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<Quote>
just isn't going to be a relational form as there's no way to determine
a priori what the normalised records are. there's clearly 2 tables, and
</Quote>
You're assuming that the XML-formatted data will originate from (or
ultimately be stored in) a relational database, and this is not always
going to be the case. In fact, you may not know (and should not care)
what the receipient's system implementation flavor is. That's part of
the beauty of XML.
Kind Regards,
Joe Chiusano
Booz | Allen | Hamilton
Rick Marshall wrote:
>
> <oxymoron>relationally structured data</oxymoron>
>
> of course you can represent records, but as soon as you make a tree out
> of them they're not relational in a database sense
>
> eg
>
> <customer>
> <name>COMPANY X</name>
> <town>SOMEWHERE</town>
> <order>
> <part>ABC123</part>
> <quantity>2</quantity>
> </order>
> <order>
> <part>ABC234</part>
> <quantity>4</quantity>
> </order>
> </customer>
>
> just isn't going to be a relational form as there's no way to determine
> a priori what the normalised records are. there's clearly 2 tables, and
> you know that "customer" has attributes name and town, and "order" has
> attributes part and quantity, but it also needs either name or town to
> complete the relation and it's not obvious which. either or both?
>
> so without some semantics you can't represent relational tables with the
> natural tree structure of xml.
>
> on the other hand
>
> <customer>
> <name>COMPANY X</name>
> <town>SOMEWHERE</town>
> </customer>
>
> <order>
> <name>COMPANY X</name>
> <part>ABC123</part>
> <quantity>2</quantity>
> </order>
> <order>
> <name>COMPANY X</name>
> <part>ABC234</part>
> <quantity>4</quantity>
> </order>
>
> is ok, but then from what i've seen on the list most wouldn't think of
> this single depth as the natural thing to do.
>
> my personal preference (and used day to day) is:
>
> <table name="customer">
> <record>
> <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute>
> <attribute name="town">SOMEWHERE</attribute>
> </record>
> </table>
> <table name="order">
> <record>
> <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute>
> <attribute name="part">ABC123</attribute>
> <attribute name="quantity">2</attribute>
> </record>
> <record>
> <attribute name="name">COMPANY X</attribute>
> <attribute name="part">ABC234</attribute>
> <attribute name="quantity">4</attribute>
> </record>
> </table>
>
> and a few minor attribute additions. but again i suspect this is not
> what most use, but then i'm happy to proved wrong.
>
> rick
>
> On Wed, 2003-08-20 at 22:52, Chiusano Joseph wrote:
> > <Quote>
> > Unless someone can show me how XML or an XML only tool set such as
> > TeraText supports and fulfills RM,
> > </Quote>
> >
> > Are you asserting that one cannot represent relationally structured data
> > using XML? If so, can you please elaborate?
> >
> > Kind Regards,
> > Joe Chiusano
> > Booz | Allen | Hamilton
>
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