Home:Learn XQuery:XML eXtra Archive:June, 2006

DataDirect XQuery 2.0 Available Now

Dear XML Friends,

DataDirect XQuery 2.0 is available now. It's faster than ever — you can now access truly massive XML files (we're talking gigabytes in size here), and it's more extensible too — now you can use XQuery to query relational databases, XML files, and dozens of flat file formats like EDI, CSV, binary, and more. If you've ever struggled with relational, XML, or legacy data integration, we think DataDirect XQuery 2.0 is the solution you've been waiting for. Give the new release a try today or read on for more details.

At DataDirect Technologies, data connectivity is our core business – we work with developers like you every day to help simplify development and dramatically improve performance and scalability. If you're tired of the same old limited, piecemeal solutions for accessing and integrating different data sources, and if you've ever thought to yourself that there's got to be a more productive and extensible way to tackle your data integration challenges, I ask you to invest just a few minutes reading the XQuery tutorials this month's newsletter. Because there is a better way — DataDirect XQuery 2.0, and it's ready for you today!

Sincerely,
Robert Evelyn
Vice President, XML Products Group
DataDirect Technologies

June 2006: Table of Contents

1. DataDirect XQuery 2.0 Available Now
2. XQuery Performance Tips: How to Write Blazing-Fast XQuery
3. Extending DataDirect XQuery 2.0 to Access EDI and other Legacy Data Formats
4. Updating Relational Data with DataDirect XQuery 2.0 and JDBC
5. A Quick Update on the Status of the W3C XQuery Specification
6. Why I Love XQuery

1. DataDirect XQuery 2.0 Available Now

DataDirect XQuery 2.0 is an implementation of the XML Query Language (XQuery) you can use to query relational databases, XML, and legacy data (EDI, CSV, and other data formats), or any combination of these data sources. DataDirect XQuery 2.0 provides the fastest, most reliable and scalable XQuery support for all major relational databases, and it runs on any Java platform – DataDirect XQuery 2.0 supports the XQuery for Java API (XQJ), and is easily embeddable into any Java program. What's more, it does not require any other product or application server, and it has no server of its own. The following are just some of the highlights of the new release, which is available now for purchase or free trial download:

• Performance and scalability enhancements: Performance optimizations are now configurable by the user, allowing more control for tuning in specific environments. XML streaming drastically reduces the amount of memory required when processing large XML documents — and when we say large XML documents, we mean it. We're talking gigabytes in file size here — try it out and see for yourself.)
• Access EDI and other Legacy Data Formats using XQuery: Integration with DataDirect XML Converters enables you to further extend DataDirect XQuery 2.0 to query and integrate data sources such EDI, CSV, dBase, binary, and other flat file formats.
• Additional support for Java extensions: Improved support for invoking external Java functions from your XQuery applications.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Oracle 10gR2 Support: DataDirect XQuery 2.0 adds updated support for the latest versions of widely-used relational databases like DB2, Oracle, and SQL Server. Please check the complete list of supported databases for your specific database or version.
• Updated XQuery Support: Supports the XQuery November 2005 Candidate Recommendation and adds support for XQuery modules, tested against industry-standard W3C XQuery Test Suite.

Q: What is DataDirect XQuery 2.0, anyway?
A: Simply put, DataDirect XQuery 2.0 is a speedy Java component that enables you to query any relational database, XML document, legacy data source, or combination of these using XQuery. It also implements the XQuery API for Java (XQJ), making it easily embeddable into any application.

Q: And why should I care?
A: DataDirect XQuery 2.0 can greatly simplify applications dealing with XML, relational, and legacy formats, including data integration, XML-based data exchange, Web services, XML-driven Web sites, XML publishing, and many other types of applications.

Q: What if I just need to query XML documents?
A: With DataDirect XQuery 2.0 you can query relational, XML document, legacy data sources, or any combination. DataDirect XQuery 2.0 adds a streaming XML adapter to drastically reduce the amount of memory needed when processing large XML documents, so no more out of memory errors with your applications.

