Objectives

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies ƒ How XML generalizes relational databases
ƒ The XQuery language
Querying XML Documents ƒ How XML may be supported in databases
with XQuery

Anders Møller & Michael I. Schwartzbach

© 2006 Addison-Wesley
An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 2

XQuery 1.0 From Relations to Trees

ƒ XML documents naturally generalize database

relations
ƒ XQuery is the corresponding generalization of
SQL

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 Only Some Trees are Relations Trees Are Not Relations

ƒ They have height two ƒ Not all trees satisfy the previous characterization
ƒ The root has an unbounded number of children ƒ Trees are ordered, while both rows and columns
ƒ All nodes in the second layer (records) have a of tables may be permuted without changing the
fixed number of child nodes (fields) meaning of the data

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 5 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 6

A Student Database A More Natural Model (1/2)

<students>
<student id="100026">
<name>Joe Average</name>
<age>21</age>
<major>Biology</major>
<results>
<result course="Math 101" grade="C-"/>
<result course="Biology 101" grade="C+"/>
<result course="Statistics 101" grade="D"/>
</results>
</student>

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 A More Natural Model (2/2) Usage Scenario: Data-
Data-Oriented

<student id="100078">
ƒ We want to carry over the kinds of queries that we
<name>Jack Doe</name>
<age>18</age> performed in the original relational model
<major>Physics</major>
<major>XML Science</major>
<results>
<result course="Math 101" grade="A"/>
<result course="XML 101" grade="A-"/>
<result course="Physics 101" grade="B+"/>
<result course="XML 102" grade="A"/>
</results>
</student>
</students>

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Usage Scenario: Document-

Document-Oriented Usage Scenario: Programming

ƒ Queries could be used ƒ Queries could be used to automatically generate

• to retrieve parts of documents documentation
• to provide dynamic indexes
• to perform context-sensitive searching
• to generate new documents as combinations of
existing documents

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 Usage Scenario: Hybrid XQuery Design Requirements

ƒ Queries could be used to data mine hybrid data, ƒ Must have at least one XML syntax and at least
such as patient records one human-readable syntax
ƒ Must be declarative
ƒ Must be namespace aware
ƒ Must coordinate with XML Schema
ƒ Must support simple and complex datatypes
ƒ Must combine information from multiple
documents
ƒ Must be able to transform and create XML trees

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Relationship to XPath Relationship to XSLT

ƒ XQuery 1.0 is a strict superset of XPath 2.0

ƒ XQuery and XSLT are both domain-specific
ƒ Every XPath 2.0 expression is directly an XQuery languages for combining and transforming XML
1.0 expression (a query) data from multiple sources
ƒ The extra expressive power is the ability to ƒ They are vastly different in design, partly for
• join information from different sources and historical reasons
• generate new XML fragments
ƒ XQuery is designed from scratch, XSLT is an
intellectual descendant of CSS
ƒ Technically, they may emulate each other

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 XQuery Prolog More From the Prolog

ƒ Like XPath expressions, XQuery expressions are declare default element namespace URI;
declare default function namespace URI;
evaluated relatively to a context
import schema at URI;
ƒ This is explicitly provided by a prolog declare namespace NCName = URI;
ƒ Settings define various parameters for the
XQuery processor language, such as:

xquery version "1.0";

declare xmlspace preserve;
declare xmlspace strip;

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Implicit Declarations XPath Expressions

declare namespace xml = ƒ XPath expressions are also XQuery expressions

"http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace";
declare namespace xs = ƒ The XQuery prolog gives the required static
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; context
declare namespace xsi =
"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"; ƒ The initial context node, position, and size are
declare namespace fn = undefined
"http://www.w3.org/2005/11/xpath-functions";
declare namespace xdt =
"http://www.w3.org/2005/11/xpath-datatypes";
declare namespace local =
"http://www.w3.org/2005/11/xquery-local-functions";

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 Datatype Expressions XML Expressions

ƒ Same atomic values as XPath 2.0 ƒ XQuery expressions may compute new XML
ƒ Also lots of primitive simple values: nodes
xs:string("XML is fun")
ƒ Expressions may denote element, character data,
xs:boolean("true")
xs:decimal("3.1415") comment, and processing instruction nodes
xs:float("6.02214199E23")
xs:dateTime("1999-05-31T13:20:00-05:00")
ƒ Each node is created with a unique node identity
xs:time("13:20:00-05:00") ƒ Constructors may be either direct or computed
xs:date("1999-05-31")
xs:gYearMonth("1999-05")
xs:gYear("1999")
xs:hexBinary("48656c6c6f0a")
xs:base64Binary("SGVsbG8K")
xs:anyURI("http://www.brics.dk/ixwt/")
xs:QName("rcp:recipe")

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Direct Constructors Namespaces in Constructors (1/3)

