Patent ID: 7664725

Claim:
A method for transparently mapping a request to open a data file to a database access, comprising: receiving the request from a user or a client application to open the data file, wherein the data file is associated with meta information; determining from meta information for the data file that the data file is a relational data file associated with a database service which is provided by a database management system implemented in a computer system; wherein the user or client application operates on a device different from the device hosting the database service; transparently mapping a file open operation to a corresponding relational database operation by: searching for the database service configured to manage the relational data file, comprising: searching for the database service on the computing device hosting the data file and the computing device associated with the user or the client application: searching for the database service in a network environment using a network query; and searching for a configuration file in proximity to the data file that indicates the location of the database service; if the database service is not found, invoking an instance of the database service; and opening the relational data file by sending an open request to the database service; wherein transparently mapping the file open operation to the corresponding relational database operation facilitates hiding from the user the presence of the database service, thereby maintaining user experience of a single-file data management system while providing enhanced database functionality.