Need efficient multikey access to your records? This paper introduces the grid file, a dynamic file structure designed to treat all keys symmetrically, enabling efficient single record retrieval and range queries, particularly for highly dynamic files. Traditional file structures often struggle with multikey access, especially in dynamic environments. The grid file overcomes these limitations by employing a grid partition of the search space and a grid directory. This design allows the file system to adapt gracefully to insertions and deletions, maintaining an upper bound of two disk accesses for single record retrieval. This study provides a detailed exploration of the design decisions behind the grid file, presenting simulation results and comparing its performance to other multikey access file structures. The grid file offers a compelling solution for managing large, dynamic datasets where efficient multikey access is paramount.
Published in ACM Transactions on Database Systems, this paper fits the journal's focus on database design and performance. By introducing the grid file, a novel file structure, it aligns with the journal's scope of advancing data management techniques. The paper's detailed performance analysis and comparison to existing methods further contribute to the journal's emphasis on rigorous evaluation of database systems.