UNIT IV XML DATABASES

Structured, Semi structured, and Unstructured Data – XML Hierarchical Data

Model – XML Documents – Document Type Definition – XML Schema – XML
Documents and Databases – XML Querying – XPath – XQuery

XML Database Defined

A XML database is a database that can be used to store large amounts of data
or information in the XML format. They can handle data which is of any size or
format.
XML is a markup language that uses “tags” or specially formatted text labels, to
identify the function of varied data elements within a document.
STRUCTURED, SEMI STRUCTURED, AND UNSTRUCTURED DATA
Big Data includes huge volume, high velocity, and extensible variety of data.
These are 3 types: Structured data, Semi-structured data, and Unstructured
data.

Structured data:
Structured data is data whose elements are addressable for effective analysis.
It has been organized into a formatted repository that is typically a database. It
concerns all data which can be stored in database SQL in a table with rows and
columns. They have relational keys and can easily be mapped into pre-designed
fields. Today, those data are most processed in the development and simplest way
to manage information. Example: Relational data.
Semi-Structured data:
Semi-structured data is information that does not reside in a relational
database but that has some organizational properties that make it easier to analyze.
With some processes, you can store them in the relation database (it could be very
hard for some kind of semi- structured data), but Semi-structured exist to ease space.
Example: XML data.

Unstructured data:
Unstructured data is data which is not organized in a predefined manner or
does not have a predefined data model, thus it is not a good fit for a mainstream
relational database. So for Unstructured data, there are alternative platforms for
storing and managing, it is increasingly prevalent in IT systems and is used by
organizations in a variety of business intelligence and analytics applications.
Example: Word, PDF, Text, Media logs.

Differences between Structured, Semi-structured and Unstructured data:

Properties Structured data Semi-structured data Unstructured data

Technology It is based on It is based on It is based
Relational XML/RDF(Resource on character
database table Description and binary
Framework). data
Transaction Matured Transaction is adapted No transaction
management transaction and from DBMS not management
various matured and no
concurrency concurrency
techniques

Version Versioning over Versioning over tuples or Versioned as a

management tuples,row,tables graph is possible whole

Flexibility It is schema It is more flexible than It is more flexible

dependent structured data but less and there is
and less flexible flexible than unstructured absence of schema
data
 Scalability It is very difficult to It’s scaling is simpler than It is more scalable.
scale DB schema structured data

Robustness Very robust New technology, not very

spread

Query Structured queries Queries over anonymous Only textual

performance allow nodes are possible queries are
complex joining possible

XML HIERARCHICAL DATA MODEL

XML Tree Structure
An XML document has a self-descriptive structure. It forms a tree structure
which is referred to as an XML tree. The tree structure makes it easy to describe an
XML document.
A tree structure contains root element (as parent), child element and so on. It is
very easy to traverse all succeeding branches and sub-branches and leaf nodes
starting from the root.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<college>
<student>
<firstname>Adlie</firstname>
<lastname>Stefhan</lastname>
<contact>09990449935</contact>
<email>adliestefhan@abc.com</email>
<address>
<city>Kanyakumari</city>
<state>TamilNadu</state>
<pin>629802</pin>
</address>
</student>
</college>

Let's see the tree-structure representation of the above example.

 In the above example, first line is the XML declaration. It defines the XML
version 1.0. Next line shows the root element (college) of the document. Inside
that there is one more element (student).
Student element contains five branches named <firstname>,
<lastname>, <contact>, <Email> and <address>.<address> branch contains 3 sub-
branches named <city>, <state> and <pin>.

