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HierarchicalData:Persistencevia
ClosureTable
NOVEMBER19,2011BYB2BERRY

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HierarchicalData:Persistence
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Recently,Ivebeenworkingwithhierarchicaldatausingclosuretables.Theproblemthis
techniquesolvesformeispersistinghierarchicalrelationshipsofspecificentitieswithoutany
restrictiononthesizeofthehierarchyandwhileprovidingasimplewaytoquerythehierarchy.
Closuretables,aboveothersolutionslikepathenumeration,maintainreferentialintegrity.
InaseriesofpostsaboutstoringhierarchicaldataImgoingtowalkthroughimplementinga
solutionforworkingwithhierarchicaldataatthepersistencelayer,theapplicationlayer,andthe
presentationlayer.WellseewhatisnecessarytopersistthehierarchyinSQLServer2008,
howwewraptheclosuretablesintheapplication,andhowwebuildhierarchyintheuser
interfacewithMVC3
First,letsdigrightinandlookatwhatsnecessarytosetuptheclosuretable.Intheimage
belowyoullseejustwhatlittleisnecessarytogetgoing.ThetabletitledClosureistheclosure
tablewherethemetadataaboutthestructureofthehierarchyisstored.TheParentIDisthe
foreignkeytotheFamilyMemberIDandtheChildIDistheFamilyMemberIDofoneof
thedecedents.ThePathLengthindicateshowfarremovedfromthenodetheChildis.So,if
wearelookingatagrandfather,thenthemselfwouldbePathLength=0,theirchildwouldbe
PathLength=1,andtheirgrandchildwouldbePathLength=2.

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YoumayhavealsonoticedthattheFamilyMemberstablealsoholdsaParentID.Thismakes
thingsconvenient,butisnotcompletelynecessary.Tounderstandmoreaboutwhythe
ParentIDispresent,letslookatthetriggerFamilyMemberClosureTrigger.Everyonescomfort
levelwithdatabasetriggersisdifferentbuttomethisisoneofthoseappropriatecasesforone.
Inthiscase,thetriggerisresponsibleforcreatingthemetadataentriesfortheClosuretable
eachtimearecordisinsertedintoFamilyMembers(orupdated,deleted,etc).Thisisnt
absolutelynecessary,though.Youcoulddefinitelymovethislogicelsewhereanddoawaywith
thetriggeraltogether.
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Here,wecreatethetriggerwhenanINSERTtakesplaceinFamilyMemberstable.
UpdateandDeletearestillnecessarybutleftthemoutforthisdemo
CREATETRIGGER[dbo].[FamilyMemberClosureTrigger]ON[dbo].[FamilyMembers]
FORINSERT
AS
DECLARE@MemberIDINT;
DECLARE@ParentIDINT;

GettheFamilyMemberIDofthenewlyinsertedrecord
SELECT@MemberID=i.FamilyMemberIDFROMINSERTEDi;
GettheIDofthenewrecord'sparent
SELECT@ParentID=i.ParentIDFROMINSERTEDi;

First,weinserttherecordforthenewlyinsertedFamilyMember
Thisisaselfreferencingrecord,meaningtheParentID=ChildID
AndPathLength=0.
INSERTINTOClosure(ParentID,ChildID,PathLength)
VALUES(@MemberID,@MemberID,0)
Next,weinsertmetadataabouthowthisnewfamilymember
isrelatedtotherestofthehierarchy.
INSERTINTOClosure(ParentID,ChildID,PathLength)
SELECTp.ParentID,c.ChildID,p.PathLength+c.PathLength+1
FROMClosurep,Closurec
WHEREp.ChildID=@ParentId
ANDc.ChildID=@MemberID

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Atthispoint,wereallsetupfornewFamilyMemberstobeinsertedintotheFamilyMembers
table.Letstakealookatthedatawhenthesetablesarepopulated.Below,youcanseethe
ClosureTable(left)andtheFamilyMemberstable.Takeamomenttoobservejustwhatthe
ClosureTableisstoringforus.

