XML/XPath Support In MySQL-5.

Alexander Barkov
Full time developer
April, 2005

MySQL AB

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 1
 Plan for this session

• Creating XML database

• Querying XML data using XPath
• Updating XML data
• Optimizing XPath queries
• Current status
• Future development directions

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 2
 Creating XML columns

An XML value can be stored in any textual data type:

• TEXT
• VARCHAR
• CHAR
No special XML type at this moment.

mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (xml TEXT);

Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.04 sec)

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 3
 Inserting into an XML column
Using INSERT
mysql> INSERT INTO t1 VALUES
('<a>a1<b>b1</b>b2</a>');
Query OK, 1 rows affected (0.00 sec)

Using INSERT with LOAD_FILE:

mysql> insert into t1 select load_file
('/home/bar/example.xml');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.00 sec)

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 4
 Fetching entire XML Values

mysql> select xml from t1;

+----------------------+
| xml |
+----------------------+
| <a>a1<b>b1</b>a2</a> |
+----------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 5
 Fetching XML parts using XPath
New function:
ExtractValue(xml, xpath)
Returns a part of XML value xml addressed by an XPath query xpath.

Usage example:
mysql> select ExtractValue('<a>a1<b>b1</b>a2</a>',
'/a/b');
+----------------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue('<a>a1<b>b1</b>a2</a>', '/a/b') |
+----------------------------------------------+
| b1 |
+----------------------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 6
 XPath implementation in MySQL

• According to W3C Recommendations

• Available from http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath
• Subset of XML Path Language Version 1.0
• About 90% currently implemented

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 7
 A more complex XML Example
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>
There are three different packages available that you can use to install the MySQL server:
</para>
<itemizedlist id=”noinstall”>
<listitem>
<para><literal>mysql-version-win-noinstall.zip</literal>: This is a Zip archive. It must be manually
extracted.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-win.zip</literal>: This package contains the InstallWizard with all
components of MySQL and is intended for a full installation with all optional packages.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-essential-win.msi</literal>: This package contains the InstallWizard
with the minimum components required to install a working MySQL server. Omitted packages can be
added later.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>
For most users, the <literal>mysql-version-essential-win.msi</literal> package is recommended
because of its smaller size and decreased download time.
</para>
</section>

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 8
 Example#1: Simple query
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>...win.zip</literal>: ...full installation with all optional packages...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>

mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,'/section/title') from t1;

+-------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue(xml, '/section/title') |
+-------------------------------------+
| Choosing an Install Package |
+-------------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 9
 Example#2: by index
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>...win.zip</literal>: ...full installation with all optional packages...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml, '/section/para[1]') from t1;
+---------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue(xml, '/section/para[1]') |
+---------------------------------------+
| ...three different packages... |
+---------------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 10
 Example#3: attribute
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>...win.zip</literal>: ...full installation with all optional packages...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,
'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/@id')from t1;
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue(xml, '/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/@id') |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
| noinstall |
+------------------------------------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 11
 Example#4: by value
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>...win.zip</literal>: ...full installation with all optional packages...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,
'/section/itemizedlist/listitem/@id[contains(../para/literal,"noinstall.zip")]')
as value from t1;
+-----------+
| value |
+-----------+
| noinstall |
+-----------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 12
 Example#5: boolean AND
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>...win.zip</literal>: ...full installation with all optional packages...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,
'/section/itemizedlist/listitem/@id[contains(../para/literal,"zip") and
contains(../para,"Zip")]') as value from t1;
+-----------+
| value |
+-----------+
| noinstall |
+-----------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 13
 Example#6: boolean OR
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-win-noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-win.zip</literal>: ...full installation...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-essential-win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,
'/section/itemizedlist/listitem/para[contains(./literal,"zip") or contains(./literal,"win")]/literal')
as value from t1;
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| value |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| mysql-version-win-noinstall.zip mysql-version-win.zip mysql-version-essential-win.msi |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 14
 Example#7: position()
<section>
<title>Choosing an Install Package</title>
<para>...three different packages...</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem id=”noinstall”>
<para><literal>....noinstall.zip</literal>: ...Zip archive....</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”full”>
<para><literal>mysql-version-win.zip</literal>: ...full installation...</para>
</listitem>
<listitem id=”essential”>
<para><literal>...win.msi</literal>: ...minimum components...</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>...win.msi...package is recommended...because of its smaller size.</para>
</section>
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,
'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[position()=2]/para/literal')
as value from t1;
+-----------------------+
| value |
+-----------------------+
| mysql-version-win.zip |
+-----------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 15
 Updating entire XML values