XML Tree Rules

These rules are used to figure out the relationship of the elements. It shows if
an element is a child or a parent of the other element.
Descendants: If element A is contained by element B, then A is known as
descendant of B. In the above example "College" is the root element and all the other
elements are the descendants of "College".
Ancestors: The containing element which contains other elements is called
"Ancestor" of other element. In the above example Root element (College) is
ancestor of all other elements.
What is xml?
● Xml (eXtensible Markup Language) is a mark up language.
● XML is designed to store and transport data.
● Xml was released in late 90’s. it was created to provide an easy to use and
store self describing data.
● XML became a W3C Recommendation on February 10, 1998. XML is
not a replacement for HTML.
● XML is designed to be self-descriptive.
● XML is designed to carry data, not to display data.
● XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags.
● XML is platform independent and language independent.
XML Example
<bookstore>
<book category="COOKING">
<title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
<author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
<book category="WEB">
<title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
<author>Erik T. Ray</author>
<year>2003</year>
<price>39.95</price>
</book>
</bookstore>
The root element in the example is <bookstore>.
All elements in the document are contained within <bookstore>.
The <book> element has 4 children: <title>,< author>,
<year> and <price>.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<emails>
<email>
<to>Vimal</to>
<from>Sonoo</from>
<heading>Hello</heading>
<body>Hello brother, how are you!</body>
</email>
<email>
<to>Peter</to>
<from>Jack</from>
<heading>Birth day wish</heading>
 <body>Happy birth day Tom!</body>
</email>
<email>
<to>James</to>
<from>Jaclin</from>
<heading>Morning walk</heading>
<body>Please start morning walk to stay fit!</body>
</email>
<email>
<to>Kartik</to>
<from>Kumar</from>
<heading>Health Tips</heading>
<body>Smoking is injurious to health!</body>
</email>
</emails>

XML Attributes
XML elements can have attributes. By the use of attributes we can add
the information about the element.
<book publisher='Tata McGraw Hill'></book>
Metadata should be stored as attribute and data should be stored as elements
<book>
<book category="computer">
<author> A & B </author>
</book>

XML Comments
XML comments are just like HTML comments. We know that the comments
are used to make codes more understandable to other developers.
An XML comment should be written as:
<!-- Write your comment-->

XML Validation
A well formed XML document can be validated against DTD or Schema. A
well- formed XML document is an XML document with correct syntax. It is very
necessary to know about valid XML documents before knowing XML validation.
Valid XML document
● It must be well formed (satisfy all the basic syntax condition)
● It should be behave according to predefined DTD or XML schema

Rules for well formed XML

● It must begin with the XML declaration.
● It must have one unique root element.
● All start tags of XML documents must match end tags.
● XML tags are case sensitive.
● All elements must be closed.
● All elements must be properly nested.
● All attributes values must be quoted.
● XML entities must be used for special characters.
● XML Validation
XML document
An XML document is a basic unit of XML information composed of elements and
other markup in an orderly package. An XML document can contains wide variety of
data. For example, database of numbers, numbers representing molecular structure or
a mathematical equation.
XML Document Example
A simple document is shown in the following example –
<?xml version = "1.0"?>
<contact-info>
<name>Tanmay Patil</name>
<company>TutorialsPoint</company>
<phone>(011) 123-4567</phone>
</contact-info>
The following image depicts the parts of XML document.
Document Prolog Section
Document Prolog comes at the top of the document, before the root element. This
section contains −
 XML declaration
 Document type declaration
Document Elements Section
Document Elements are the building blocks of XML. These divide the document into
a hierarchy of sections, each serving a specific purpose. You can separate a document
into multiple sections so that they can be rendered differently, or used by a search
engine. The elements can be containers, with a combination of text and other
elements.
XML DTD:
DTD stands for Document Type Definition. It defines the legal building
blocks of an XML document. It is used to define document structure with a list
of legal elements and attributes.
Purpose of DTD:
Its main purpose is to define the structure of an XML document. It
contains a list of legal ture with the help of them.
syntax
Basic syntax of a DTD is as follows −
<!DOCTYPE element DTD identifier
[
declaration1
declaration2
........
]>
In the above syntax,
 The DTD starts with <!DOCTYPE delimiter.
 An element tells the parser to parse the document from the specified root
element.
 DTD identifier is an identifier for the document type definition, which may
be the path to a file on the system or URL to a file on the internet. If the
DTD is pointing to external path, it is called External Subset.
 The square brackets [ ] enclose an optional list of entity declarations
called Internal Subset.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE employee SYSTEM "employee.dtd">
<employee>
<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
</employee>

Description of DTD:
● <!DOCTYPE employee : It defines that the root element of the
document is employee.
● <!ELEMENT employee: It defines that the employee element contains 3
elements "firstname, lastname and email".
● <!ELEMENT firstname: It defines that the firstname element is #PCDATA
typed. (parse-able data type).
● <!ELEMENT lastname: It defines that the lastname element is #PCDATA
typed. (parse-able data type).
● <!ELEMENT email: It defines that the email element is #PCDATA typed.
(parse- able data type).

