass
A member of the superclass can be optionally
included as a member of any number of its
subclasses
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 7
Subclasses and Superclasses
(4)
Examples:
A salaried employee who is also an engineer
belongs to the two subclasses:
ENGINEER, and
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
A salaried employee who is also an engineering
manager belongs to the three subclasses:
MANAGER,
ENGINEER, and
SALARIED_EMPLOYEE
It is not necessary that every entity in a
superclass be a member of some subclass
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 8
Representing Specialization in
EER Diagrams
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Attribute Inheritance in
Superclass / Subclass
Relationships
An entity that is member of a subclass
inherits
All attributes of the entity as a member
of the superclass
All relationships of the entity as a member
of the superclass
Example:
In the previous slide, SECRETARY (as
well as TECHNICIAN and ENGINEER)
inherit the attributes Name, SSN, … ,
from EMPLOYEE
Every SECRETARY entity will have values
for the inherited attributes Slide 4- 10
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B.
Specialization
(1)
Specialization is the process of defining a
set of subclasses of a superclass
The set of subclasses is based upon some
distinguishing characteristics of the
entities in the superclass
Example: {SECRETARY, ENGINEER,
TECHNICIAN} is a specialization of
EMPLOYEE based upon job type.
Example: MANAGER is a specialization of
EMPLOYEE based on the role the employee plays
May have several specializations of the same
superclas
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 11
Specialization
(2)
Example: Another specialization of EMPLOYEE
based on method of pay is {SALARIED_EMPLOYEE,
HOURLY_EMPLOYEE}.
Superclass/subclass relationships and specialization
can be
diagrammatically represented in EER diagrams
Attributes of a subclass are called specific or local
attributes.
For
example,
the
attribute
TypingSpee
d of
SECRETARY
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Specialization
(3)
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Generalizati
on
Generalization is the reverse of the specialization
process
Several classes with common features are
generalized into a superclass;
original classes become its subclasses
Example: CAR, TRUCK generalized into
VEHICLE;
both CAR, TRUCK become subclasses of the
superclass VEHICLE.
We can view {CAR, TRUCK} as a
specialization of VEHICLE
Alternatively, we can view VEHICLE as a
generalization of CAR and TRUCK
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Generalization
(2)
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Generalization and
Specialization (1)
Diagrammatic notations are sometimes
used to distinguish between
generalization and specialization
Arrow pointing to the generalized
superclass represents a generalization
Arrows pointing to the specialized
subclasses represent a specialization
We do not use this notation because it is
often subjective as to which process is
more appropriate for a particular situation
We advocate not drawing any arrows
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 16
Generalization and
Specialization (2)
Data Modeling with Specialization
and Generalization
A superclass or subclass represents a
collection (or set or grouping) of entities
It also represents a particular type of entity
Shown in rectangles in EER diagrams
(as are entity types)
We can call all entity types (and their
corresponding collections) classes,
whether they are entity types,
superclasses, or subclasses
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 17
Types of
Specialization
Predicate-defined ( or condition-defined) :
based on some predicate. E.g., based on
value of an attribute, say, Job-type, or
Age.
Attribute-defined: shows the name of the
attribute next to the line drawn from the
superclass toward the subclasses (see Fig.
