Re: XML document in a column: indexing and searching?

"Marin Bonacci" <marin.bonacci_at_applaudo.de> wrote in message news:<9sor0r$eule$1_at_as201.hinet.hr>...
> Hi,
>
> Does Oracle (or any add-on) support indexing and searching on XML documents
> stored in a column? I would like to store XML docs in a table and then, for
> example, do a search on all docs that have in them "<NAME>John<\NAME>".
>
> Is this possible? Can Intermedia do such things?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Marin Bonacci

Oracle 9i has a new datatype, XMLtype. This datatype provides a storage (CLOB) and functions to access XML documents. I have played with it and run through some tutorials that Oracle provides. I am impressed with it on a small scale. I have no idea what its performance will be if a large number or documents are stored or if a great deal of parsing needs to be applied. I would imagine it is good for storage and retrieval of data where the format of the data is not static. I also have a feeling that it will not work out well if it used by performance intensive processes.

Anyway, the functions allow the document to be stored and displayed. Using triggers, the document can be parsed against a DTD. The elements and attributes can be retrieved using XPATH search strings. Also, function indexes can be built using XPATH providing a bit of a performance boost.

I hope this is what you were looking for. Check out the online docs for 9i and look for tutorials on Oracle's technet.

Carl Received on Tue Nov 13 2001 - 15:01:55 CET