CS549

Distributed Information Systems

Lecture 2: XML and Internet Databases

This lecture is based on Chapter26: Elmasri and Navathe, fundamentals of database systems
Session Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes of the session are to understand the:

• Anatomy of XML document
• Components of XML document
• XML validation
• Rules for well-formed XML document
• XML DTD :Document Type Definition
• Information retrieval by using XPath & XQuery

2
- Introduction
• What is XML

• How can XML be used

• What does XML look like

• XML and HTML

• XML is free and extensible

3
What is XML
• XML stands for Extensible Markup Language.

• XML developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (www.W3C.org)

• Created in 1996. The first specification was published in 1998 by the W3C

• It is specifically designed for delivering information over the internet.

• XML like HTML is a markup language, but unlike HTML it doesn’t have
predefined elements.

• You create your own elements and you assign them any name you like,
hence the term extensible.

4
How can XML be Used?
• XML is used to Exchange Data

• With XML, data can be exchanged between incompatible systems

• With XML, financial information can be exchanged over the Internet

• XML can be used to Share Data

• XML can be used to Store Data

• XML can make your Data more Useful

• ……..

5
What does XML look like
<Books>

<Book>
<Title> Java </Title>
Books <Author> John </Author>
<Year> 1999 </year>
Title Author year </Book>
…
Java John 1999 …
Pascal Sara 1980 …
<Book>
Basic Mary 1975 <Title> Oracle </Title>
<Author> Emad
Oracle Emad 1999 </Author>
…. …. <Year> 1999 </Year>
</Book>
….
Relation ….
</ Books>

XML document

6
XML and HTML …

• XML is not a replacement for HTML

• XML was designed to carry data
• 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

7
XML and HTML
• HTML is for humans and HTML describes web pages
• You don’t want to see error messages about the web pages you visit
• Browsers ignore and/or correct as many HTML errors as they can, so
HTML is often sloppy

• XML is for computers and XML describes data

• The rules are strict, and errors are not allowed
• In this way, XML is like a programming language
• Current versions of most browsers can display XML
8
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

• XML allows the author to define his own tags and his own document
structure, hence the term extensible.
9
The Anatomy of XML Document

<?xml version:”1.0”?>
XML Processing
Declaration
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href=“template.xsl"?> instruction

Comments <!-- File name: Bibliography.xml -->

Attribute
<Bibliography>
<Book ISBN=“1-111-122”>
<Title> Java </Title>
<Author> John </Author>
<Year> 1998 </Year>
</Book> Elements nested
Root or document
element
. Within root element
.
<Book>
<Title> Oracle </Title>
<Author> Emad </Author>
<Year> 1999 </Year>
</Book>
</Bibliography>

10
Components of an XML Document
• Elements
• Each element has a beginning and ending tag
• <TAG_NAME>...</TAG_NAME>
• Elements can be empty (<TAG_NAME />)

• Attributes
• Describes an element; e.g., data type, data range, etc.
• Can only appear on beginning tag
• Example: <Book ISBN = “1-111-123”>

• Processing instructions
• Encoding specification (Unicode by default)
• Namespace declaration
• Schema declaration

11
XML declaration
• The XML declaration looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8“ standalone="yes"?>

• The XML declaration is not required by browsers but is required by

most XML processors (so include it!)

• If present, the XML declaration must be first--not even white space

should precede it

• Note that the brackets are <? and ?>

• version="1.0" is required
• encoding can be "UTF-8" (ASCII) or "UTF-16" (Unicode), or
something else, or it can be omitted.
• Standalone tells whether there is a separate DTD
12
Processing Instructions
• PIs (Processing Instructions) may occur anywhere in the XML document (but
usually in the beginning)

• A PI is a command to the program processing the XML document to handle

it in a certain way

• XML documents are typically processed by more than one program

• Programs that do not recognize a given PI should just ignore it

• General format of a PI: <?target instructions?>

• Example: <?xml-stylesheet type="text/css“ href="mySheet.css"?>

13
XML Elements
• An XML element is everything from the element's start tag to the
element's end tag

• XML Elements are extensible and they have relationships

• XML Elements have simple naming rules:

