XQuery Training Course

Introduction to XQuery

• Defining XQuery
• Path Expressions
• FLWOR (for, let, where, order by, return)
• Functions
• Joins

Fundamentals of XQuery

• The Architecture of the XQuery Language
• Contextualizing XQuery
• Query Processing Mechanisms
• The XQuery Data Model
• Data Types
• Namespaces

Expressions

• Categories of Expressions
• Keywords and Identifiers
• Whitespace Handling in Queries
• Literals
• Variables
• Function Invocations
• Comments
• Evaluation Sequence
• Comparison Expressions
• "if-then-else" Constructs
• "and/or" Logical Operators

Path Traversal

• Path Expressions
• Predicates
• Dynamic Pathing
• Input Documents
• Contextual Navigation

Construction Techniques

• Incorporating Elements and Attributes from Source Documents
• Direct Construction
• Computed Construction

Selection and Joining via FLWORs

• Selection Using Path Expressions
• FLWOR Expressions
• Quantified Expressions
• Extracting Distinct Values
• Joins

Sorting and Grouping

• Sorting Mechanisms in XQuery
• Grouping Data
• Aggregating Values

Functions

• Built-in Functions
• User-Defined Functions

Advanced Querying Strategies

• Replicating Input Elements with Modifications
• Managing Positions and Sequence Numbers
• Merging Results
• Utilizing Intermediate XML Documents

XML Namespace Management

• XQuery Interaction with Namespaces
• Namespace Declaration Procedures

Typing Systems

• The XQuery Type System Overview
• Built-in Data Types
• Types, Nodes, and Atomic Values
• Type Checking in XQuery
• Automatic Type Conversions
• Sequence Types
• Constructors and Casting Operations

Prolog and Module Structure

• Query Structure: Prolog and Body
• Assembling Queries from Multiple Modules
• Variable Declarations
• Declaring External Functions

Schema Utilization

• Understanding Schemas
• Benefits of Using Schemas with Queries
• W3C XML Schema: An Overview
• In-Scope Schema Definitions
• Schema Validation and Type Assignment
• Sequence Types in Relation to Schemas

Static Typing Concepts

• Defining Static Typing
• The Typeswitch Expression
• The Treat Expression
• Type Declarations
• Functions for zero-or-one, one-or-more, and exactly-one Constraints

Query Design Principles

• Core Design Goals:
  • Clarity
  • Modularity
  • Robustness
• Error Handling Strategies
• Performance Optimization

Numeric Data Handling

• Creating and Comparing Numeric Values
• Arithmetic Operations
• Numeric Functions

String Management

• The xs:string Type
• Constructing, Comparing, and Manipulating Strings
• Substrings and Length Determination
• Concatenation and Splitting Strings
• Whitespace Handling
• Internationalization Support

Regular Expressions

• Structure of Regular Expressions
• Representing Individual Characters
• Representing Any Character
• Representing Character Groups
• Character Class Expressions
• Reluctant Quantifiers
• Anchors
• Back-References
• Utilizing Flags
• Employing Sub-Expressions with Replacement Variables

Date and Time Data Types

• Extracting Components of Dates, Times, and Durations
• Applying Arithmetic Operators to Dates, Times, and Durations
• Date Component Types

Qualified Names

• Working with Qualified Names
• URIs and IDs

Other XML Components

• Documents
• Text Nodes
• Comments
• PI (Processing Instructions)
• XML Entity
• CDATA Sections

XQuery-Related Standards

• XML Serialization
• XQueryX
• XQuery Update Facility
• Full-Text Search Capabilities
• XQJ - XQuery API for Java

Implementation-Specific Features

• XML Version Compatibility
• Configuring the Query Context
• Option Declarations and Extension Expressions
• Serialization Parameters

XQuery vs. SQL

• XML Data Compared to Relational Data
• SQL Syntax Versus XQuery Syntax
• Interplay Between SQL and XQuery

XQuery vs. XSLT

• XQuery and XPath Integration
• XQuery Compared to XSLT