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Dr. Alexandra I. Cristea http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/ XML
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2 XML history Inception: circa 1996 The Extensible Markup Language (XML) became a W3C Recommendation 10. February 1998. It’s being used currently in very many places – see HESAHESA
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3 What is XML? XML stands for EXtensible Markup Language XML was designed to describe data XML is more of a standard and supporting structure than a standalone programming language XML is a markup language much like HTML – wrong!: meta-language
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4 How does XML work? XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags XML uses a Document Type Definition (DTD) or an XML Schema to describe the data XML with a DTD or XML Schema is designed to be self-descriptive
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5 XML is Free and Extensible XML tags are not predefined. You must "invent" your own tags. The tags used to mark up HTML documents and the structure of HTML documents are predefined. The author of HTML documents can only use tags that are defined in the HTML standard (like,, etc.). XHTML is XML but not vice-versa.
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6 XML does not DO anything XML was created to structure, store and to send information John Jane Reminder Don't forget the book!
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7 Main Difference XML, HTML XML was designed to carry data. XML is not a replacement for HTML. XML and HTML were designed with different goals: –XML was designed to describe data and to focus on what data is. –HTML was designed to display data and to focus on how data looks. HTML is about displaying information, while XML is about describing information. Syntax: XML is well formed, just like XHTML
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8 XML is a Complement to HTML XML is not a replacement for HTML. –In Web development XML is used to describe the data, while HTML is used to format and display the same data. XML is a cross-platform, software and hardware independent tool for transmitting information.
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9 Benefits XML extensibility and structured nature of XML allows it to be used for communication between different systems from one source of XML-based information you can format and distribute it via a multitude of different channels – XSL files act as templates, allowing a single stylesheet to be used to format multiple pages or the same content for multiple distribution channels
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10 XML in Web Development XML is everywhere. the XML standard has been developed quickly and a large number of software vendors have adopted it. XML might be the most common tool for all data manipulation and data transmission.
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11 XML Can be Used to Create New Languages XML is the mother of WAP and WML. –WAP: standard for web browser for mobile devices –The Wireless Markup Language (WML), used to markup Internet applications for handheld devices like mobile phones, is written in XML. And many others … search for more as homework
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12 Question: When should I use XML? Answer: When you need a buzzword in your resume.
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13 Viewing XML to view XML documents hierarchically or view their output, you need an XML parser and processor. there are a number of these tools available: See examples at: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_download.html http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_parser.asp Please note, however: XML was not designed to display data.
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14 The basic XML flow
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XML-based languages RSS Twitter API MathML SVG SOAP WSDL Microsoft Office (pptx, docx, xlsx) Open Office XML SMIL RDF 15
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16 XML Rules 1.Every start-tag must have a matching end-tag. 2.Tags cannot overlap. Proper nesting is required. 3.XML documents can only have one root element. 4.Element names must obey the following XML naming conventions: a)Names must start with letters or the "_" character. Names cannot start with numbers of punctuation characters. b)After the first character, numbers and punctuation characters are allowed.
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17 XML Rules (cont.) c)Names cannot contain spaces. d)Names should not contain the ":" character as it is a "reserved" character. e)Names cannot start with the letters "xml" in any combination of case. f)The element name must come directly after the "<" without any spaces between them. 5.XML is case sensitive. 6.XML preserves white space within text. 7.Elements may contain attributes. If an attribute is present, it must have a value, even if it is an empty string "".
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18 Spot the error! Tove Jani
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19 Spot the error! Tove Jani
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20 With XML, CR / LF is converted to LF Windows: CR + LF Unix: LF Macintosh: CR
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21 There is Nothing Special About XML plain text w XML tags Software that can handle plain text can also handle XML. In an XML-aware application, the XML tags can be handled specially: –Visibility, –Functional meaning, etc.
