Generating SQL/XML query and update statements

Abstract

The XML support in relational databases and the SQL/XML language are still relatively new as compared to purely relational databases and traditional SQL. Today, most database users have a strong relational and SQL background. SQL/XML enables users to perform queries and updates across XML and relational data, but many struggle with writing SQL/XML statements or XQuery update expressions. One reason is the novelty of SQL/XML and of the XQuery expressions that must be included. Another problem is that the tree structure of the XML data may be unknown or difficult to understand for the user. Evolving XML Schemas as well as hybrid XML/relational schemas make it even harder to write SQL/XML statements. Also, legacy applications use SQL but may require access to XML data without costly code changes. Motivated by these challenges, we developed a method to generate SQL/XML query and update statements automatically. The input is either a GUI or a regular SQL statement that uses logical data item names irrespective of their actual location in relational or XML columns in the database. The output is a SQL/XML statement that queries or updates relational and XML data as needed to carry out the original user statement. This relieves the user and simplifies schema evolution and integration. We have prototyped and tested the proposed method on top of DB2 9.5. Copyright 2009 ACM.