Using XML Data with XQuery

2015 April 9 IST 538 Fundamentals of XML

Abstract

Guest lesson I've given twice in Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 for a graduate XML class in the UAlbany Information Science program. Here I tried to get the class to understand how to make use of their XML data in mass, and how that can inform them how to better structure their data in the first place.

PDF

XQuery Class Outline

• Introduction and goals of the class
  • Show what XQuery is and what it does
  • Get class to write a simple XQuery script
  • Give class a starting point for later exploration
• What is XQuery? How is it used?
  • W3C standard
  • Designed for users without formal programming background
  • Designed to extract, transform, and manipulate XML data
  • mySQL for XML data
• Introduction to BaseX GUI
  • Example of a successful query [use EADsummary.xq]
  • Example of a failed query and how to find errors
  • Saving and loading scripts and documents
• Structure of and XQuery script and basic rules
  • Prolog and Body
  • Odd punctuation
  • Variables
  • FLOWR expressions
  • Detail what FOR, etc. does
  • XPATH in XQuery, @attributes
  • Operators
  • IF expressions
  • Functions
  • Formatting results in XML/HTML
• Knowing your XML source
  • introduce league.xml
• Get class to write a basic XQuery script (class now follows along)

  • Simple For/Return:

       for $player in doc("national.xml")/LEAGUE/PLAYER
       return $player
    

  • $Variables
  • Editing and undo (CTRL+Z and CTRL+Y)
  • XPath use (/ and // and ../)

  • Declare variable in prolog:

       declare variable $xml := doc (‘national.xml');
    

  • Let

       let $qualify := 500
    

  • Order by

    • Return player names in order of AB

      order by $player/AB descending

    • difference between integers and strings

      order by $player/NAME

    • Who has the highest AVG?

    • Which players led the league in SO?

      order by number($player/SO) descending

  • Where
    • Who has the highest AVG with over 500 AB?

    • Return players with over 500 AB

      where $player/AB > 500 where $player/AB >= $qualify

    • use of operators
  • Comments (: comments :)
    • Comment out qualifying for the batting title
  • Functions

    • How many players play in the league?

      let $number := count($xml/LEAGUE/PLAYER) return $number

    • How many home runs were his last season?

      let $number := sum($xml/LEAGUE/PLAYER) return $number

  • IF expression

    • Return the names of players who hit more than 25 home runs

      for $player in doc("national.xml")/LEAGUE/PLAYER return if ($player/HR >= 25) then $player/NAME else ()

  • Formatting results in XML
    • Return a XML file of the batting title leaders with the batters name and average

    • Need a root node just like an XML file

          for $player in doc("national.xml")/LEAGUE/PLAYER
          let $qualify := 500
          where $player/AB > $qualify
          order by number($player/AVG) descending
          return
             <batter>
             <name>{$player/NAME}</name>
             <average>{$player/AVG}</average>
            </batter>
          ```
      
      * return only the data not nodes
              
      

      <name>{data($player/NAME)}</name>
      <average>{data($player/AVG)}</average>
      ```
      

    • Return with one element per batter

      <batter avg="{data($player/AVG)}">{data($player/NAME)}</batter> }</leaders>

  • IF expression within FLOWR

    • Return a list of AVG leaders but disqualify players wh * hit 25 or more HR

      ``` {

      for $player in doc("national.xml")/LEAGUE/PLAYER
      let $qualify := 500
      where $player/AB > $qualify
      order by number($player/AVG) descending
      return
        if ($player/HR >= 25)
        then <batter avg="DISQUALIFIED">{data($player/NAME)}</batter>
        else <batter avg="{data($player/AVG)}">{data($player/NAME)}</batter>
      
      }</leaders>
      ```
      

    • Let’s not show the disqualified players at all ()

  • Return an HTML table of qualified leaders(AB<500) that lists: NAME, AVG, HR, SO/BB, WAR sort by SO/BB

       xquery version "3.0";
       declare variable $xml := collection('baseball');
    
       <html>
       <head>
         <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="table.css"/>
       </head>
       <body> 
       <table>
       <tr>
         <th>Name</th>
         <th>AVG</th>
         <th>HR</th>
         <th>K/BB</th>
         <th>WAR</th>
       </tr>
       {
              
       for $player in $xml/LEAGUE/PLAYER
       let $qualify := 100
       where $player/AB > $qualify
       let $k := $player/SO
       let $walk := $player/BB
       let $ktowalk := $walk div $k
       order by $ktowalk descending
       return
         <tr>
           <td>{data($player/NAME)}</td>
           <td>{data($player/AVG)}</td>
           <td>{data($player/HR)}</td>
           <td>{data($ktowalk)}</td>
           <td>{data($player/WAR)}</td>
         </tr>
    
       }</table>
       </body>
       </html>
    

    • reduce the K/BB ratio to two decimal places
• What XQuery can teach you about XML
  • XML is very flexible
  • Hard to predict how data will be used until you use it
  • Breaks document-centric thinking
  • Query and manipulate not reformat
  • Further separate data storage and display
• In-Class exercises:
  • Hardest: use the EAD files in the EAD folder to make a HTML table of collections, listing collection level information: title, unitdate, extent, and author
  • Medium: From the baseball collection, return a HTML table listing player name, team, hits, RBIs, and WAR, sorted by hits
  • Easier: from the baseball collection, return a basic XML file that lists the name, team, and RBIs of each player that had over 90 RBIs