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22 Is this an error? Tove Jani Don't forget me this weekend! Reminder
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23 XML Elements have Relationships Elements are related as parents and children. Root element / Parents Children / Siblings
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24 Elements An element consists of all the information from the beginning of a start-tag to the end of an end-tag including everything in between. E.g. from (X)HTML, all of the following would be the equivalent of one element, named h1: This is a heading. –Where, is the start tag, is the end tag, and the content is in between. Each XML document has a root element within which all other elements are nested.
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25 Examples See at: –http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/co urses/CS253/2009/books.xmlhttp://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/co urses/CS253/2009/books.xml –http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xmlhttp://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml –Search more by yourself and familiarize yourself with the syntax!
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26 XML Attributes XML elements can have attributes. From HTML you will remember this: The SRC attribute provides additional information about the IMG element.
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27 Attributes versus Elements Anna Smith female Anna Smith
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28 Comments same as in any other languages with line(s) of code whose sole purpose is to provide the developer, and anyone reading the code in the future, information about the code.
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29 XML Validation: Well Formed-ness An XML document is well formed, if all the XML rules are obeyed. (with 7 XML rules as defined in slides 16-17)
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30 XML declaration Every XML document begins with a declaration (not mandatory, good practice) Or, using optional attributes:
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31 Document Type Definition (DTD) which tags and attributes are allowed, where they can be placed, and whether or not they can be nested within a given document.
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32 Document Type Declaration (DOCTYPE) Root document element URL to DTD (external subset via a system identifier)
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33 Internal vs External DTD declaration Internal: ]> External, public:
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34 Valid XML Documents A "Valid" XML document is a "Well Formed" XML document, which also conforms to the rules of a Document Type Definition (DTD): Tom Jane Reminder Don't forget me this weekend!
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35 Validators http://xmlvalidator.new-studio.org/ Also at: http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_input http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_input
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36 Internal DTD <!DOCTYPE note [ ]> Tove Jani Reminder Don't forget me this weekend!
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37 External DTD >> saved as file Note.dtd
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Attributes in DTDs Syntax: Example: Usage (in XML doc): 38 Attribute-value can be an actual value, or #REQUIRED or #IMPLIED or even #FIXED value
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39 XML Schema (XSD) XML Schema is an XML based alternative to DTD. W3C supports an alternative to DTD called XML Schema: http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema
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40 Displaying your XML Files with CSS? It is possible to use CSS to format an XML document. Example: XML file: The CD catalogThe CD catalog style sheet: The CSS fileThe CSS file product: The CD catalog formatted with the CSS fileThe CD catalog formatted with the CSS file Below is a fraction of the XML file. The second line,, links the XML file to the CSS file
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41 Displaying XML with XSL XSL is the preferred style sheet language of XML. XSL (the eXtensible Stylesheet Language) is far more sophisticated than CSS. examples: –View the XML file, the XSL style sheet, and View the result.View the XML filethe XSL style sheetView the result
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42 XML Conclusions We have learned: –XML history –What it is –How it works –Differences to (X)HTML –XML flow –XML Rules –XML Elements, Relationships, Attributes, Comments –Well-formed-ness concept –XML supporting frame: XML Schema or DTD –Generics on displaying XML
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43 Why an XML Editor? XML Schema to define XML structures and data types XSLT to transform XML data SOAP to exchange XML data between applications WSDL to describe web services RDF to describe web resources XPath and XQuery to access XML data SMIL to define graphics Altova's XMLSpy –30 days free trial –http://www.altova.com/xmlspy.htmlhttp://www.altova.com/xmlspy.html –http://www.altova.com/products/xmlspy/xsl_xslt_editor.htmlhttp://www.altova.com/products/xmlspy/xsl_xslt_editor.html
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44 Next: –We look at how to access elements and attributes inside the XML –This can be done via … –XPATH
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45 Previously we looked at: –XML Next: –XPath –Namespaces
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Validity versus well-formedness Checking for well-formedness: –http://www.xmlvalidation.com/http://www.xmlvalidation.com/ –http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_validator.asphttp://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_validator.asp Checking for validity: –http://www.validome.org/xml/validate/http://www.validome.org/xml/validate/ As a homework, check the validity and well- formedness of various XML documents in this course and on the web. Pay attention to the difference. 46
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47 XPath http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/ http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath20/
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48 XPath XPath is a syntax for defining parts of an XML document XPath uses path expressions to navigate in XML documents XPath contains a library of standard functions XPath is a major element in XSLT XPath is a W3C recommendation, thus a Standard (16. November 1999; newest Dec. 2010 )
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49 XPath Path Expressions Uses path expressions to select nodes or node-sets in an XML document. –These path expressions look very much like the expressions you see when you work with a traditional computer file system.