XML DTD
A DTD defines the legal elements of an XML document. In simple words we can
say that a DTD defines the document structure with a list of legal elements and
attributes. XML schema is a XML based alternative to DTD. Actually DTD and XML
schema both are used to form a well formed XML document. We should avoid errors in
XML documents because they will stop the XML programs.

XML schema
It is defined as an XML language. It uses namespaces to allow for reuses of
existing definitions. It supports a large number of built in data types and definition of
derived data types
Valid and well-formed XML document with External DTD
Let's take an example of well-formed and valid XML document. It
follows all the rules of DTD.
employee.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE employee SYSTEM "employee.dtd">
<employee>
<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
</employee>
In the above example, the DOCTYPE declaration refers to an external DTD
file. The content of the file is shown in below paragraph.
employee.dtd
<!ELEMENT employee (firstname,lastname,email)>
<!ELEMENT firstname (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT lastname (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT email (#PCDATA)>

Valid and well-formed XML document with Internal DTD

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8" standalone = "yes" ?>
<!DOCTYPE address [
<!ELEMENT address (name,company,phone)>
<!ELEMENT name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT company (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT phone (#PCDATA)>
]>
<address>
<name>Tanmay Patil</name>
<company>TutorialsPoint</company>
<phone>(011) 123-4567</phone>
</address>
Description of DTD
<!DOCTYPE employee : It defines that the root element of the document is
employee.
<!ELEMENT employee: It defines that the employee element contains 3
elements "firstname, lastname and email".
<!ELEMENT firstname: It defines that the firstname element is #PCDATA typed.
(parse- able data type).
<!ELEMENT lastname: It defines that the lastname element is #PCDATA typed.
(parse- able data type).
<!ELEMENT email: It defines that the email element is #PCDATA typed.
(parse-able data type).

XML CSS
Purpose of CSS in XML
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) can be used to add style and display
information to an XML document. It can format the whole XML document.
How to link XML file with CSS
To link XML files with CSS, you should use the following syntax:
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="cssemployee.css"?>

XML CSS Example

cssemployee.css
employee
{
background-color: pink;
}
firstname,lastname,email
{
font-size:25px;
display:block;
color: blue;
margin-left:
50px;
}

employee.dtd

<!ELEMENT employee (firstname,lastname,email)>

<!ELEMENT firstname (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT lastname (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT email (#PCDATA)>
employee.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="cssemployee.css"?>
<!DOCTYPE employee SYSTEM "employee.dtd">
<employee>
<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
</employee>

CDATA vs PCDATA CDATA

CDATA: (Unparsed Character data): CDATA contains the text which
is not parsed further in an XML document. Tags inside the CDATA text are
not treated as markup and entities will not be expanded.

Let's take an example for CDATA:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE employee SYSTEM "employee.dtd">
<employee>
<![CDATA[
<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
]]>
</employee>

In the above CDATA example, CDATA is used just after the element
employee to make the data/text unparsed, so it will give the value of
employee:

