Re: Searching XML

[Phil Ruelle <philr@iplbath.com>]

> > I want to create an application that can search through a number 
> > (between a couple of hundred and a couple of thousand) of 
> > relatively small XML documents (<10KB) and return a list of 'hits' 
> > based on the search criteria. An important point is that all 
> > documents will conform to the same schema.
> 
> How complex are the search criteria?  The answer is very sensitive
> to this question.  Can you give some sample searches?

Each document will be an order containing a list of items. The most 
frequent type of search would be to select orders that:
a) contain item X
b) contain item X and item Y
c) contain item X but do not contain item Y
and so on.
Since there is a huge number of items available and the list will be 
expanding I hadn't intended creating types for each one. Instead I 
thought using the element value (string) would be sufficient, but I 
welcome any opinion on this.

I am intrigued by your question about search complexity - I hadn't 
really considered its effect. Could you point me to some references 
that explain what the options are and how they alter according to 
complexity or could you possibly expand a little on this yourself?

> Also, what operating environment are you using?

I'm using a desktop with Windows 98 and NT on it. Also I intend to 
program in Java if only due to the vast amount of XML code 
available.

Many thanks,

Phil Ruelle