• Names can contain letters, numbers, and other characters

• Names must not start with a number or punctuation character

• Names must not start with the letters: xml (or XML or Xml ..)
14
XML Attributes
• XML elements can have attributes: Example: <Book ISBN = “1-111-123”>
• Data can be stored in child elements or in attributes
• Should you avoid using attributes?
• Here are some of the problems using attributes:

• attributes cannot contain multiple values (child elements can)

• attributes are not easily expandable (for future changes)

• attributes cannot describe structures (child elements can)

• attributes are more difficult to manipulate by program code

• attribute values are not easy to test against a (DTD) - which is used to
define the legal elements of an XML document
15
Distinction between sub-element and attribute
• In the context of documents, attributes are part of markup, while sub-element
contents are part of the basic document contents

• In the context of data representation, the difference is unclear and may be

confusing

• Same information can be represented in two ways

• <Book … Publisher = “McGraw Hill”> … <??Book>

• <Book>
…
<Publisher> McGraw Hill </Publisher>
…
</Book>

• Suggestion: use attributes for identifiers of elements, and use sub-elements for
contents 16
XML Validation
• Well-Formed XML document:
• Is an XML document with the correct basic syntax

• Valid XML document:

• Must be well formed plus
• Conforms to a predefined DTD or XML Schema.

17
Rules For Well-Formed XML
• Must begin with the XML declaration
• Must have one unique root element
• All start tags must match end-tags
• XML tags are case sensitive

• All elements must be closed

• All elements must be properly nested

• All attribute values must be quoted
• XML entities must be used for special characters
18
XML DTD: Data Type Definition

• A DTD defines the legal elements of an XML document

• defines the document structure with a list of legal elements and attributes

• XML Schema
• XML Schema is an XML based alternative to DTD

• Errors in XML documents will stop the XML program

• XML Validators

19
CDATA
• By default, all text inside an XML document is parsed

• You can force text to be treated as unparsed character data by enclosing

it in <![CDATA[ ... ]]>

• Any characters, even & and <, can occur inside a CDATA

• White space inside a CDATA is (usually) preserved

• The only real restriction is that the character sequence ]]> cannot occur
inside a CDATA

• CDATA is useful when your text has a lot of illegal characters (for
example, if your XML document contains some HTML text)
20
XML and DTDs
• A DTD (Document Type Definition) describes the structure of one or more
XML documents.

• Specifically, a DTD describes:

• Elements :name and value
• Attributes, and
• Entities such as &lt; which represents character ‘<‘

• An XML document is well-structured if it follows certain simple syntactic

rules

• An XML document is valid if it also specifies and conforms to a DTD

21
Why DTDs?
• With DTD, each of your XML files can carry a description of its
own format with it.

• With a DTD, independent groups of people can agree to use a

common DTD for interchanging data.

• Your application can use a standard DTD to verify that the data
you receive from the outside world is valid.

• You can also use a DTD to verify your own data.

22
Parsers

• An XML parser is an API that reads the content of an XML

document

• Currently popular APIs are DOM (Document Object

Model) and SAX (Simple API for XML)

• A validating parser is an XML parser that compares the XML

document to a DTD and reports any errors

23
An XML example
• <novel>
<foreword>
<paragraph> This is a great novel </paragraph>
</foreword>
<chapter number="1">
<paragraph>It was a dark and stormy night.</paragraph>
<paragraph>Suddenly, a shot rang out!</paragraph>
</chapter>
</novel>
An XML document contains (and the DTD describes):
Elements, such as novel and paragraph, consisting of tags and content
Attributes, such as number="1", consisting of a name and a value
Entities (not used in this example)
24
 <novel>
<foreword>
A DTD example <paragraph> This is a great novel </paragraph>
</foreword>
<chapter number="1">
• <!DOCTYPE novel [ <paragraph>It was a dark...</paragraph>
<paragraph>Suddenly, a shot..!</paragraph>
<!ELEMENT novel (foreword, chapter+)> </chapter>
<!ELEMENT foreword (paragraph+)> </novel>
<!ELEMENT chapter (paragraph+)>
<!ELEMENT paragraph (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTRIBUTE chapter number CDATA #REQUIRED>
]>
• A novel consists of a foreword and one or more chapters, in that order
• Each chapter must have a number attribute
• A foreword consists of one or more paragraphs
• A chapter also consists of one or more paragraphs
• A paragraph consists of parsed character data (text that cannot contain any
other elements)
25
ELEMENT descriptions
<!DOCTYPE novel [
• Suffixes: Example <!ELEMENT novel (foreword, chapter+)>
? optional foreword? <!ELEMENT foreword (paragraph+)>
<!ELEMENT chapter (paragraph+)>
+ one or more chapter+ <!ELEMENT paragraph (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTRIBUTE chapter number CDATA #REQUIRED>
• zero or more appendix* ]>

