Updating Multidimensional XML Documents

Nikolaos Fousteris, Manolis Gergatsoulis, Yannis Stavrakas

Abstract: In a wide spectrum of applications it is desirable to manipulate semistructured information that may present variations according to different circumstances. Multidimensional XML (MXML) is an extension of XML suitable for representing data that assume different facets, having different value and / or structure under different contexts. In this paper we consider the problem of updating MXML. Updating XML has been studied in the past, however updating MXML must take into account the additional features which stem from incorporating context into MXML. We introduce six basic update operations, which are capable of any possible change. We specify those operations in an implementation independent way, and explain their effect in the document through examples. We give algorithms that implement those operations using SQL on a specific storage method that employs relational tables for keeping MXML. We also give an overview of MXPath, an extension of XPath that incorporates context, and show how to translate MXPath queries to "equivalent" SQL queries.