orientedcomputerprogramming
languagelikeJava.Youmightthinkthe
problemisyourbrain.Itseemstohavea
mindofitsown,amindthatdoesn't
alwayswanttotakeinthedry,technical

ParentID

ChildID

PathLength

stuffyou'reforcedtostudy.Thefactis
yourbraincravesnovelty.It'sc[]

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FamilyMemberID

ParentID

Name

JohnDoe

BillyDoe

MaryDoe

Bobby

BobbyDoe

SammyDoe

MaeDoe

TheClosureTable,bystoringthismetadataabouttheFamilyMembersenablesustodirectly
querytherelationshipsinthehierarchyprettyquickly.Thatis,wecanaskquestionslikeWho
areallofthegrandchildrenofJohnDoe
1
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3

SELECT*FROMClosurec
WHEREc.ParentID=1
ANDPathLength=2

Whichresultsin:
ParentID

ChildID

PathLength

Asyoucansee,thismakesthingsrelativelysimpleforquerying.Though,therearesome
downsidestothissolution.Wecanseethesizeoftheclosuretablewillgrowexponentiallyfaster
thantheentitytable(FamilyMembers).Also,theclosuretableisnotsimpletodebug,thatisif
thetablebecomescorrupti.e.failedwrites,etc,thenthetablewillneedtoberebuiltas
attemptingtotrackdownthebrokenrelationshipvisuallyisnotimpossiblebutanexercisein
tedium.Ontheotherhand,therelationshipsareprettysimplesorebuildingpartorallofthe
hierarchyisntsobad,especiallyifyoualsoimplementtheParentIDontheentitytableitselfits
partofthecharm.
InthenextpostIwillbewalkingthroughhowtobuildacustomdatastructuretoabstractthe
applicationfromtheclosuretableandworkwiththehierarchythroughouttheapplication.
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11ResponsestoHierarchicalData:PersistenceviaClosureTable
AntoninJanuska(@AntJanus)

August3,2012at11:48am

Reply

Youvegotaprettyamazinganswerthere.Iwonderifyoucouldhelpme
withmydilemma:http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11790108/what
tablestructuretousefornesteddata
Itsbasicallyahierarchicalstructureliketheoneyoudescribebutabit
morecomplex.Inyouranalogyofthechildren/parents,letssayIcan
movechildrenaround.
LetssaythatSammyDoe(canmagically)becomeolderthanMayDoe
andthusbethefirstgreatgrandchild,howwouldyouhandlethat?Ican
imagineaddingapositioncolumntogetthatoutoftheway.
Okaybuthowwouldyou,forexample,callupthe2ndgreatgrandchildof
the1stgrandchildofthe2ndchildofthegrandfather?orhowaboutonly
thegrandchildrenofBillyDoewhereonlyMaryDoeistheparent?
Idgreatlyappreciateyourhelp

b2berry

August3,2012at5:12pm

Reply

GreatquestionAntonin,thatdoessoundlikesomeextracomplexity.
Haveyouconsideredreorganizingthetree?RecentlyIveused
closuretablesinanarchitecturewhichallnodesinthetreeareable
toberearrangedandalsoexistinmultipleplacessimultaneously.
Thatis,theUIallowsforausertodragsomethinginthehierarchyto
acompletelynewlocationinthehierarchy.
Imgoingtoproposetwowaystosolvethis,thefirstwiththeexisting
schemaIvepresentedabove,andthesecondsolutionaddsalayer
ofabstraction.
First:
Youcouldhandlethisbyrearrangingtherelationshipsofthenodes.
So,ifyoumoveSammyDoeaboveMayDoethenIdgotoworkin
theclosuretablechangingparentchildrelationshipsofthetwoin
ordertoswitchtheirpositions.Ifyouthinkaboutitlikealinkedlist,
thelogicissimilarwhereyoullwanttostoretheparentofbothMay
DoeandSammyDoesoyoucanmakechangestotherelationships
withoutloosingalltherelationshipsunderthesenodes,thatisallthe
childrenofthesenodesyoureshufflingaround.
Second,andIthinkabettersolutiongivenyourconstraintsisto
createatablewhichabstractbetweenthefamilymembersandthe
treeitself.CreateatablecalledFamilyMemberNodeswhichsimply
aliasestheFamilyMemberIDtoapositioninthetree.Then,your
closuretablewouldbebeconstructedbasedoffyour
FamillyMemberNodestable,nottheFamilyMembertableoritskeys.
Then,whenyouwanttoswaptwofamilymembersinthetreeyou
makethechangeattheFamilyMemberNodestableandyoudont
needtotouchthestructureofthetreeitself.
Incidentally,itssolutiontwowhichalsoallowsforFamilyMembersto
existinmultipleplaces(Whichdoesntmakesenseforfamily
memberswhataweirdthought!)butwouldmakesenseforother