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50 XPath Standard Functions over 100 built-in functions. –string values, –numeric values, –date and time comparison, –node and QName manipulation, –sequence manipulation, –Boolean values, –and more.
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51 XPath Terminology Nodes Atomic values Items (atomic values or nodes) Relationships of nodes –Parent –Children –Siblings –Ancestors –Descendants
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52 XPath Nodes 7 kinds of nodes: 1.element, 2.attribute, 3.text, 4.namespace, 5.processing-instruction, 6.comment, and 7.document (root) nodes. XML documents are treated as trees of nodes. The root of the tree is called the document node (or root node).
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53 Nodes Examples Harry Potter J K. Rowling 2005 29.99 Document (root) nodeElement node Attribute node
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54 Atomic values Examples* Harry Potter J K. Rowling 2005 29.99 *nodes with no children or parent
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55 Selecting nodes ExpressionDescription nodenameSelects all child nodes with this name / Selects from the root node // Selects nodes in the document from the current node down that match the selection no matter where they are. Selects the current node.. Selects the parent of the current node @ Selects attributes
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56 Examples of selecting nodes Path ExpressionResult bookstoreSelects all the bookstore elements /bookstoreSelects the root element bookstore Note: If the path starts with a slash ( / ) it always represents an absolute path to an element! bookstore/bookSelects all book elements that are children of bookstore //book bookstore//book //@langSelects all attributes that are named lang Selects all book elements no matter where they are in the document Selects all book elements that are descendant of the bookstore element, no matter where they are under the bookstore element
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57 Predicates Predicates are used to find a specific node or a node that contains a specific value. Predicates are always embedded in square brackets.
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58 Example predicates Path ExpressionResult /bookstore/book[1]Selects the first book element that is the child of the bookstore element /bookstore/book[last()]Selects the last book element that is the child of the bookstore element /bookstore/book[last()-1] /bookstore/book[position()<3] Selects the last but one book element that is the child of the bookstore element Selects the first two book elements that are children of the bookstore element
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59 Example predicates – cont. Path ExpressionResult //title[@lang]Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named lang //title[@lang='eng']Selects all the title elements that have an attribute named lang with a value of 'eng' /bookstore/book[price>35.00] /bookstore/book[price>35.00]/title Selects all the book elements of the bookstore element that have a price element with a value greater than 35.00 Selects all the title elements of the book elements of the bookstore element that have a price element with a value greater than 35.00
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60 Selecting Unknown Nodes WildcardDescription *Matches any element node @*Matches any attribute node node()Matches any node of any kind
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61 Example: selecting several paths Path ExpressionResult //book/title | //book/price Selects all the title as well as price elements of all book elements //title | //price /bookstore/book/title | //price Selects all the title as well as price elements in the document Selects all the title elements of the book element of the bookstore element as well as all the price elements in the document
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62 XPath Axes self childparent ancestordescendant ancestor-or-selfdescendant-or- self preceding-siblingfollowing-sibling precedingfollowing attribute namespace
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63 axisname::nodetest[predicate] //DDD/parent::*
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64 axisname::nodetest[predicate] //BBB/child::* Note: /AAA is equivalent to /child::AAA
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65 More examples http://zvon.org/comp/r/tut-XPath_1.html Check basics, //, *, predicates, attributes, functions (new ones: count, name, normalize-space, starts- with, contains, string-length, floor, ceiling), axes, operators (mod)predicatesattributescountnamenormalize-spacestarts- withcontainsstring-lengthfloorceilingaxes operators (mod) –Note: The ancestor, descendant, following, preceding and self axes partition a document (ignoring attribute and namespace nodes): they do not overlap and together they contain all the nodes in the document. (see example)example