ƒ Uses the standard XML syntax declare default element namespace "http://businesscard.org";
<card>
ƒ The expression <name>John Doe</name>
<title>CEO, Widget Inc.</title>
<foo><bar/>baz</foo> <email>[email protected]</email>
<phone>(202) 555-1414</phone>
ƒ evaluates to the given XML fragment <logo uri="widget.gif"/>

ƒ Note that </card>

<foo/> is <foo/>
ƒ evaluates to false

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 Namespaces in Constructors (2/3) Namespaces in Constructors (3/3)

declare namespace b = "http://businesscard.org"; <card xmlns="http://businesscard.org">

<b:card> <name>John Doe</name>
<b:name>John Doe</b:name> <title>CEO, Widget Inc.</title>
<b:title>CEO, Widget Inc.</b:title> <email>[email protected]</email>
<b:email>[email protected]</b:email> <phone>(202) 555-1414</phone>
<b:phone>(202) 555-1414</b:phone> <logo uri="widget.gif"/>
<b:logo uri="widget.gif"/> </card>
</b:card>

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Enclosed Expressions Explicit Constructors

<foo>1 2 3 4 5</foo> <card xmlns="http://businesscard.org">

<name>John Doe</name>
<foo>{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}</foo>
<title>CEO, Widget Inc.</title>
<foo>{1, "2", 3, 4, 5}</foo> <email>[email protected]</email>
<foo>{1 to 5}</foo> <phone>(202) 555-1414</phone>
<foo>1 {1+1} {" "} {"3"} {" "} {4 to 5}</foo> <logo uri="widget.gif"/>
</card>

element card {
<foo bar="1 2 3 4 5"/> namespace { "http://businesscard.org" },
element name { text { "John Doe" } },
<foo bar="{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}"/> element title { text { "CEO, Widget Inc." } } ,
<foo bar="1 {2 to 4} 5"/> element email { text { "[email protected]" } },
element phone { text { "(202) 555-1414" } },
element logo {
attribute uri { "widget.gif" }
}
}

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 Computed QNames Biliingual Business Cards

element { if ($lang="Danish") then "kort" else "card" } {

element { "card" } {
namespace { "http://businesscard.org" },
namespace { "http://businesscard.org" },
element { if ($lang="Danish") then "navn" else "name" }
element { "name" } { text { "John Doe" } },
{ text { "John Doe" } },
element { "title" } { text { "CEO, Widget Inc." } },
element { if ($lang="Danish") then "titel" else "title" }
element { "email" } { text { "[email protected]" } },
{ text { "CEO, Widget Inc." } },
element { "phone" } { text { "(202) 555-1414" } },
element { "email" }
element { "logo" } {
{ text { "[email protected]" } },
attribute { "uri" } { "widget.gif" }
element { if ($lang="Danish") then "telefon" else "phone"}
}
{ text { "(202) 456-1414" } },
}
element { "logo" } {
attribute { "uri" } { "widget.gif" }
}
}

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FLWOR Expressions The Difference Between For and Let (1/4)

ƒ Used for general queries: for $x in (1, 2, 3, 4)

let $y := ("a", "b", "c")
return ($x, $y)
<doubles>
{ for $s in fn:doc("students.xml")//student
let $m := $s/major
1, a, b, c, 2, a, b, c, 3, a, b, c, 4, a, b, c
where fn:count($m) ge 2
order by $s/@id
return <double>
{ $s/name/text() }
</double>
}
</doubles>

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8
 The Difference Between For and Let (2/4) The Difference Between For and Let (3/4)

let $x in (1, 2, 3, 4) for $x in (1, 2, 3, 4)

for $y := ("a", "b", "c") for $y in ("a", "b", "c")
return ($x, $y) return ($x, $y)

1, 2, 3, 4, a, 1, 2, 3, 4, b, 1, 2, 3, 4, c 1, a, 1, b, 1, c, 2, a, 2, b, 2, c,
3, a, 3, b, 3, c, 4, a, 4, b, 4, c

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 33 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 34

The Difference Between For and Let (4/4) Computing Joins

let $x := (1, 2, 3, 4) ƒ What recipes can we (sort of) make?

let $y := ("a", "b", "c")
return ($x, $y)
declare namespace rcp = "http://www.brics.dk/ixwt/recipes";
for $r in fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:recipe
for $i in $r//rcp:ingredient/@name
1, 2, 3, 4, a, b, c
for $s in fn:doc("fridge.xml")//stuff[text()=$i]
return $r/rcp:title/text()

<fridge>
<stuff>eggs</stuff>
<stuff>olive oil</stuff>
<stuff>ketchup</stuff>
<stuff>unrecognizable moldy thing</stuff>
</fridge>

