XML and SQL: Developing Web Applications

SQLX: The Truth Is Out There

A few small companies (most notably Microsoft, Oracle, and—surprise, surprise—IBM) are implementing an effort to bridge the gap between SQL and XML. These shadowy figures that meet in darkened, smoke-filled rooms are quite adept at keeping their purpose well concealed. Indeed, at this writing their Web site (http://www.sqlx.org) provides only cryptic clues as to their intent. My informant (we'll call him “Deep Throat”) informs me that their goal is to build standard extensions on top of SQL to query XML documents within relational databases.

In all seriousness, SQLX is an effort you should watch. As opposed to the XQuery effort, which asks “How can we create a single XML-based query language?” SQLX is approaching ...