User's Manual for P/FDM V.9

Object Database Group
Dept. of Computing Science
University of Aberdeen

Friday, 17th February 1995

P/FDM is copyright of the University of Aberdeen. The original system was developed at the University of Aberdeen by Norman Paton and has since been extended and improved by Zhuoan Jiao, Suzanne Embury and Scott Leishman. The current Daplex compiler was developed by Graham Kemp, Zhuoan Jiao and Suzanne Embury. The bulk loader was implemented by Graham Kemp, and this user manual was written by Suzanne Embury. All this occurred under the watchful eye of Professor Peter Gray, during the period 1987 to 1995.

A Postscript version of this manual can be found here.

Contents

• Introduction to P/FDM
• Creating and Accessing P/FDM Databases
  • Classes and Functions in P/FDM
  • Inheritance Hierarchies in P/FDM
  • Value Entities in P/FDM
  • Integrity Constraints in P/FDM
  • Collection Views in P/FDM
  • Modules in P/FDM
  • Creating a New Database Module
  • Accessing an Existing Database
• Querying a P/FDM Database
  • Using the Daplex Query Language
    • Arithmetic Expressions in Daplex
    • Comparison Expressions in Daplex
    • Boolean Expressions in Daplex
    • Conditional Expressions in Daplex
    • Set Expressions in Daplex
    • Aggregate Operators in Daplex
    • Quantified Expressions in Daplex
  • Using Prolog as a Query Language
    • Instance Retrieval
    • Function Value Retrieval
    • Generic Retrieval Primitives
• Updating a P/FDM Database
  • Using Daplex to Update Data
  • Using Prolog to Update Data
    • Instance Creation
    • Instance Deletion
    • Instance Hierarchy Inclusion
    • Function Value Addition
    • Function Value Deletion
    • Function Value Update
  • Using the Load Utility
• Defining Methods in P/FDM
  • Defining Methods in Daplex
  • Defining Methods in Prolog
• Querying Metadata in P/FDM
• Reporting Problems with P/FDM
• Summary of Prolog Primitives
• Primitives that operate on data
  • Retrieval Primitives
  • Update Primitives
• Primitives that operate on metadata
• Primitives that operate on modules
• Diagnostic Primitives
• Syntax for the Daplex Language
• Daplex Definition of the Metadata Schema
• The Example Database Schema and Queries
• References
• About this document ...