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XPath Try-out XPath online: http://www.freeformatter.com/xpath- tester.html#ad-output http://www.freeformatter.com/xpath- tester.html#ad-output You can use an existing XML: –http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/courses/CS25 3/2008/books.xmlhttp://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acristea/courses/CS25 3/2008/books.xml Use XPath snippets from module or create your own: –//title | //price –/bookstore/book[last()] –/bookstore/book[last()-1] –/bookstore/book[position()<3] etc. 66
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67 XPath Conclusion We have learned: –XPath definition –Path expressions –Standard functions –Terminology –Predicates –Location paths –Axes –Some operators
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68 Before we go on, one more thing about XML: XML Namespaces
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69 Naming ambiguity
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70 The Idea to Solve it Assign a URI (~ URL) to every sub- language: –E.g., for XHTML 1.0: http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml Qnames: Qualify element names with URIs: –{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}head Web Naming and Addressing Overview (URIs, URLs,...)
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71 The actual solution Namespace declarations bind URIs to prefixes: Default namespace (no prefix) declared with: xmlns=“…” Lexical Scope Attribute names can also be prefixed
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72 Applying namespaces
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73 Next we look at how to query XML This can be done, to some extent, as we have seen, within XPath (or XSLT), but the main language developed for this purpose is …
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74 XQuery http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/ http://www.w3.org/TR/xquery/
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75 Previously we looked at: –XPath –Namespaces Next: –XQuery
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76 What is XQuery? XQuery is the language for querying XML data XQuery for XML is like SQL for databases XQuery is built on XPath expressions XQuery is defined by the W3C XQuery is supported by all the major database engines (IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, etc.) XQuery is a W3C recommendation (Jan 2007; latest 14 Dec 2010) thus a standard
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77 XQuery - Examples of Use Extract information to use in a Web Service Generate summary reports Transform XML data to XHTML Search Web documents for relevant information
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78 XQuery compared to XPath XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 share the same data model and support the same functions and operators. XQuery 1.0 is a strict superset of XPath 2.0 XPath 2.0 expression is directly an XQuery 1.0 expression (a query) The extra expressive power is the ability to: –Join information from different sources and –Generate new XML fragments
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79 XQuery ‘compilers’ Download: http://www.altova.com/altovaxml.htmlhttp://www.altova.com/altovaxml.html Syntax check at: http://www.w3.org/2007/01/applets/xqueryApplet.html http://www.w3.org/2007/01/applets/xqueryApplet.html XPath, XQuery tester: http://www.xpathtester.com/xquery http://brettz9.github.io/xqueryeditor/
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80 XQuery query makeup Prolog –Like XPath, XQuery expressions are evaluated relatively to a context –explicitly provided by a prolog (header) ~ header with definitions Body –The actual query Select Join Generate
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81 XQuery Ex.: Prolog + Query
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82 XQuery Prolog (i.e., header(s)) Settings define various parameters for the XQuery processor language, such as: xquery version "1.0"; declare base-uri "http://example.org"; declare default element namespace "http://example.org/names"; declare namespace xs= "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"; import module "http://www.w3.org/2003/05/xpath-functions" at "logo.xq"; declare variable $x as xs:integer := 7; declare function addLogo($root as node()) as node()*{ }; (: etc :)
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Module definition xquery version "1.0"; module namespace mylib = " http://www.example.com/test_library " ; declare variable $mylib:foo as xs:string := " foo " ; declare function mylib:foobar() as xs:string { concat ($mylib:foo, " bar " ) }; 83
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84 Body: Constructors Direct constructors in XQuery: my fragment –Evaluates to the given XML fragment
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85 Explicit constructors computed constructors
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86 Variable bindings (implicit constructors) {$name} {$job} {$deptno} {$SGMLspecialist+100000}
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87 How to Select Nodes with XQuery? Functions –XQuery uses functions to extract data from XML documents. (X)Path Expressions –XQuery uses path expressions to navigate through elements in an XML document. Predicates –XQuery uses predicates to limit the extracted data from XML documents.
