Building Globalized Web Applications by using XPath and XQuery
Frank Yung-Fong Tang, Systems Architect, AOL, USA
Intended Audience: Content Developers, Software Engineers, Managers, Testers, Web Designers
Session Level: Beginner, Intermediate
XQuery provides a new foundation to construct Web applications based on XML information data model. It is one of the hottest and newest W3C working specifications. The newest XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 working draft includes several features for Unicode processing and for general software internationalization. This tutorial discusses the use of XPath/XQuery technology in the context of global web application development.
Since XQuery is built on top of the features available in XPath, this tutorial will start with an introduction of XPath. Then, we will discuss some specific issues in XPath: if the XML contains Unicode characters in text content, element names and attribute names. Third, we will introduce the basics of XQuery to the audience by showing how to use the FLWOR expression to query XML document. We then focus our discussion on the Regular Expression and Collation facility in the XPath/XQuery.
We will also briefly describe some current work and issues in the research of developing XQuery Full Text Extension. Finally, will conclude the tutorial by discussing several potential issues in XPath/XQuery and the need of future specifications to address those issues.
This tutorial is design for software developers. Author assumes the audiences know the basics of database, XML and Web application development. The audience will learn the basic of XPath/XQuery and issues related to internationalized Web application of using related technologies.