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 Inverting a Relation Sorting the Results

declare namespace rcp = "http://www.brics.dk/ixwt/recipes";

declare namespace rcp = "http://www.brics.dk/ixwt/recipes";
<ingredients>
<ingredients>
{ for $i in distinct-values(
{ for $i in distinct-values(
fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:ingredient/@name
fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:ingredient/@name
)
)
order by $i
return <ingredient name="{$i}">
return <ingredient name="{$i}">
{ for $r in fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:recipe
{ for $r in fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:recipe
where $r//rcp:ingredient[@name=$i]
where $r//rcp:ingredient[@name=$i]
return <title>$r/rcp:title/text()</title>
order by $r/rcp:title/text()
}
return <title>$r/rcp:title/text()</title>
</ingredient>
}
}
</ingredient>
</ingredients>
}
</ingredients>
An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 37 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 38

A More Complicated Sorting Using Functions

declare function local:grade($g) {

for $s in document("students.xml")//student if ($g="A") then 4.0 else if ($g="A-") then 3.7
order by else if ($g="B+") then 3.3 else if ($g="B") then 3.0
fn:count($s/results/result[fn:contains(@grade,"A")]) descending, else if ($g="B-") then 2.7 else if ($g="C+") then 2.3
fn:count($s/major) descending, else if ($g="C") then 2.0 else if ($g="C-") then 1.7
xs:integer($s/age/text()) ascending else if ($g="D+") then 1.3 else if ($g="D") then 1.0
return $s/name/text() else if ($g="D-") then 0.7 else 0
};

declare function local:gpa($s) {

fn:avg(for $g in $s/results/result/@grade return local:grade($g))
};

<gpas>
{ for $s in fn:doc("students.xml")//student
return <gpa id="{$s/@id}" gpa="{local:gpa($s)}"/> }
</gpas>

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10
 A Height Function A Textual Outline

declare function local:height($x) { Cailles en Sarcophages

if (fn:empty($x/*)) then 1 pastry
else fn:max(for $y in $x/* return local:height($y))+1 chilled unsalted butter
flour
};
salt
ice water
filling
baked chicken
marinated chicken
small chickens, cut up
Herbes de Provence
dry white wine
orange juice
minced garlic
truffle oil
...

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 41 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 42

Computing Textual Outlines Sequence Types

declare namespace rcp = "http://www.brics.dk/ixwt/recipes"; 2 instance of xs:integer

declare function local:ingredients($i,$p) { 2 instance of item()
fn:string-join( 2 instance of xs:integer?
for $j in $i/rcp:ingredient () instance of empty()
return fn:string-join(($p,$j/@name," () instance of xs:integer*
",local:ingredients($j,fn:concat($p," "))),""),"") (1,2,3,4) instance of xs:integer*
}; (1,2,3,4) instance of xs:integer+
<foo/> instance of item()
declare function local:recipes($r) { <foo/> instance of node()
fn:concat($r/rcp:title/text()," <foo/> instance of element()
",local:ingredients($r," ")) <foo/> instance of element(foo)
}; <foo bar="baz"/> instance of element(foo)
<foo bar="baz"/>/@bar instance of attribute()
fn:string-join( <foo bar="baz"/>/@bar instance of attribute(bar)
for $r in fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:recipe[5] fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:ingredient instance of element()+
return local:recipes($r),"" fn:doc("recipes.xml")//rcp:ingredient
) instance of element(rcp:ingredient)+

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11
 An Untyped Function A Default Typed Function

declare function local:grade($g) { declare function local:grade($g as item()*) as item()* {

if ($g="A") then 4.0 else if ($g="A-") then 3.7 if ($g="A") then 4.0 else if ($g="A-") then 3.7
else if ($g="B+") then 3.3 else if ($g="B") then 3.0 else if ($g="B+") then 3.3 else if ($g="B") then 3.0
else if ($g="B-") then 2.7 else if ($g="C+") then 2.3 else if ($g="B-") then 2.7 else if ($g="C+") then 2.3
else if ($g="C") then 2.0 else if ($g="C-") then 1.7 else if ($g="C") then 2.0 else if ($g="C-") then 1.7
else if ($g="D+") then 1.3 else if ($g="D") then 1.0 else if ($g="D+") then 1.3 else if ($g="D") then 1.0
else if ($g="D-") then 0.7 else 0 else if ($g="D-") then 0.7 else 0
}; };

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 45 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 46

A Precisely Typed Function Another Typed Function

declare function local:grade($g as xs:string) as xs:decimal { declare function local:grades($s as element(students))

if ($g="A") then 4.0 else if ($g="A-") then 3.7 as attribute(grade)* {
else if ($g="B+") then 3.3 else if ($g="B") then 3.0 $s/student/results/result/@grade
else if ($g="B-") then 2.7 else if ($g="C+") then 2.3
};
else if ($g="C") then 2.0 else if ($g="C-") then 1.7
else if ($g="D+") then 1.3 else if ($g="D") then 1.0
else if ($g="D-") then 0.7 else 0
};