mysql> update t2 set

xml='<a>a1<b>b1<c>c1</c>b2</b></a>';
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.02 sec)
Rows matched: 1 Changed: 1 Warnings: 0

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 16
 Updating XML parts using XPath
New function:
UpdateXML(xml, xpath, content)
Returns a changed copy of XML value xml by replacing a node addressed by an
XPath query xpath with a new content content.
Usage example:
mysql> select updateXML(
'<a>a1<b>b</b></a>','/a/b','<b>b1<c>c1</c>b2</b>'
) as xml;
+-------------------------------+
| xml |
+-------------------------------+
| <a>a1<b>b1<c>c1</c>b2</b></a> |
+-------------------------------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 17
 Optimizing XPath queries: table structure

mysql> show create table t1;

+-------+----------------------------------------+
| Table | Create Table |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
| t1 | CREATE TABLE `t1` ( |
| | `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment, |
| | `xml` text NOT NULL, |
| | PRIMARY KEY (`id`), |
| | FULLTEXT KEY `xml` (`xml`) |
| |) ENGINE=MyISAM |
+-------+----------------------------------------+
mysql> select count(*) from t1;
+----------+
| count(*) |
+----------+
| 65536 |
+----------+

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 18
 Optimizing XPath queries using FULLTEXT
Slow query:
mysql> select
ExtractValue(xml,'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/para/literal')
from t1 where ExtractValue(xml,'/section/title')='NewTitle';
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue(xml,'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/para/literal') |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| mysql-version-win-noinstall.zip |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (4.84 sec)

Fast query:
mysql> select ExtractValue(xml,'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/
para/literal') from t1 where ExtractValue(xml,'/section/title')
='NewTitle' and match (xml) against ('NewTitle');
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ExtractValue(xml,'/section/itemizedlist/listitem[1]/para/literal') |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| mysql-version-win-noinstall.zip |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.02 sec)

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 19
 Summary
Data types:
• Any character string

Handlers supporting XPath optimization:

• MyISAM

Supported SQL functions:

• ExtractValue()
• UpdateXML()

Supported XPath functionality:

• Absolute/Relative location path with full and abbreviated step syntax
• Axes: ancestor, self, parent, descendant, attribute, child
• Boolean (i.e. predicates) and numeric (by index) filters
• Booleans: AND, OR, NOT, =, !=, <=, >=, >, <, false(), true(), last()
• Numeric operators: +, -, *
• String functions: contains(), substring(), concat()
• Numeric functions: mod(), div(), ceiling(), floor(), round(), sum(), count(), position()
• Type conversion functions: boolean(), number()

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 20
 Current status
• Available as a separate patch for MySQL-5.0
• From: http://d.udm.net/~bar/myxml/mysql-xml.tar.gz
• No documentation yet
• Questions are welcome at <[email protected]>
• This presentation:
http://d.udm.net/~bar/myxml/XMLXpathSupportInMySQL.sxi

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 21
 Near Future TODO
• Push into the official source tree
• Implement 100% XPath Version 1.0
• Special XML data type, for validity checking of inserted
values, and perhaps for more optimized storage
(compression?)
• ExistsNode() - an optimized boolean function to check
whether a node exists, without fetching its value
• A preprocessor for FULLTEXT to build indexes
optimized for XML purposes
• Automatic invocation of FULLTEXT searches from
inside ExtractValue() and ExistsNode() without having
to use explicit MATCH operator

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 22
 Good Bye!

Copyright 2005 MySQL AB The World’s Most Popular Open Source Database 23