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memberswhataweirdthought!)butwouldmakesenseforother
caseslikeashoppingcart,etc.
Anywaylongwindedanswerbutdoesanyofthishelp?

AntoninJanuska(@AntJanus)

August3,2012at7:40pm

Imthinkingofdoingthesame.HavethatdragndropUIthat
allowschangingofthenodes.Butmymainproblemistryingto
figureoutawaytocallupthosespecificnodes(1stoftoplevel,
2ndofmid,5thoflast).
ToseeifIunderstandthisright,youreproposing:
*changingaroundtheclosuretablewitheachupdate/changeby
updatingthechild/parentdeclarations.Thisseemsabitcomplex
butIdontseeawayaroundit.
*ImnotentirelysureIunderstandyoursecondexplanation.Im
tryingtowrapmyheadaroundit.Itwouldbeaninbetweentable
whichwouldholdposition(firstchild,secondchild,firstgrandpa),
andtheidwhichcorrespondstotheidinthefamilytable.
Iguessbyimplementingbothofthese,icouldmakeitwork.
HavetheNodestabledeclareparent/childrelationships,thein
betweentabledeclareposition,andthemaintablehavethe
actualdata.WheneverIwanttochangethepositionofthenode,
Icanusetheinbetween.IfIwanttochangetheparent/child
relationship,IllhavetousetheNodestableandupdateitaswell
astheinbetweentable.
Thanksforyourhelp.Imstillnot100%sureofhowtodothisall
efficientlyandifImmissingsomething. especiallyquerying
thisdata.

b2berry

August3,2012at10:04pm

Thereisasimplersolutionherethanwhatscomingacrosshere,
Ithink.Iwillattempttowriteanewpostortwothisweekendwith
thedifferentapproachtotheclosuretablewhichshouldmakemy
secondsuggestionmoreclear.Ivebeenmeaningtorevisitthis
topicwithwhatIvelearnedanyway.

AntoninJanuska(@AntJanus)

August3,2012at10:40pm

Reply

Youreawesome.Thankyouforallyourhelp!Illdefinitelybefollowing
yourblog
IfoundthisanincrediblyintricatematterbutIfinditextremely
useful/necessarytowhatImtryingtobuild Itseemslikenooneon
redditorstackoverflowhasanygoodideasotherthanbreakingthisdown
toindividualtablesforeachlevel,ditchingthisaltogetherbecauseSQL
cantdothis(itobviouslycan),andsomeotherstuff.

b2berry

August4,2012at1:45pm

Reply

Hereyougo!Hopefullythisbetterconveysthe2ndoptionIdescribed
above.Itsnota100%getoutofjailfreecard,butIhadalotof
successmodelingwiththisapproachoverthemorevanillaapproach
intheabovepost
http://b2berry.com/2012/08/04/convertingtheclosuretablefroma
weakentity/
IhavesomemorepostsImaybecrankingoutthisweekend
relativelyminoradditionstotheconcept.

http://tinyurl.com/satgbiggs06390

February4,2013at10:10pm

http://b2berry.com/2011/11/19/hierarchicaldatapersistenceviaclosuretable/

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ExactlywheredidyouacquirethesuggestionstopostHierarchical
Data:PersistenceviaClosure
Table|TheB^2Brand?IappreciateitAlta

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