XQuery, 2nd Edition

Preface

This book provides complete coverage of the W3C XQuery 3.1 standard. In addition, it provides the background knowledge in namespaces, schemas, built-in types, and regular expressions that is relevant to writing XML queries.

This book is designed for query writers who have some knowledge of XML basics but not necessarily advanced knowledge of XML-related technologies. It can be used as a tutorial, by reading it cover to cover, and as a reference, by using the comprehensive index and appendixes.

Contents of This Book

The book is organized into six parts:

1. Chapters 1 and 2 provide a high-level overview and quick tour of XQuery.

2. Chapters 3 through 9 provide enough information to write sophisticated queries, without being bogged down by the details of types, namespaces, and schemas.

3. Chapters 10 through 16 introduce some advanced concepts for users who want to take advantage of modularity, namespaces, typing, and schemas.

4. Chapters 17 through 24 provide guidelines for working with specific types of data, such as numbers, strings, dates, URIs, processing instructions, and maps.

5. Chapters 25 through 28 describe XQuery’s implementation-specific features and its relationship to other standards, including SQL and XSLT.

6. Appendices A, B, and C provide a complete alphabetical reference to the built-in functions, types, and error messages.

Reading the Syntax Diagrams

This book includes syntax diagrams as an option for readers who want a more visual representation of XQuery expression syntax. Each syntax ...