10. The method of claim 6 , wherein receiving an abstract query comprises receiving a plurality of abstract queries associated with a plurality of requesting entities, and wherein locking the at least one logical field comprises locking a corresponding lock object for each requesting entity of the plurality of requesting entities.
6. A computer-implemented method of preventing alterations of physical entities of data in a database when a query is executed against the database, comprising: providing a logical representation of the data defining a multiplicity of logical fields, each logical field abstractly describing a manner of accessing and exposing, via a user interface, an associated physical entity of the data; wherein each of the multiplicity of logical fields include a reference to an access method selected from at least two different access method types; wherein the at least two different access method types are selected from the group comprising: (i) a simple access method which maps a respective one of the plurality of logical fields directly to a physical entity, (ii) a filtered access method which identifies a physical entity and provides rules used to define a subset of items within the physical entities, and (iii) a composed access method which computes a value for a respective one of the plurality of logical fields from one or more physical entities using an expression supplied as part of a composed access method definition; wherein each of the different access methods types defines a different manner of exposing the respective physical entity of the data; and wherein at least a portion of the multiplicity of logical fields include lock attributes referenced in order to lock the respective logical field; providing a lock object for each logical field of a plurality of logical fields forming a subset of the multiplicity of logical fields, the respective lock object being identified by the respective lock attributes of the respective logical field; receiving an abstract query from a requesting entity comprising at least one logical field of the multiplicity of logical fields; and upon determining that executing the abstract query against the database requires the lock on the at least one logical field; determining the lock object of the at least one logical field; locking the lock object for the requesting entity for locking the at least one logical field before executing the abstract query; and unlocking the lock object for the requesting entity after executing the abstract query.