<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
PCDATA
PCDATA: (Parsed Character Data): XML parsers are used to parse all the text in
an XML document. PCDATA stands for Parsed Character data. PCDATA is the text that
will be parsed by a parser. Tags inside the PCDATA will be treated as markup and entities
will be expanded. In other words you can say that a parsed character data means the XML
parser examines the data and ensures that it doesn't contain an entity if it contains that
will be replaced.
Let's take an example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE employee SYSTEM "employee.dtd">
<employee>
<firstname>vimal</firstname>
<lastname>jaiswal</lastname>
<email>vimal@javatpoint.com</email>
</employee>
In the above example, the employee element contains 3 more elements
'firstname', 'lastname', and 'email', so it parses further to get the data/text of
firstname, lastname and email to give the value of employee as: vimaljaiswal
vimal@javatpoint.com
XML Schema:
XML schema is a language which is used for expressing constraints about XML
documents. There are so many schema languages which are used now a days for
example Relax- NG and XSD (XML schema definition). An XML schema is used to
define the structure of an XML document. It is like DTD but provides more control on
XML structure.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="http://www.javatpoint.com" xmlns="http://www.javatpoint.com"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
<xs:element name="employee">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="email" type="xs:string"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:schema>
Description of XML Schema:
<xs:element name="employee"> : It defines the element name employee.
<xs:complexType> : It defines that the element 'employee' is complex type.
<xs:sequence> : It defines that the complex type is a sequence of elements.
<xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/> : It defines that the element
'firstname' is of string/text type.
<xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/> : It defines that the element
'lastname' is of string/text type.
<xs:element name="email" type="xs:string"/> : It defines that the element 'email' is of
string/text type.
XML Schema Data types:
There are two types of data types in XML schema.
1. SimpleType
2. ComplexType
SimpleType
The simpleType allows you to have text-based elements. It contains less attributes,
child elements, and cannot be left empty.
Simple type element is used only in the context of the text. Some of the predefined
simple types are: xs:integer, xs:boolean, xs:string, xs:date. For example −
<xs:element name = "phone_number" type = "xs:int" />
ComplexType
The complexType allows you to hold multiple attributes and elements. It can contain
additional sub elements and can be left empty.
A complex type is a container for other element definitions. This allows you to specify
which child elements an element can contain and to provide some structure within
your XML documents. For example −
<xs:element name = "Address">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name = "name" type = "xs:string" />
<xs:element name = "company" type = "xs:string" />
<xs:element name = "phone" type = "xs:int" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
In the above example, Address element consists of child elements. This is a container
for other <xs:element> definitions, that allows to build a simple hierarchy of elements
in the XML document.
Global Types
With the global type, you can define a single type in your document, which can be
used by all other references. For example, suppose you want to generalize
the person and company for different addresses of the company. In such case, you can
define a general type as follows −
<xs:element name = "AddressType">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name = "name" type = "xs:string" />
<xs:element name = "company" type = "xs:string" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
Now let us use this type in our example as follows −
<xs:element name = "Address1">
 <xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name = "address" type = "AddressType" />
<xs:element name = "phone1" type = "xs:int" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
<xs:element name = "Address2">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name = "address" type = "AddressType" />
<xs:element name = "phone2" type = "xs:int" />
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
Attributes
Attributes in XSD provide extra information within an element. Attributes
have name and type property as shown below −
<xs:attribute name = "x" type = "y"/>
DTD vs XSD
There are many differences between DTD (Document Type Definition) and XSD
(XML Schema Definition). In short, DTD provides less control on XML structure
whereas XSD (XML schema) provides more control.
Sl.No DTD XSD
1. DTD stands for Document Type XSD stands for XML Schema
Definition. Definition.
2. DTDs are derived from SGML XSDs are written in XML.
syntax.
3. DTD doesn't support datatypes. XSD supports datatypes for
elements and attributes.
4. DTD doesn't support namespace. XSD supports namespace.
5. DTD doesn't define order for child XSD defines order for child
elements. elements.
6. DTD is not extensible. XSD is extensible.
7. DTD is not simple to learn. XSD is simple to learn because
you don't need to learn a new
language.
8. DTD provides less control on XML XSD provides more control on
structure. XML structure.

XML Database:
XML database is a data persistence software system used for storing the huge
amount of information in XML format. It provides a secure place to store XML
documents. You can query your stored data by using XQuery, export and serialize
into desired format. XML databases are usually associated with document-oriented
databases.

Types of XML databases:

There are two types of XML databases.
1. XML-enabled database
2. Native XML database (NXD)

1. XML-enable Database:
XML-enable database works just like a relational database. It is like an
extension provided for the conversion of XML documents. In this database, data is
stored in table, in the form of rows and columns.

