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<TITLE>RE: SQL queries expressed in XML</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> we recently had the idea to use XML to express SQL-like </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> queries (so this is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> not about querying XML -- it is about using XML to express </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> queries). It</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> seems to me that we might not be the first ones; so has </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> anybody defined an</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> XML document type for expressing SQL queries?</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>> </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>I've thought about the question and some of my thoughts are implemented in SAXON's SQLStyleSheet, which is the beginnings of an XSL extension to allow a stylesheet to update an RDBMS with data from an XML source document.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>As always in this area the first problem is deciding how much of the syntax should be "angle brackets" and how much should be rules for the content of elements/attributes. The answer to that depends on tradeoffs between different modes of use. So the question is, who is going to use it, and what for?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>In particular if you are interested in queries, what are you planning to do with the results? Print them out, merge them into the DOM representation of the document, or what? </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Mike Kay</FONT>
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