Method and system for assembling complex objects

摘要

An assembly module (201) is used to assemble complex objects from a plurality of objects stored on a disk of a server (80) in response to user queries in an object-oriented database executing in a client-server environment or multi-processor. Each complex object comprises a plurality of objects including a root object and a plurality of logically related sub-objects. Each object has an associated disk storage location, indicating where on the disk the object is stored. Each object may also include references to other objects. A list references to root objects of the complex objects needed to process a given query is provided in input list (202) to the assembly module (201) and stored in a reference list (204). A predetermined number of references in the reference list which are closest to the current disk head position are resolved into memory. Multiple objects are thus fetched from the disk in a single disk access. If the resolved objects includes references to other objects, those references are added to the reference list (204). All references in the reference list are processed in this manner until all of the complex objects involved in the query are assembled.