XML Global Supports New XML Spec. With Latest DB Release

XML Global released the 2.0 version of its GoXML DB solution this week, making it the first native XML database to support the Worldwide Web Consortium’s much-anticipated XQuery specification.

XQuery, which is currently in its second working draft, is an XML-based querying standard under development at the W3C. According to Jim Tivy, director of databases for XML Global, the specification serves as a powerful transformation tool when used in conjunction with an XML database. He says, it can take data from the Web and input it into a database as XML, giving Web services the dynamic use of content.

Tivy says XML Global’s implementation of XQuery at this early stage of its development is the product of customer demand. “There is definitely a lot of interest out there among customers in XQuery,” he says. So far, XML Global has just one client evaluating the new version of GoXML DB for use on a project in which it intends to use XQuery, but Tivy says many more have expressed interest.

IBM, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are currently working to implant XQuery in their respective databases technologies.

Janet Daly, a spokesperson for the W3C, says the primary advantage a firm gets when implementing a W3C working draft – like XML Global has done with XQuery – is that it will have valuable mindshare in the technology when it reaches the W3C recommendation stage, and becomes a live standard. “Implementers get an early crack at finding out what works, and building implementation experience on a given product. On the W3C side, having early implementations shows what works, and shows what needs to be upgraded,” says Daly.

“You don’t want to build a spec. [like XQuery] without fully understanding the way documents and databases work together,” she says. A new working draft of XQuery is expected to be release in the next three months. GoXML 2.0 has an automated update feature so it will remain compatible with XQuery when this next working draft becomes available.

In addition to support for XQuery, GoXML DB has been enhanced with new security features; tools for downloading W3C XML Schema and DTDs; full-text searching capabilities; and tight integration with XML Global’s transformation engine and the popular XML Spy editor.

XML Global is an active member of The W3C, and is currently working as part of the XML Query working group.

For more information on XQuery, please visit http://www.w3c.org/XML/Query

About the Author

Matt Migliore is regular contributor to ENTmag.com. He focuses particularly on Microsoft .NET and other Web services technologies. Matt was the editor of several technology-related Web publications and electronic newsletters, including Web Services Report, ASP insights and MIDRANGE Systems.