Object Integrity Using Rules

Integrity maintenance in object-oriented systems has so far received little attention. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap. It describes a mechanism for maintaining integrity in an object-oriented database, implemented for the O2 system, and which uses the production rule approach to constraint maintenance. Object integrity is ensured by objects themselves — the rules which are activated when selected events take place. The approach presented is original, in the sense that it takes full advantage of the object-oriented paradigm, considering constraints as first-class citizens which can be inherited, and defined independently of any application. Furthermore, we support maintenance of not only static but also some types of dynamic constraints, as well as constraints on object behavior.

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