INTELLIGENT JOINING SYSTEM FOR A RELATIONAL DATABASE

A system for generating a structured query language query to extract data from a database wherein the database includes a schema defined by a plurality of record sources and a plurality of relationships therebetween. The system includes selecting a field set containing at least one field from among said plurality record sources in said database, and determining a minimal path relationship between each of the plurality of record sources in the database that contain at least one field from the field set. The minimal path relationship includes at least one indirect relationship between two of the plurality of record sources in the database that contain at least one field from the field set. Output from the intelligent joining system is a Structured Query Language (SQL) statement in the syntactical form that a database management system can execute. Additional output can include an edge set containing the minimal paths between record sources that contain at least one field from the field set, and a graph of the sub-schema defined by the field set. The output is generated from the above identified inputs in a manner transparent to the database user.