• Separators:
, both, in order foreword?, chapter+
| or section|chapter

• Grouping:
() grouping (section|chapter)+
#REQUIRED Attribute is not optional
26
Another example: XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE myXmlDoc SYSTEM "http://www.mysite.com/mydoc.dtd">
<weatherReport>
<date>05/29/2002</date>
<location>
<city>Philadelphia</city>
<state>PA</state>
<country>USA</country>
</location>
<temperature-range>
<high scale="F">84</high>
<low scale="F">51</low>
</temperature-range>
</weatherReport> 27
The DTD for this example
<!ELEMENT weatherReport (date, location, temperature-range)>
<!ELEMENT date (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT location (city, state, country)>
<!ELEMENT city (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT state (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT country (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT temperature-range ((low, high)|(high, low))>
<!ELEMENT low (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT high (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST low scale (C|F) #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST high scale (C|F) #REQUIRED>
28
XML Schema …

• The purpose of an XML Schema is to define the legal building

blocks of an XML document, just like a DTD.
• An XML Schema:
• defines elements that can appear in a document
• defines attributes that can appear in a document
• defines which elements are child elements
• defines the order of child elements
• defines the number of child elements
• defines whether an element is empty or can include text
• defines data types for elements and attributes
• defines default and fixed values for elements and attributes
29
XML Schema …
• Many think that very soon XML Schemas will be used in most Web
applications as a replacement for DTDs. Here are some reasons:

• XML Schemas are extensible to future additions

• XML Schemas are richer and more useful than DTDs

• XML Schemas are written in XML

• XML Schemas support data types

• XML Schemas support namespaces

30
XML Schema …
• Look at this simple XML document called "note.xml":

• <?xml version="1.0"?>
<note>
<to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body> Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>

• This is a simple DTD file called "note.dtd" that defines the elements of the
XML document above ("note.xml"):

• <!ELEMENT note (to, from, heading, body)>

<!ELEMENT to (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT from (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT heading (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT body (#PCDATA)> 31
Simple XML schema
• <?xml version="1.0"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="http://www.w3schools.com"
xmlns="http://www.w3schools.com" elementFormDefault="qualified">
<xs:element name="note">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="to" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="from" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="heading" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="body" type="xs:string"/>
</xs:sequence> <?xml version="1.0"?>
<note>
</xs:complexType> <to>Tove</to>
<from>Jani</from>
</xs:element> <heading>Reminder</heading>
</xs:schema> <body> Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note> 32
XML schema
• The <schema> is the root element of every XML schema
<?xml version="1.0"?>

<xs:schema>
...
...
</xs:schema>

• The <schema> element may contain some attributes. A schema declaration often looks
something like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="http://www.w3schools.com"
xmlns="http://www.w3schools.com"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
<xs:schema> ... ... </xs:schema>
33
Information Retrieval by Using
XPath and XQuery
XML Tree
• An XML file can be viewed as a tree with a
root element and leaves that are
connected by branches.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<library> <--- root element
<book>
<chapter> </chapter>
<chapter>
<section> • A tree has a root element and child
<paragraph>A </paragraph> elements.
• All elements can be parent so can have
<paragraph>B </paragraph> sub elements (child elements):
</section> • An element can have text content and
</chapter> attribute
• children on the same level are called
</book> Siblings (brothers and sisters).
</library> 35
XPath
• XPath is a syntax used for selecting parts of an XML
document
• The way XPath describes paths to elements is similar to the
way an operating system describes paths to files
• XPath is almost a small programming language; it has
functions, tests, and expressions
• XPath is a W3C standard

36
Terminology
<library> • library is the parent of book; book is the
parent of the two chapters
<book>
<chapter>
• The two chapters are the children of
</chapter>
book, and the section is the child of the
second chapter
<chapter>
<section> • The two chapters of the book are
<paragraph>A </paragraph> siblings (they have the same parent)