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88 Functions doc() –function to open a file Example: –doc("books.xml") Note: A call to a function can appear where an expression may appear.
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89 Path Expressions Example: select all the title elements in the "books.xml" file: doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book/title
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90 Predicates Example: select all the book elements under the bookstore element that have a price element with a value that is less than 30 : doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book[price<30]
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91 At a glance: function, path, predicate
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92 FLWOR For, Let, Where, Order by, Return = main engine ~ SQL syntax (SFW(GH)O) ~ programs and function calls
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93 FLWOR by comparison with Path expressions select all the title elements under the book elements that are under the bookstore element that have a price element with a value that is higher than 30. Path expression : doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book[price>30]/title FLWOR expression : for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book where $x/price>30 return $x/title
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94 Sorting in FLWOR for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book where $x/price>30 order by $x/title return $x/title
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95 Present the Result as HTML List { for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book/title order by $x return {$x} }
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96 Result HTML List Everyday Italian Harry Potter Learning XML XQuery Kick Start
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97 Eliminate element (here: title) { for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book/title order by $x return {data($x)} (: also text{} :) }
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98 New result HTML List Everyday Italian Harry Potter Learning XML XQuery Kick Start
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99 Another FLWOR Expression { for $s in doc("students.xml")//student let $m := $s/major where count($m) ge 2 order by $s/@id return { $s/name/text()} }
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100 The Difference between for and let
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101 The Difference between for and let := in
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102 The Difference between for and let
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103 The Difference between for and let
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104 FLWOR Basic Building Blocks
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105 General rules for and let may be used many times in any order only one where is allowed many different sorting criteria can be specified (descending, ascending, etc.)
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106 Reversing order Reverses the order of a sequence, for nodes or atomic values reverse (( 1, 2, 3)) -> 321
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107 Joining documents for $p in doc("www.irs.gov/taxpayers.xml")//person for $n in doc("neighbors.xml")//neighbor[ssn = $p/ssn] return { $p/ssn } { $n/name } { $p/income }
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108 Two-way join in a where Clause for $item in doc(“ord.xml”)//item, $product in doc(“cat.xml”)//product where $item/@num = $product/number return <item num=“{$item/@num}” name=“{$product/name}” quan=“{$item/@quantity}” />
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109 Aggregating Make summary calculations on grouped data Functions: –sum, avg, max, min, count
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110 Conditionals for $b in doc(“bib.xml”)/book return {$b/title} {if ( count($b/author) and others ) }
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111 Nesting Conditional Expressions Conditional expressions can be nested ‘else if’ functionality is provided if ( count($b/author) = 1 ) then $b/author else if (count($b/author) = 2 )then (:.. :) else ( $b/author[1], and others )
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112 Logical Expressions and, or operators: –and has precedence over or –Parentheses can change precedence if ($isDiscounted and ($discount > 5 or $discount < 0 ) ) then 5 else $discount not function for negations: if (not($isDiscounted)) then 0 else $discount
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113 XQuery Built-in Functions XQuery function namespace URI is: http://www.w3.org/2005/02/xpath-functions default prefix: fn:. E.g.: fn:string() or fn:concat(). fn: is the default prefix of the namespace, the function names does not need to be prefixed when called.
