2.2 Data model objects

Any data model manages several objects pertaining to several types of objects. Entities, relationships or CSR (class/subclass relationships between entities) are examples of types for data model objects.

Figure 2.3: Data model and objects

The Figure 2.3 depicts the internal structure of a Ferret data model. There is a collection of objects catalogued by the corresponding type.

There is also two global tables:

The OID table

This table stores the relationship between objects and unique integer identified called OIDs (Object IDentifier).

The data model library should create and maintain a OID for each object stored on the data model.

The names table

The data model library allow to assign a name to one or more objects. The user of the datamodel can define a collection of equally named objects.