<paragraph>B </paragraph>
</section> • library, book, and the second chapter
are the ancestors of the section
</chapter>

• The two chapters, the section, and the

</book> two paragraphs are the descendants of
</library> the book
37
Paths
• Operating System • XPath

➢/ = the root directory ➢/library = the root element (if

named library )

➢/users/tony/foo = the file ➢/library/book/chapter/section =

named foo in user in users every section element in a chapter
in every book in the library
➢foo = the file named foo in the ➢section = every section element
current directory that is a child of the current
element

➢. = the current directory ➢. = the current element

➢.. = the parent directory ➢.. = parent of the current element

➢/users/ tony /* = all the files in ➢/library/book/chapter/* = all the

/users/ tony elements in /library/book/chapter
38
Slashes
• A path that begins with a / represents an absolute path, starting from the
top of the document
• Example: /email/message/header/from
• Note that even an absolute path can select more than one element
• A slash by itself means “the whole document”

• A path that does not begin with a / represents a path starting from the
current element
• Example: header/from

• A path that begins with // can start from anywhere in the document
• Example: //header/from selects every element from that is a child of an element
header
• This can be expensive, since it involves searching the entire document
39
Brackets and last()
• A number in brackets selects a particular matching child
• Example: /library/book[1] selects the first book of the library
• Example: //chapter/section[2] selects the second section of every chapter in the XML
document
• Example: //book/chapter[1]/section[2]
• Only matching elements are counted; for example, if a book has both sections and exercises,
the latter are ignored when counting sections

• The function last() in brackets selects the last matching child

• Example: /library/book/chapter[last()]

• You can even do simple arithmetic

• Example: /library/book/chapter[last()-1]
40
Stars
• A star, or asterisk, is a “wild card”--it means “all the elements at
this level”
• Example: /library/book/chapter/* selects every child of every chapter of
every book in the library
• Example: //book/* selects every child of every book (chapters,
tableOfContents, index, etc.)
• Example: /*/*/*/paragraph selects every paragraph that has exactly
three ancestors
• Example: //* selects every element in the entire document

41
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 will become a W3C standard - and developers can be sure

that the code will work among different products
42
XQuery Basic Syntax Rules
• XQuery is case-sensitive

• XQuery elements, attributes, and variables must be valid XML names

• An XQuery string value can be in single or double quotes

• An XQuery variable is defined with a $ followed by a name, e.g. $bookstore

• XQuery comments are delimited by (: and :), e.g. (: XQuery Comment :)

43
XQuery Example
• Example:

• The following predicate is used to 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]

• Output
<book category="CHILDREN">
<title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
<author>J K. Rowling</author>
<year>2005</year>
<price>29.99</price>
</book>
44
XQuery FLWOR Expressions
• The syntax of Flower expression looks like the combination of SQL and path
expression

• The following path expression will select all the title elements under the book
elements that is under the bookstore element that have a price element with a
value that is higher than 30.
doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book[price>30]/title

• The following FLWOR expression will select exactly the same as the path
expression above
for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book
where $x/price>30
return $x/title
• Output
<title lang="en">XQuery Kick Start</title>
<title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
45
-- FLWOR briefly explained
for $x in doc("books.xml")/bookstore/book
where $x/price>30
order by $x/title
return $x/title

• FLWOR is an acronym for "For, Let, Where, Order by, Return".

• The for clause selects all book elements under the bookstore element into a variable
called $x.
• The Let clause allows to define variable and assign it a sequence, e.g., let $x:= (1 to 5)
• The where clause selects only book elements with a price element with a value greater
than 30.
• The order by sorts the results according to the specified element
• The return clause specifies what should be returned. Here it returns the title elements
• All the clauses but return are optional 46
This lecture in exam!
Can be one or more of the following:
• Write an XML file that is equivalent to a relational table
• Draw an XML tree
• Write an XML Schema or DTD for a given XML file
• Use XPath to find answers from an XML file
• Use XQuery to find answers from an XML file

47
- References

• W3 Schools XML Tutorial

• http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp

• W3C XML page

• http://www.w3.org/XML/

• XML Tutorials

• http://www.programmingtutorials.com/xml.aspx

• Online resource for markup language technologies

• http://xml.coverpages.org/

• Several Online Presentations

48
 - Tutorial
• W3 Schools XML Tutorial
• http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp

49
END