IBM, Microsoft bring XQuery standard a step closer

IBM and Microsoft will shortly deliver to the World Wide Web Consortium a suite of test programs featuring the XQuery standard for analyzing XML documents, IBM said in a statement Thursday.

XQuery is a language for parsing and extracting information from XML documents or databases containing XML-tagged information. A standard method for querying hierarchical XML databases could boost their use, much as SQL became a powerful standard way of querying table-based data. The test suite is a series of programs that illustrate the features of the emerging standard, IBM said.

In particular, XQuery will make it easier to place XML-tagged data in databases rather than in file systems as at present. This will enable businesses to more efficiently retrieve and analyze greater amounts of relevant information, and the standard query method will enable greater interoperability between different vendors' systems, IBM said.

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IBM and Microsoft will shortly deliver to the World Wide Web Consortium a suite of test programs featuring the XQuery standard for analyzing XML documents, IBM said in a statement Thursday.

XQuery is a language for parsing and extracting information from XML documents or databases containing XML-tagged information. A standard method for querying hierarchical XML databases could boost their use, much as SQL became a powerful standard way of querying table-based data. The test suite is a series of programs that illustrate the features of the emerging standard, IBM said.

In particular, XQuery will make it easier to place XML-tagged data in databases rather than in file systems as at present. This will enable businesses to more efficiently retrieve and analyze greater amounts of relevant information, and the standard query method will enable greater interoperability between different vendors' systems, IBM said.

IBM will add XQuery capability to products in its DB2 range of information management products, including Universal Database, DB2 Content Manager and DB2 Information Integrator, IBM said in the statement.

XQuery is an extension of the XPath notation for traversing nodes, elements and attributes in XML documents. Unlike Xpath, XQuery provides a programming environment with a range of data types and control structures. XQuery can also be used to create structured content in XML documents.

The W3C has not yet finalized the XQuery standard. The latest working draft for XQuery 1.0 was released in November 2002. According to IBM, the family of XML Query Specifications are approaching the "last call" stage, where participants are asked to review the work done to check that their specifications have been correctly implemented.

The drive to position XML as the standard format for data which can be exchanged over the Web is going ahead on both the content and presentation fronts. As XQuery moves towards being a standard for adding meaning to XML documents, Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is emerging as the standard for transforming XML data into a format which can be viewed with a browser.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.