Constraint analysis for specifying perspectives of class objects

An approach known as constraint analysis is presented for specifying updatable perspectives of class objects in an object-oriented data schema. Perspectives provide a way of defining the scope of a user's view of a schema. Operations on class objects are then defined in terms of specific perspectives based on the semantics associated with the schema. Schema semantics are represented as a set of integrity constraints expressed in Horn logic. The constraint analysis process then reasons about schema constraints to support a flexible approach to update propagation. The advantage of constraint analysis is that both inherent and explicit constraints can be used to support the automated specification of updatable perspectives that preserve object integrity. >