XML Databases - Native XML Databases

Native XML Databases

The term "native XML database" (NXD) can lead to confusion. Many NXDs do not function as standalone databases at all, and do not really store the native (text) form.

The formal definition from the XML:DB initiative (which appears to be inactive since 2003) states that a native XML database:

• Defines a (logical) model for an XML document — as opposed to the data in that document — and stores and retrieves documents according to that model. At a minimum, the model must include elements, attributes, PCDATA, and document order. Examples of such models include the XPath data model, the XML Infoset, and the models implied by the DOM and the events in SAX 1.0.

• Has an XML document as its fundamental unit of (logical) storage, just as a relational database has a row in a table as its fundamental unit of (logical) storage.

• Need not have any particular underlying physical storage model. For example, NXDs can use relational, hierarchical, or object-oriented database structures, or use a proprietary storage format (such as indexed, compressed files).

Additionally, many XML databases provide a logical model of grouping documents, called "collections". Databases can set up and manage many collections at one time. In some implementations, a hierarchy of collections can exist, much in the same way that an operating system's directory-structure works.

All XML databases now support at least one form of querying syntax. Minimally, just about all of them support XPath for performing queries against documents or collections of documents. XPath provides a simple pathing system that allows users to identify nodes that match a particular set of criteria.

In addition to XPath, many XML databases support XSLT as a method of transforming documents or query-results retrieved from the database. XSLT provides a declarative language written using an XML grammar. It aims to define a set of XPath filters that can transform documents (in part or in whole) into other formats including plain text, XML, or HTML.

Many XML databases also support XQuery to perform querying. XQuery includes XPath as a node-selection method, but extends XPath to provide transformational capabilities. Users sometimes refer to its syntax as "FLWOR" (pronounced 'Flower') because the query may include the following clauses: 'for', 'let', 'where', 'order by' and 'return'. Traditional RDBMS vendors (who traditionally had SQL-only engines), are now shipping with hybrid SQL and XQuery engines. Hybrid SQL/XQuery engines help to query XML data alongside the relational data, in the same query expression. This approach helps in combining relational and XML data.

Most XML Databases support a common vendor neutral API called the XQuery API for Java (XQJ). The XQJ API was developed at the JCP as a standard interface to an XML/XQuery data source, enabling a Java developer to submit queries conforming to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) XQuery 1.0 specification and to process the results of such queries. Ultimately the XQJ API is to XML Databases and XQuery as the JDBC API is to Relational Databases and SQL.