Q: Which relational databases are supported?
A: DataDirect XQuery 2.0 provides XQuery access to the industry-leading relational databases including Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Informix, Sybase, and others. Using DataDirect XQuery 2.0 is the easiest way to query relational databases and get the results back in XML.

Q: What should I do now?
A: Learn more about XQuery technologies in this newsletter, or get started by downloading a free trial of DataDirect XQuery 2.0 today!

2. XQuery Performance Tips: How to Write Blazing-Fast XQuery

DataDirect XQuery 2.0 was designed for performance and scalability. A new tutorial describes some of the performance optimizations in DataDirect XQuery 2.0 implementation and provides some tips and guidelines to help ensure your applications run blazingly fast. (Jonathan is a co-author of the XQuery spec, so he knows more than a little about what's happening under the hood.) The new article, entitled Performance Tips for DataDirect XQuery 2.0 covers the following topics:

• An introduction to XQuery performance optimizations
• How to prepare queries
• Query pooling
• Special considerations for querying large XML files
• Techniques for retrieving query results
• Avoiding compensation in WHERE clauses and predicates
• Specifying SQL generation algorithms

Read the article and start accelerating your applications with DataDirect XQuery 2.0 today!

3. Extending DataDirect XQuery 2.0 to Access EDI and other Legacy Data Formats

Need to access relational, XML, and legacy data? It's easy with DataDirect XQuery 2.0, which adds integrated support for XML Deployment Components, high-performance Java components that extend DataDirect XQuery 2.0 by providing bi-directional programmatic access to virtually any data source – EDI, CSV, binary data, RTF, dBase, and hundreds of other flat file formats – as XML. A new tutorial entitled How to Access Legacy Data Using DataDirect XQuery 2.0 provides several examples including:

• How to install and configure XML deployment adapters
• Querying a CSV file using XQuery
• Joining a CSV file with a relational database using XQuery
• Querying an EDI file using XQuery
• Joining an EDI file with a relational database using XQuery

By running these examples — some as brief as 10 lines of XQuery code — it's easy to witness first-hand the power of XQuery technologies, particularly if you've ever tried to join non-XML and relational data without XQuery. Give it a try today! We think you'll come away impressed with the power of XQuery.

4. Updating Relational Data with DataDirect XQuery 2.0 and JDBC

XQuery is ideal for querying and integrating both XML and relational data; updates will be in a future XQuery release. But today, right now, DataDirect XQuery 2.0 provides a straightforward solution to working with both XML and relational data that includes the ability to update your relational data. Learn all about it in the new tutorial entitled Updating Relational Data with DataDirect XQuery 2.0 and JDBC.

DataDirect Technologies currently recommends this approach to updating relational data using XQuery and SQL – after all, SQL is the language for relational databases. In fact, for performance, DataDirect XQuery 2.0 even converts XQuery to SQL for relational access. Read the tutorial today and see how using XQuery and JDBC/SQL together is truly a beautiful thing.

5. A Quick Update on the Status of the W3C XQuery Specification

Earlier this month, the W3C published new versions of nine Candidate Recommendations relating to XQuery standards. In order to exit Candidate Recommendation status and become a Proposed Recommendation, the working group must demonstrate implementation experience, and we are doing this using the XQuery Test Suite. The working group made a series of minor changes to both the specifications and the test suite in order to address this requirement, resulting in the publishing of the following specifications:

• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Data Model (XDM)
• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Functions and Operators
• XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0
• XML Query Use Cases
• XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Formal Semantics
• XML Syntax for XQuery 1.0 (XQueryX)
• XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 Serialization

XQuery is now in the Recommendation Track and is progressing nicely. While the W3C does not give estimates on when specifications will be completed, DataDirect Technologies believes it is likely to happen during this calendar year!

6. Why I Love XQuery

Thousands of developers use XQuery technologies to simplify their work — here's a small sampling of just some of the feedback we've been getting about why you love using XQuery:

Feel like sharing the love? Tell us why you heart XQuery! Send us an email with 2-6 sentences about how and why you use XQuery. Include your mailing address, and we'll send you your very own, water-resistant, XQuery bumper sticker (a $4.00 value) – for free.