Active capability has been shown to provide a uniform framework for supporting a number of traditional database functionality. It was initially proposed to meet the requirements of many non-traditional database applications. In fact, the applicability of active paradigm is more far reaching than was envisioned earlier. This talk presents: i) an overview of active capability, ii) use of active capability at the applications level, and iii) use of active capability at the systems level.
Sentinel, developed at the University of Florida, seamlessly integrates active capability (i.e., event-condition-action rules) into an object-oriented DBMS. Open OODB, from Texas Instruments, is used as the underlying platform. In this presentation, we first provide an overview of active capability. Sentinel details are discussed with an emphasis on the event specification language Snoop. This talk further defines systems level active capability using which advanced transaction models can be supported. We briefly sketch how ECA rules can be effectively used to change system behavior dynamically and discuss the implementation of Sagas and nested transactions. Finally, we sketch the applicability of active capability for novel application areas, such as Data warehousing, CIM, and workflow.