2. Native XML Database:

Native XML database is used to store large amount of data. Instead of table
format, Native XML database is based on container format. You can query data by
XPath expressions. Native XML database is preferred over XML-enable database
because it is highly capable to store, maintain and query XML documents.
Example:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<contact-info>
<contact1>
<name>Vimal Jaiswal</name>
<company>SSSIT.org</company>
<phone>(0120) 4256464</phone>
</contact1>
<contact2>
<name>Mahesh Sharma </name>
<company>SSSIT.org</company>
<phone>09990449935</phone>
</contact2>
</contact-info>
XMLQUERYING:
We can query or retrieve XML data stored in the database through two main
query languages, either by using each language on its own or by using a combination
of the two.
The following options are available to you:
 XQuery expressions only
 XQuery expressions that invoke SQL statements
 SQL statements only
 SQL statements that executes XQuery expressions
These various methods allow you to query or retrieve XML and other relational
data from either an SQL or XQuery context.
Pieces of or entire XML documents can be queried and retrieved using these
methods. Queries can return fragments or entire XML documents, and results returned
from queries can be limited by using predicates. Because queries on XML data return
XML sequences, a query's result can be used in the construction of XML data as well.
 Introduction to XQuery
XQuery is a functional programming language that was designed by the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to meet specific requirements for querying and
modifying XML data.
 Retrieving Db2 data with XQuery functions
In XQuery, a query can call one of the following functions to obtain input XML
data from a Db2 database:
 db2-fn:sqlquery and
 db2-fn:xmlcolumn.
 Introduction to querying XML data with SQL
XML data can be queried using an SQL full select or with the SQL/XML query
functions of XMLQUERY and XMLTABLE. The XMLEXISTS predicate can
also be used in SQL queries on XML data.
 Comparison of XQuery to SQL
Db2 databases support storing well-formed XML data in a column of a table
and retrieving the XML data from the database by using SQL, XQuery, or a
combination of SQL and XQuery. Both languages are supported as primary
query languages, and both languages provide functions for invoking the other
language.
 Comparison of methods for querying XML data
Because XML data can be queried in a number of ways, using XQuery, SQL, or
a combination of these, the method to choose can differ depending on your
situation. The following sections describe conditions that are advantageous for a
particular query method.
 Specifying XML namespaces
In an XML document, an XML namespace is optional and is used as a prefix for
node names in the XML document. To access the nodes in an XML document
that uses a namespace, your XQuery expressions must also specify the same
namespace as part of the node name.
 Example: Changing the namespace prefix of an element
These examples demonstrate how add and remove the namespace binding
assigned to the QName of an element.
 XMLQUERY function overview
Use the XMLQUERY SQL scalar function to execute an XQuery expression
from within an SQL context. You can pass variables to the XQuery expression
specified in XMLQUERY. XMLQUERY returns an XML value, which is an
XML sequence. This sequence can be empty or contain one or more items.
 XMLTABLE function overview
The XMLTABLE SQL table function returns a table from the evaluation of
XQuery expressions. XQuery expressions normally return values as a sequence,
 however, use the XMLTABLE function to execute XQuery expressions and
return values as a table instead.
 XMLEXISTS predicate when querying XML data
The XMLEXISTS predicate determines whether an XQuery expression returns
a sequence of one or more items. If the XQuery expression specified in this
predicate returns an empty sequence, XMLEXISTS returns false; otherwise,
true is returned.
 Passing parameters between SQL statements and XQuery expressions
When issuing combined SQL statements and XQuery expressions, you can pass
data between the statements and expressions to modify the execution of the
statements and expressions.
 Data retrieval with XQuery
XQuery expressions can be executed either using XQuery as the primary
language or using SQL with the XMLQUERY SQL function as the primary
language. When an XQuery expression is executed using either method, an
XML sequence is returned.
 Guidelines for matching indexes with queries overview
This section provides you with some guidelines and examples for matching
queries with indexes over XML data.
 Full-text search in XML documents
Full-text search of natively stored XML data is available through Db2 Net
Search Extender.
 Retrieval of data in XML columns to earlier Db2 clients
If you retrieve data from an XML column to a client that is at an earlier release
than Db2 Version 9.1, your database client cannot handle XML data.
 SQL/XML publishing functions for constructing XML values
You can construct XML values, which do not necessarily have to be well-
formed XML documents, by combining those publishing functions that
correspond to the components you want in the resulting the XML value. The
functions must be specified in the order that you want the results to appear.
 Transforming with XSLT stylesheets
The standard way to transform XML data into other formats is by Extensible
Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). You can use the built-in
XSLTRANSFORM function to convert XML documents into HTML, plain
text, or different XML schemas.
  Differences in an XML document after storage and retrieval
After storing an XML document in a Db2 database, the retrieved document
might not be exactly the same as the original document. This behavior is
defined by the XML and SQL/XML standard and matches that of the Xerces
open source XML parser.
XPath:
XPath(XML Path) is an expression that is used to find the element or say node
in the XML document. In Selenium it is commonly used to find the web elements.
What is XPath?
XPath stands for XML Path Language. It’s an expression language that is used
to query or transform. We use it to traverse among elements and attributes in an XML
document. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) defined XPath in 1999.

