Relational database system providing XML query support

A system for transforming Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents for storage in a database, the system comprising:

• a parser event processing module for receiving a given XML document as input and verifying that said XML document is well formed;
• a transformation module for transforming said given XML document into an object, said object including data from said given XML document and meta data structures to facilitate random access to said data;
• and
• a database for storing said object.

A system for querying documents in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format using a database query, said system comprising:

• a query parsing module for receiving and parsing a given database query into a logical tree;
• a query translation module for translation of said logical tree into a query plan, said query plan comprising a format appropriate for execution against transformed XML documents;
• and
• a query execution module for executing said query plan and returning results.

A method for transforming a document in tag delimited format to enable access to data in said object, the method comprising:

• verifying that said document in tag delimited format is well formed;
• transforming said document into a logical tree in which each element of said object is a node of said logical tree;
• labeling each said node of said logical tree with a unique identifier;
• and
• generating an interface facilitating random access to data in said logical tree.

A method for transforming documents in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format to enable access to data in said documents, the method comprising:

• receiving documents in XML format;
• transforming said documents into a transformed object, said transformed object including data from said documents and meta data facilitating access to said data;
• and
• in response to a request, providing data from said documents by performing the substeps of:
• parsing said request for data into a logical tree;
• transforming said logical tree into a physical plan for execution;
• and
• executing said physical plan against said transformed object and returning data resulting from execution of said physical plan.