4.1)
User-defined: membership is defined by
the user on an entity by entity basis
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 18
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (1)
If we can determine exactly those entities
that will become members of each
subclass by a condition, the subclasses are
called predicate- defined (or condition-
defined) subclasses
Condition is a constraint that determines
subclass members
Display a predicate-defined subclass by
writing the predicate condition next to the
line attaching the subclass to its superclass
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 19
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (2)
If all subclasses in a specialization have
membership condition on same attribute of the
superclass, specialization is called an attribute-
defined specialization
Attribute is called the defining attribute of the
specialization
Example: JobType is the defining attribute of the
specialization {SECRETARY, TECHNICIAN,
ENGINEER} of EMPLOYEE
If no condition determines membership, the
subclass is called user-defined
Membership in a subclass is determined by the
database users by applying an operation to add
an entity to the subclass
Membership in the subclass is specified
individually for each entity in the superclass by
the user
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Displaying an attribute-
defined specialization in
EER diagrams
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Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (3)
Two basic constraints can apply
to a
specialization/generalization:
Disjointness Constraint:
Completeness Constraint:
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 22
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (4)
Disjointness Constraint:
Specifies that the subclasses of the
specialization must be disjoint:
an entity can be a member of at most
one of the subclasses of the
specialization
Specified by d in EER diagram
If not disjoint, specialization is
overlapping:
that is the same entity may be a member
of more than one subclass of the
specialization
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 23
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (5)
Completeness (Exhaustiveness)
Constraint:
Total specifies that every entity in the
superclass must be a member of some
subclass in the
specialization/generalization
Shown in EER diagrams by a double line
Partial allows an entity not to belong to any
of the subclasses
Shown in EER diagrams by a single line
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 24
Constraints on Specialization and
Generalization (6)
Hence, we have four
types of
specialization/generalizati
on:
Disjoint, total
Disjoint, partial
Overlapping, total
Overlapping, partial
Note: Generalization usually is total
because the superclass is derived from
the subclasses.
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 25
Example of disjoint partial
Specialization
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Example of overlapping total
Specialization
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Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (1)
A subclass may itself have further
subclasses specified on it
forms a hierarchy or a lattice
Hierarchy has a constraint that every
subclass has only one superclass (called
single inheritance); this is basically a tree
structure
In a lattice, a subclass can be subclass of
more than one superclass (called multiple
inheritance)
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Shared Subclass
“Engineering_Manager”
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 29
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (2)
In a lattice or hierarchy, a subclass inherits
attributes not only of its direct superclass, but
also of all its predecessor superclasses
A subclass with more than one superclass is
called a shared subclass (multiple
inheritance)
Can have:
specialization hierarchies or lattices, or
generalization hierarchies or lattices,
depending on how they were derived
We just use specialization (to stand for the end
result of either specialization or generalization)
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 30
Specialization/Generalization Hierarchies,
Lattices & Shared Subclasses (3)
In specialization, start with an entity type
and then define subclasses of the entity
type by successive specialization
called a top down conceptual refinement
process
In generalization, start with many entity
types and generalize those that have
common properties
Called a bottom up conceptual synthesis
process
In practice, a combination of both processes
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 31
Specialization / Generalization
Lattice Example (UNIVERSITY)
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Categories (UNION TYPES)
(1)
All of the superclass/subclass relationships we have
seen thus far have a single superclass
A shared subclass is a subclass in:
more than one distinct superclass/subclass
relationships
each relationships has a single superclass
shared subclass leads to multiple inheritance
In some cases, we need to model a single
superclass/subclass relationship with more than
one superclass
Superclasses can represent different entity
types
Such a subclass is called a category or UNION
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 33
Categories (UNION TYPES)
(2)
Example: In a database for vehicle registration, a
vehicle owner can be a PERSON, a BANK
(holding a lien on a vehicle) or a COMPANY.
A category (UNION type) called OWNER is created
to represent a subset of the union of the three
superclasses COMPANY, BANK, and PERSON
A category member must exist in at least one
(typically just one) of its superclasses
Difference from shared subclass, which is a:
subset of the intersection of its superclasses
shared subclass member must exist in all of its
superclasses
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 34
Two categories (UNION types):
OWNER, REGISTERED_VEHICLE
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 35
Formal Definitions of EER Model
(1)
Class C:
A type of entity with a corresponding set of entities:
could be entity type, subclass, superclass, or category
Note: The definition of relationship type in ER/EER
should have 'entity type' replaced with 'class‘ to
allow relationships among classes in general
Subclass S is a class whose:
Type inherits all the attributes and relationship of a
class C
Set of entities must always be a subset of the set of
entities of
S⊆C
the other class C
C is called the superclass of S
A superclass/subclass relationship exists between S
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 36
Formal Definitions of EER Model
(2)
Specialization Z: Z = {S1, S2,…, Sn} is a
set of subclasses with same superclass G;
hence, G/Si is a superclass relationship for
i = 1, … . , n.
