Querying an object for properties

1. A method of querying a database system, comprising:

receiving an object query that identifies at least one entity of interest and properties, of the entity of interest, to be returned, wherein the properties are a partial set of properties of the entity;

identifying tables and columns in a relational database portion of the database system that correspond to the properties to be returned, wherein identifying comprises accessing a mapping that maps between entities stored in the relational database portion and tables and columns that contain data associated with the entities;

obtaining data from the identified columns of the relational database portion, wherein obtaining comprises generating a relational database query identifying the tables and columns that contain data associated with the properties to be returned, and providing the relational database query to the relational database portion of the database system; and

returning data from the identified columns, wherein the returned data is less than all data associated with the entity, and wherein returning further comprises determining how data is to be returned based on the object query and arranging the data as indicated by the object query, and wherein returning comprises locating metadata identifying entities from which data is returned.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying tables and columns comprises:

from the mapping, obtaining a location of the tables and columns that contain data corresponding to the properties to be returned.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein returning data from the identified columns comprises:

transforming the data into property values and property names corresponding to the identified properties in the object query.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein returning data from the identified columns comprises:

returning the data as an object; and

returning the metadata.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein returning data from the identified columns comprises:

returning the data as a tabular data set.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an object query comprises:

receiving the object query wherein the object query identifies a plurality of entities of interest, wherein the properties to be returned comprise at least one property from each of the entities of interest, and wherein the properties further comprise a partial set of properties of each of the entities of interest.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein returning data comprises

returning the metadata.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein returning data from the identified columns comprises:

transforming the data into property values and property names corresponding to the identified properties in the object query.