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114 Built-in Functions String-related –substring, contains, matches, concat, normalize- space, tokenize Date-related –current-date, month-from-date, adjust-time-to- timezone Number-related –round, avg, sum, ceiling Sequence-related –index-of, insert-before, reverse, subsequence, distinct-values
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115 Built-in Functions (2) Node-related –data, empty, exists, id, idref Name-related –local-name, in-scope-prefixes, QName, resolve- QName Error handling and trapping –error, trace, exactly-one Document and URI-related –collection, doc, root, base-uri
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116 Function calls doc("books.xml")//book[substring(title,1,5)='Harry'] let $name := (substring($book/title,1,4)) {upper-case($book/title)}
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117 for $x in doc("http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~acri stea/courses/CS253/2009/books.xml")// book/title for $y in data($x) for $name in (substring($y,1,4)) return $name
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118 User Defined Functions declare function prefix:function_name($parameter AS datatype) AS returnDatatype { (:...function code here... :) };
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119 User-defined Functions declare function depth($e AS xsd:integer) AS xsd:integer { if (empty($e/*) then 1 else max(for $c in $e/* return depth($c)) ) +1 }; (: usage :) for $b in doc(“bib.xml”)/book return depth($b)
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120 Existential and Universal Quantifiers for $b in doc(“bib.xml”)/book where some $author in $b/author satisfies $author/text() = “Ullman” return $b for $b in doc(“bib.xml”)/book where every $author in $b/author satisfies $author/text() = “Ullman” return $b Return books where all authors are “Ullman” Return books where at least one author is “Ullman”
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121 Comments
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122 Comparisons Value comparisons Eq, ne, lt, le, gt, ge Used to compare individual values Each operand must be a single atomic value (or a node containing a single atomic value) General comparisons =, !=,, >= Can be used with sequences of multiple items
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123 Example
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Node comparisons to compare two nodes, by their identity or by their document orderdocument order Example: The following comparison is true only if the left and right sides each evaluate to exactly the same single node: /books/book[isbn="1558604820"] is /books/book[call="QA76.9 C3845"] 124
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Remember direct element constructors? element book { attribute isbn {"isbn-0060229357" }, element title { "Harold and the Purple Crayon"}, element author { element first { "Crockett" }, element last {"Johnson" } } 125
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Using direct element constructors interestingly let $e := {5} return element {fn:node-name($e)} {$e/@*, 2 * fn:data($e)} 126
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Other examples node comparison The following comparison is false because each constructed node has its own identity: 5 is 5 The following comparison is true only if the node identified by the left side occurs before the node identified by the right side in document order: /transactions/purchase[parcel="28-451"] << /transactions/sale[parcel="33-870"] 127
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128 XQuery Syntax Declarative, functional language ~ SQL Nested expressions Case sensitive White spaces: –Tabs, space, CR, LF –Ignored between language constructs –Significant in quoted strings No special EOL character
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129 Keywords and names Keywords and operators –Case-sensitive, generally lower case –May have several meanings depending on the context E.g. “*” or “in” –No reserved words All names must be valid XML names –variables, functions, elements, attributes –Can be associated with a namespace
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130 XQuery gives you a choice: Path Expressions: –If you just want to copy certain elements and attributes as is FLWOR Expressions: –Allow sorting –Allow adding elements/attributes –Verbose, but can be clearer
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131 XQuery tools XStylus Studio 2007 http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_downl oad.html (free trial version) http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_downl oad.html –See also short XQuery intro at: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xquery_primer.html http://www.stylusstudio.com/xquery_primer.html
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132 Other info: –XQuery on Distributed Resources –Extensions for generic programming with XML
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133 XQuery on Distributed Sources
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139 XML and programming XSLT, XPath and XQuery provide tools for specialized tasks. But many applications are not covered: –domain-specific tools for concrete XML languages –general tools that nobody has thought of yet
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140 XML in general-purpose programming languages parse XML documents into XML trees navigate through XML trees construct XML trees output XML trees as XML documents DOM and SAX are corresponding APIs that are language independent and supported by numerous languages. JDOM is an API that is tailored to Java.DOMSAXJDOM
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141 XQuery Conclusion We have learned: –XQuery definition –Usage scenarios –Comparison w. XSLT and XPath –Capabilities –Functions, path expressions and predicates –FLWOR
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