Patent ID: 7020648

Claim:
A method for identifying and utilizing at least one secondary index in order to efficiently access a hierarchical database in response to a relational application program request utilizing a database management system that is not provided with an internal catalog of online metadata, comprising: receiving the relational application program request from an application program; parsing the relational application program request to determine at least one column name and at least one table name; utilizing an external online application catalog comprising metadata to translate the at least one column name and the at least one table name to a segment name that is associated with the at least one secondary index; determining at least an associated secondary index name utilizing the external online application catalog; building a database request comprising the segment name, the field name, and the associated secondary index name; sending the database request to the database management system, wherein the database management system uses the at least one secondary index to prepare a response to the database request; wherein the application program is a JAVA application; and wherein receiving the relational application program request comprises receiving the relational application program request through a JDBC application program interface.