Following are the main parts of XSL −

 XSLT − used to transform XML documents into various other types of
document.
 XPath − used to navigate XML documents.
 XSL-FO − used to format XML documents.
XPath is used to:
 Query or transform XML documents
 Traverse elements, attributes, and text through an XML document
 Find particular elements or attributes with matching patterns
 Uniquely identify or address parts of an XML document
 Extract information from any part of an XML document
 Test addressed nodes within a document to determine whether they match a
pattern
Syntax:
//tagname[@attribute = ‘value’]
XPath Expressions:

Symbol Description

Selects nodes in the document from the current node that match the
//
selection no matter where they are

/ Selects the root node

tagname Tag name of the current node

@ Select the attribute

attribute Attribute name of the node

value Value of the attribute

XPath specification specifies seven types of nodes which can be the output of
execution of the XPath expression.
 Root
 Element
 Text
 Attribute
 Comment
 Processing Instruction
 Namespace
We know that XPath uses a path expression to select nodes or a list of nodes
from an XML document. A list of useful paths and expression to select any node/
list of nodes from an XML document:
 XPath expression in details covering common types of Nodes, XPath defines
and handles.

S.No. Node Type & Description

Root
1
Root element node of an XML Document.

Element
2
Element node.

Text
3
Text of an element node.

Attribute
4
Attribute of an element node.

Comment
5
Comment
XPath Operators
XPath defines operators and functions on nodes. An XPath expression returns either a
node-set, a string, a Boolean, or a number.
A list of operators used in XPath expression:
XPath Expression Example
Let's take an example to see the usage of XPath expressions. Here, we use an xml
file "employee.xml" and a stylesheet for that xml file named "employee.xsl". The XSL file
uses the XPath expressions under the select attribute of various XSL tags to fetch values
of id, firstname, lastname, nickname and salary of each employee node.
Employee.xml
<?xml version = "1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type = "text/xsl" href = "employee.xsl"?>
<class>
<employee id = "001">
<firstname>Aryan</firstname>
<lastname>Gupta</lastname>
<nickname>Raju</nickname>
<salary>30000</salary>
</employee>
<employee id = "024">
<firstname>Sara</firstname>
<lastname>Khan</lastname>
<nickname>Zoya</nickname>
<salary>25000</salary>
</employee>
<employee id = "056">
<firstname>Peter</firstname>
<lastname>Symon</lastname>
<nickname>John</nickname>
<salary>10000</salary>
</employee>
</class>

Employee.xsl
<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version = "1.0">
xmlns:xsl = "http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match = "/">
<html>
<body>
<h2> Employees</h2>
<table border = "1>
<tr bgcolor = "pink">
 <th> ID</th>
<th> First Name</th>
<th> Last Name</th>
<th> Nick Name</th>
<th> Salary</th>
</tr>
<xsl:for-each select = "class/employee">
<tr>
<td> <xsl:value-of select = "@id"/> </td>
<td> <xsl:value-of select = "firstname"/> </td>
<td> <xsl:value-of select = "lastname"/> </td>
<td> <xsl:value-of select = "nickname"/> </td>
<td> <xsl:value-of select = "salary"/> </td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

XQuery:
XQuery is a functional query language used to retrieve information stored in XML
format. It is the same as for XML what SQL is for databases. It was designed to query
XML data. XQuery is built on XPath expressions. It is a W3C recommendation which is
supported by all major databases.
What does it do
XQuery is a functional language which is responsible for finding and extracting
elements and attributes from XML documents. It can be used for following things:
● To extract information to use in a web service.
● To generate summary reports.
● To transform XML data to XHTML.