G is called a generalization of the
subclasses {S1,
S2,…, Sn}
S1 𝖴 S2 𝖴 … 𝖴 Sn = G;
Z is total if we always have:
Otherwise, Z is partial.
Z is disjoint if we always have:
Si ∩ S2 empty-set for i ≠ j;
Otherwise, Z is overlapping.
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 37
Formal Definitions of EER Model
(3)
Subclass S of C is predicate defined if
predicate (condition) p on attributes of
C is used to specify membership in S;
that is, S = C[p], where C[p] is the set of entities
in C that satisfy condition p
A subclass not defined by a predicate is called
user-
defined
Attribute-defined specialization: if a predicate A
= ci (where A is an attribute of G and ci is a
constant value from the domain of A) is used to
specify membership in each subclass Si in Z
Note: If ci ≠ cj for i ≠ j, and A is single-valued,
then the
attribute-defined specialization will be disjoint.
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 38
Formal Definitions of EER Model
(4)
Category or UNION type T
A class that is a subset of the union of n
defining superclasses
D1, D2,…Dn, n>1:
T ⊆ (D1 𝖴 D2 𝖴 … 𝖴 Dn)
Can have a predicate pi on the attributes
of Di to specify entities of Di that are
members of T.
If a predicate is specified on every Di: T =
𝖴 D2[p2] 𝖴 … 𝖴 Dn[pn])
(D1[p1]
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 39
Alternative diagrammatic
notations
ER/EER diagrams are a specific
notation for displaying the concepts
of the model diagrammatically
DB design tools use many alternative
notations for the same or similar
concepts
One popular alternative notation uses UML
class diagrams
see next slides for UML class diagrams and
other alternative notations
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 40
UML Example for Displaying
Specialization / Generalization
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Alternative Diagrammatic
Notations
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 42
Knowledge Representation
(KR)-1
Deals with modeling and representing a
certain domain of knowledge.
Typically done by using some formal
model of representation and by
creating an Ontology
An ontology for a specific domain of
interest describes a set of concepts and
interrelationships among those concepts
An Ontology serves as a “schema” which
enables interpretation of the knowledge in
a “knowledge- base”
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 43
Knowledge Representation
(KR)-2
COMMON FEATURES between KR and Data
Models:
Both use similar set of abstractions –
classification, aggregation, generalization,
and identification.
Both provide concepts, relationships,
constraints, operations and languages to
represent knowledge and model data
DIFFERENCES:
KR has broader scope: tries to deal with
missing and incomplete knowledge, default
and common-sense knowledge etc.
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 44
Knowledge Representation
(KR)-3
DIFFERENCES (continued):
KR schemes typically include rules and
reasoning mechanisms for inferencing
Most KR techniques involve data and
metadata. In data modeling, these are
treated separately
KR is used in conjunction with
artificial intelligence systems to do
decision support applications
For more details on spatial, temporal and multimedia data
modeling, see Chapter 26. For details on use of Ontologies
see Sections 27.4.3 and 27.7.4.
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 45
General Basis for Conceptual
Modeling
TYPES OF DATA ABSTRACTIONS
CLASSIFICATION and INSTANTIATION
AGGREGATION and
ASSOCIATION (relationships)
GENERALIZATION and
SPECIALIZATION
IDENTIFICATION
CONSTRAINTS
CARDINALITY (Min and Max)
COVERAGE (Total vs. Partial, and
Exclusive (Disjoint) vs. Overlapping)
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 46
Ontologi
es
Use conceptual modeling and other tools
to develop “a specification of a
conceptualization”
Specification refers to the language
and vocabulary (data model
concepts) used
Conceptualization refers to the
description (schema) of the concepts of
a particular field of knowledge and the
relationships among these concepts
Many medical, scientific, and
engineering ontologies are being
developed as a means of standardizing Slide 4- 47
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B.
Summar
y
Introduced the EER model concepts
Class/subclass relationships
Specialization and generalization
Inheritance
Constraints on EER schemas
These augment the basic ER model concepts
introduced in Chapter 3
EER diagrams and alternative notations were
presented
introduced and
Knowledge compared with
Representation and Data
Ontologies were
Modeling
Copyright © 2016 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Slide 4- 48