Overview

XQuery provides complete coverage of the W3C XQuery 1.0 standard. In addition, it provides the background knowledge in namespaces, schemas, built-in types and regular expressions that is relevant to writing XML queries.

The 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 both as a tutorial, by reading cover to cover, and as a reference, by using the appendices to locate specific functions and types.

The book is organized into six parts:

Chapters 1 and 2 provide a high-level overview and quick tour of XQuery.
Chapters 3-9 provide enough information to write sophisticated queries, without being bogged down by the details of types, namespaces, and schemas.
Chapters 10-15 introduce some advanced concepts for users who want to take advantage of modularity, namespaces, typing, and schemas.
Chapters 16-23 provide guidelines for working with specific types of data, such as numbers, strings, dates, URIs, and processing instructions.
Chapters 24 and 25 describe XQuery's relationship to SQL and XSLT.
Appendixes A, B and C provide a complete alphabetical reference to the built-in functions, types and error messages.

About the author

Priscilla Walmsley is Managing Director of Datypic , a contract development company specializing in XML architecture and data management. She previously co-founded XMLSolutions Corporation. Walmsley has over fifteen years of experience in content management, electronic commerce, and enterprise application integration.

Walmsley was a member of the W3C XML Schema Working Group from 1999 to 2004, where she served as an Invited Expert. In addition to XQuery, she is the author of Definitive XML Schema, and co-author of the book Web Service Contract Design and Versioning for SOA (Prentice Hall).