XQuery Features:
There are many features of XQuery query language. A list of top features are given
below:
● XQuery is a functional language. It is used to retrieve and query XML based data.
● XQuery is an expression-oriented programming language with a simple type
system.
● XQuery is analogous to SQL. For example: SQL is a query language for databases,
same as XQuery is a query language for XML.
● XQuery is XPath based and uses XPath expressions to navigate through XML
documents.
● XQuery is a W3C standard and universally supported by all major databases.

Advantages of XQuery:
XQuery can be used to retrieve both hierarchal and tabular data.
XQuery can also be used to query tree and graphical structures.
XQuery can be used to build web pages.
XQuery can be used to query web pages.
XQuery is best for XML-based databases and object-based databases. Object databases are
much more flexible and powerful than purely tabular databases.
XQuery can be used to transform XML documents into XHTML documents.
XQuery Environment Setup
Let's see how to create a local development environment. Here we are using the jar
file of the Saxon XQuery processor. The Java-based Saxon XQuery processor is used to
test the ".xqy" file, a file containing XQuery expression against our sample XML
document. You need to load Saxon XQuery processor jar files to run the java application.
For the eclipse project, add build-path to these jar files. Or, if you are running java using
command prompt, you need to set classpath to these jar files or put these jar files inside the
JRE/lib/ext directory.
How to Set CLASSPATH in Windows Using Command
Prompt
Type the following command in your Command Prompt and press enter.
1.set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%;C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8\rt.jar;

XQuery First Example

Here, the XML document is named as courses.xml and xqy file is named as
courses.xqy
courses.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<courses>
<course category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Sonoo Jaiswal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="Dot Net">
<title lang="en">Learn Dot Net in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Vicky Kaushal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="C">
<title lang="en">Learn C in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ramesh Kumar</trainer>
<year>2014</year>
<fees>3000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="XML">
 <title lang="en">Learn XML in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ajeet Kumar</trainer>
<year>2015</year>
<fees>4000.00</fees>
</course>
</courses>

courses.xqy
for $x in doc("courses.xml")/courses/course
where $x/fees>5000
return $x/title

This example will display the title elements of the courses whose fees are greater
than 5000.

Create a Java based XQuery executor program to read the courses.xqy, pass it to the
XQuery expression processor, and execute the expression. After that the result will be
displayed.

XQueryTester.java
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQConnection;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQDataSource;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQException;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQPreparedExpression;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQResultSequence;
import com.saxonica.xqj.SaxonXQDataSource;
public class XQueryTester
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
try
{
execute();
}
 catch (FileNotFoundException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (XQException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private static void execute() throws FileNotFoundException, XQException
{
InputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(new File("courses.xqy"));
XQDataSource ds = new SaxonXQDataSource();
XQConnection conn = ds.getConnection();
XQPreparedExpression exp = conn.prepareExpression(inputStream);
XQResultSequence result = exp.executeQuery();
while (result.next())
{
System.out.println(result.getItemAsString(null));
}
}
}

Execute XQuery against XML

● Put the above three files to a same location. We put them on desktop in a folder
name XQuery2.
● Compile XQueryTester.java using console. You must have JDK 1.5 or later installed on
your computer and classpaths are configured.

Compile:
javac XQueryTester.java
Execute:
javaXQueryTester
XQuery FLWOR
FLWOR is an acronym which stands for "For, Let, Where, Order by, Return".
● For - It is used to select a sequence of nodes.
● Let - It is used to bind a sequence to a variable.
● Where - It is used to filter the nodes.
● Order by - It is used to sort the nodes.
● Return - It is used to specify what to return (gets evaluated once for every node).