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 Runtime Type Checks Built-
Built-In Functions Have Signatures

ƒ Type annotations are checked during runtime fn:contains($x as xs:string?, $y as xs:string?)

as xs:boolean
ƒ A runtime type error is provoked when
• an actual argument value does not match the declared
type op:union($x as node()*, $y as node()*) as node()*
• a function result value does not match the declared
type
• a valued assigned to a variable does not match the
declared type

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 49 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 50

XQueryX XML Databases

for $t in fn:doc("recipes.xml")/rcp:collection/rcp:recipe/rcp:title
return $t
ƒ How can XML and databases be merged?
<xqx:module
xmlns:xqx="http://www.w3.org/2003/12/XQueryX"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" <xqx:stepExpr> ƒ Several different approaches:
<xqx:xpathAxis>child</xqx:xpathAxis>
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.w3.org/2003/12/XQueryX xqueryx.xsd">
<xqx:mainModule>
<xqx:queryBody>
xqx:nodeName>
<xqx:elementTest>
<xqx:nodeName> • extract XML views of relations
<xqx:QName>rcp:title</xqx:QName> <xqx:QName>rcp:collection</xqx:QName>
<xqx:expr xsi:type="xqx:flwrExpr">
</xqx:nodeName>
<xqx:forClause>
</xqx:elementTest>
</xqx:nodeName>
</xqx:elementTest> • use SQL to generate XML
</xqx:stepExpr>
<xqx:forClauseItem> </xqx:stepExpr>
</xqx:expr>
<xqx:typedVariableBinding>
</xqx:forExpr>
<xqx:varName>t</xqx:varName>
<xqx:stepExpr>
<xqx:xpathAxis>child</xqx:xpathAxis>
• shred XML into relational databases
</xqx:forClauseItem> <xqx:elementTest>
</xqx:typedVariableBinding>
</xqx:forClause> <xqx:nodeName>
<xqx:forExpr>
<xqx:returnClause> <xqx:QName>rcp:recipe</xqx:QName>
<xqx:expr xsi:type="xqx:variable">
<xqx:expr xsi:type="xqx:pathExpr"> </xqx:nodeName>
<xqx:name>t</xqx:name> </xqx:elementTest>
<xqx:expr xsi:type="xqx:functionCallExpr">
</xqx:expr> </xqx:stepExpr>
<xqx:functionName>doc</xqx:functionName>
</xqx:returnClause> <xqx:stepExpr>
</xqx:expr> <xqx:parameters> <xqx:xpathAxis>child</xqx:xpathAxis>
<xqx:expr xsi:type="xqx:stringConstantExpr">
</xqx:elementContent>
</xqx:expr> <xqx:value>recipes.xml</xqx:value>
</xqx:queryBody> </xqx:expr>
</xqx:mainModule>
</xqx:parameters>
</xqx:module>

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13
 The Student Database Again Automatic XML Views (1/2)

<Students>
<record id="100026" name="Joe Average" age="21"/>
<record id="100078" name="Jack Doe" age="18"/>
</Students>

An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 53 An Introduction to XML and Web Technologies 54

Automatic XML Views (2/2) Programmable Views

<Students> xmlelement(name, "Students",

<record> select xmlelement(name,
<id>100026</id> "record",
xmlattributes(s.id, s.name, s.age))
<name>Joe Average</name>
from Students
<age>21</age>
)
</record>
<record>
<id>100078</id> xmlelement(name, "Students",
<name>Jack Doe</name> select xmlelement(name,
<age>18</age> "record",
</record> xmlforest(s.id, s.name, s.age))
</Students> from Students
)

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14
 XML Shredding From XQuery to SQL

ƒ Each element type is represented by a relation ƒ Any XML document can be faithfully represented
ƒ Each element node is assigned a unique key in ƒ This takes advantage of the existing database
document order implementation
ƒ Each element node contains the key of its parent ƒ Queries must now be phrased in ordinary SQL
ƒ The possible attributes are represented as fields, rather than XQuery
where absent attributes have the null value ƒ But an automatic translation is possible
//rcp:ingredient[@name="butter"]/@amount
ƒ Contents consisting of a single character data
node is inlined as a field select ingredient.amount
from ingredient
where ingredient.name="butter"

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Summary Essential Online Resources

ƒ XML trees generalize relational tables ƒ http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/

ƒ XQuery similarly generalizes SQL ƒ http://www.galaxquery.org/
ƒ http://www.w3.org/XML/Query/
ƒ XQuery and XSLT have roughly the same
expressive power
ƒ But they are suited for different application
domains: data-centric vs. document-centric

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