XQuery FLWOR Example

Following is a sample XML document that contains information on a collection of
books. We will use a FLWOR expression to retrieve the titles of those books with a price
greater than 30.
books.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<books>
<book category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 24 Hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>30.00</price>
</book>
<book category="DOTNET">
<title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2011</year>
<price>70.50</price>
</book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>
<author>Robert</author>
<author>Peter</author>
<year>2013</year>
<price>50.00</price>
 </book>
<book category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XPath in 24 hours</title>
<author>Jay Ban</author>
<year>2010</year>
<price>16.50</price>
</book>
</books>

The following Xquery document contains the query expression to be executed on

the above XML document.
books.xqy
let $books := (doc("books.xml")/books/book)
return <results>
{
for $x in $books
where $x/price>30
order by $x/price
return $x/title
}</results>

Res <title lang="en">Learn XQuery in 24 hours</title>

ult <title lang="en">Learn .Net in 24 hours</title>

Let's take an XML document having the information on the collection of courses.
We will use a FLWOR expression to retrieve the titles of those courses whose fees are
greater than 2000.
courses.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<courses>
<course category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Sonoo Jaiswal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="Dot Net">
 <title lang="en">Learn Dot Net in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Vicky Kaushal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="C">
<title lang="en">Learn C in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ramesh Kumar</trainer>
<year>2014</year>
<fees>3000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XML in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ajeet Kumar</trainer>
<year>2015</year>
<fees>4000.00</fees>
</course>
</courses>

Let's take the Xquery document named "courses.xqy" that contains the query
expression to be executed on the above XML document.

courses.xqy
let $courses := (doc("courses.xml")/courses/course)
return <results>
{
for $x in $courses
where $x/fees>2000
order by $x/fees
return $x/title
}
</results>

Create a Java based XQuery executor program to read the courses.xqy, pass it to the
XQuery expression processor, and execute the expression. After that the result will be
displayed.
XQueryTester.java
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQConnection;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQDataSource;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQException;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQPreparedExpression;
import javax.xml.xquery.XQResultSequence;
import com.saxonica.xqj.SaxonXQDataSource;
public class XQueryTester
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
try
{
execute();
}
catch (FileNotFoundException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch (XQException e)
{
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private static void execute() throws FileNotFoundException, XQException
{
InputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(new File("courses.xqy"));
XQDataSource ds = new SaxonXQDataSource();
XQConnection conn = ds.getConnection();
XQPreparedExpression exp = conn.prepareExpression(inputStream);
XQResultSequence result = exp.executeQuery();
while (result.next())
{
System.out.println(result.getItemAsString(null));
}
}
}

XQuery XPath Example

Let's take an XML document having the information on the collection of courses.
We will use XQuery expressions to retrieve the titles of those courses.
courses.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<courses>
 <course category="JAVA">
<title lang="en">Learn Java in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Sonoo Jaiswal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="Dot Net">
<title lang="en">Learn Dot Net in 3 Months.</title>
<trainer>Vicky Kaushal</trainer>
<year>2008</year>
<fees>10000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="C">
<title lang="en">Learn C in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ramesh Kumar</trainer>
<year>2014</year>
<fees>3000.00</fees>
</course>
<course category="XML">
<title lang="en">Learn XML in 2 Months.</title>
<trainer>Ajeet Kumar</trainer>
<year>2015</year>
<fees>4000.00</fees>
</course>
</courses>
courses.xqy
(: read the entire xml document
:) let $courses :=
doc("courses.xml") for $x in
$courses/courses/course where
$x/fees > 2000
return $x/title

Here, we use three different types of XQuery statements that will display the same
result having fees greater than 2000.
Execute XQuery against XML
● Put the above three files to the same location. We put them on the desktop in a
folder named XQuery3.
● Compile XQueryTester.java using the console. You must have JDK 1.5 or later
installed on your computer and classpaths are configured.

XQuery vs XPath:

Sl.No XQuery XPath

1 XQuery is a functional programming XPath is a xml path language that is
and query language that is used to used to select nodes from an xml
query a group of XML document using queries
data.
2 XQuery is used to extract and XPath is used to compute values like
manipulate data from either xml strings, numbers and boolean types
documents or relational databases from other xml documents.
and ms office documents that support
an xml data source.
3 XQuery is represented in the form of XPath is represented as tree structure,
a tree model with seven nodes, navigate it by selecting different nodes
namely processing instructions,
elements, document nodes, attributes,
namespaces, text nodes, and
comments
4 XQuery supports XPath and extended XPath is still a component of query
relational models language
5 XQuery language helps to create XPath was created to define a common
syntax for new xml documents syntax and behavior model for xpointer
and XSLT